Nature reference style generator
Paste DOIs or a reference list and get references in the format of the Nature formatting guide, the style Nature Portfolio journals ask for. The examples below are Nature’s own, produced by this tool, and the journal notes link our guides for Scientific Reports and Nature Medicine.
Free · no signup · works instantly. References are looked up, then formatted in your browser; nothing you paste is stored.
The rules this generator applies
- Authors: surname, then initials with periods, joined by commas and "&" before the last. With more than five authors, give the first author followed by "et al."
- The article title follows without quotation marks.
- Journal abbreviation in italics, volume in bold, then the page range and the year in parentheses: J. Cell Biol. 156, 35–39 (2002).
- An online-only article without pages cites its DOI link in place of volume and pages.
- Preprints read "Preprint at" with the link and year.
Examples from the style guide
Each example is the guide's own reference, entered as data and produced by this generator.
- Journal article (Nature formatting guide example)
- Schott, D. H., Collins, R. N. & Bretscher, A. Secretory vesicle transport velocity in living cells depends on the myosin V lever arm length. J. Cell Biol. 156, 35–39 (2002).
- Preprint (Nature formatting guide example)
- Babichev, S. A., Ries, J. & Lvovsky, A. I. Quantum scissors: teleportation of single-mode optical states by means of a nonlocal single photon. Preprint at https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0208066 (2002).
Journals that change the style
- Nature: Numbered in order of citation, with superscript numbers in the text.
- Scientific Reports: Nature style, cited in the text with numbers in square brackets.
- Nature Medicine: Nature Portfolio style, numbered through the Methods and Extended Data.
Other styles: AMA citation generator, Vancouver reference generator, IEEE citation generator, APA citation generator, Harvard referencing generator, Chicago citation generator. All seven styles are on the Reference Formatter. Checking a list you have not verified? The free Reference Checker finds retracted papers and invented citations.
Paste references
DOIs, PubMed IDs, a plain-text list, BibTeX, RIS or CSL-JSON, up to 100 at a time.
Check the style
The style is already set; switch to any of the seven styles if your journal asks for another.
Copy or download
Copy with italics and bold kept, or download Word (.rtf), plain text, BibTeX or RIS.
What this tool does not do
- • It does not hold journal-specific variants of the style; the journal notes below list the ones we know, and your target journal’s instructions have the rest.
- • Article titles keep the source record’s capitalisation; it does not convert to sentence or title case.
- • A plain-text reference is matched to a Crossref record by title and author. A reference with no confident match is listed, not guessed.
- • It does not check whether a reference is retracted or supports your claim. The Reference Checker and Citation Claim Checker do that.
Frequently asked questions
How many authors does Nature style list?
Up to five. With more than five, give the first author followed by "et al."
Do Nature Portfolio journals all use this style?
Most use the Nature reference format, with journal-specific changes in how references are cited in the text (superscript or square brackets) and in reference limits. Check your target journal’s instructions.
Is the volume really bold?
Yes. The Nature format sets the volume number in bold and the journal abbreviation in italics. Copying from the generator keeps both.
Need the whole manuscript checked?
Move from one submission task to a full readiness review.
Manusights reads the manuscript as a connected argument and flags the issues most likely to matter before submission.
Run the free Readiness Scan →Built for an auditable submission workflow
Manusights separates technical checks from scientific judgment, states each tool’s limits, and keeps the final decision with the researcher. Read our trust and data-handling commitments.