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Council of Science Editors (CSE) Citation Style Guide

An overview of the CSE citation style used across the sciences.

Zotero

Set your default style
  1. Go to Zotero app > Edit > Settings (Mac OS: Zotero App > Zotero > Settings)
  2. Click Cite in the left-hand menu
  3. Select a style from the Style Manager. Not seeing the style you need? See Add/Edit a New Style below.
Add/edit a new style
  1. To add a new style to the Style Manager, click Get Additional Styles to open the Zotero Style Repository.*
  2. Search by name, format, or field.
  3. Click on a style to add it to the Style Manager.
  4. If you need to edit the style template, see this step-by-step guide.

* The Zotero Style Repository holds over 10,000 citation styles, many of which are for specific journals and/or publishers.

Choose or switch style in Word/Google Docs
  1. Click Zotero in the ribbon
  2. Click Document Preferences
  3. Select the correct style from the Style Manager

EndNote

To add the correct CSE style into your EndNote settings:

Windows

Mac

  1. Go to Tools > Output Styles > Open Style Manager
  2. If not showing in the list of styles, click on Get More on the Web...
  3. Under the Style Manager, click on Get additional styles...
  4. Search for "CSE" and download which system's citation style you want
  5. Double-click on the relevant citation style(s) to open it in EndNote
  6. Go to File > Save as
  7. The new citation style will now show up in your Style Manager

Interested in editing a citation style in EndNote? Check out the in-depth Style Editing Guides from Clarivate.