APS Style Citation: Format, Rules, and Examples

The APS style citation system is the numerical reference standard established by the American Physical Society for manuscripts submitted to Physical Review Letters, Physical Review A–E, and Physical Review X. Designed for conciseness, APS style orders citations chronologically as they appear and omits unnecessary metadata such as journal article titles.

When searching for this format, three distinct styles are frequently confused:

• American Physical Society (APS): The numeric, bracketed physics citation standard detailed below.
• APS referencing in social sciences: Australian psychology students often refer to the Australian Psychological Society, which mandates the author-date format of APA style (7th edition).
• AP citation style: Associated Press style is a journalistic standard that embeds conversational attribution into reporting rather than using a reference list. Unlike author-date formats or numbered styles like APSA citation and Nature reference style, APS physics style emphasizes compact mathematical typography.

The format

APS references are arranged numerically in order of citation. Author names use initials followed by surnames. Journal article titles are omitted, volume numbers appear in bold, and publication years are parenthesized.

Journal Article Template

[#] Initial(s). Surname, Abbreviated Journal Volume (in bold), First Page or Article ID (Year).

• Reference Number: In brackets (e.g., [1]), matching text order.
• Author Initials and Surname: Given name initials followed by surname (e.g., J. K. Smith). Up to 10 authors are listed before truncating with “et al.”
• Journal Abbreviation: Standard physical science abbreviation (e.g., Phys. Rev. B, J. Appl. Phys.).
• Volume Number: Set in boldface.
• Page or Article ID: The initial page number or 6-digit article identifier (e.g., 083501). Full page spans are omitted.
• Year: Four-digit year in parentheses followed by a period.

Book Template

[#] Initial(s). Surname, Book Title in Italics, edition (Publisher, City, Year), cited page.

Publisher, city, and year appear in parentheses; cited pages follow outside (e.g., p. 78). Digital monographs omit URLs and access dates.

Edited Book Chapter Template

[#] Initial(s). Surname, in Book Title in Italics, edited by Initial(s). Surname (Publisher, City, Year), cited page.

State the chapter author and book title; individual chapter titles are omitted.

Technical Report Template

[#] Corporate Author or Initial(s). Surname, Report Title in Italics, Report Number (Year), cited page.

Examples

The following fictitious examples illustrate standard APS citation patterns across primary source types.

Example 1: Journal Article (Single Author)

[1] H. E. Vance, Phys. Rev. B 84, 144102 (2021).

Fictitious example showing initials, abbreviated journal title, bold volume, article ID, and year.

Example 2: Journal Article (Multiple Authors)

[2] M. R. Sterling, D. L. Chen, and K. A. Thorne, J. Appl. Phys. 118, 083501 (2022).

Fictitious example illustrating multiple authors; all contributors up to 10 are named.

Example 3: Book Monograph

[3] T. O. Hawthorne, Principles of Quantum Scattering, 2nd ed. (Academic Press, Boston, 2020), p. 112.

Fictitious example with edition following title and page reference outside parentheses.

Example 4: Edited Collection Chapter

[4] B. J. Whitmore, in Handbook of Advanced Crystallography, edited by J. L. Aris and C. K. Mercer (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2023), p. 64.

Fictitious example demonstrating chapter title omission.

Example 5: Technical Report

[5] Oakridge Energy Consortium, Diagnostic Assessment of High-Beta Plasma Stability, Report No. OEC-TR-2024-04 (2024), p. 18.

Fictitious example displaying full corporate authorship and technical report ID.

In-text citation version

APS style cites sources using consecutive numbers in square brackets on the line of text. While print journals such as Physical Review B historically typeset references in superscript, standard compuscripts use bracketed numerals.

In-Text Placement

Unlike author-date systems such as Harvard in-text citation or notes styles like Turabian book citation, APS numerals integrate into sentence syntax:

• Single citation: “Spectroscopic measurements [1] confirm this phase transition.”
• Multiple sources: “Earlier measurements [2, 4, 7] yielded contrasting values.”
• Consecutive ranges: “Numerical simulations [3–6] show plasma boundary stability.”
• Named author: “As demonstrated by Sterling and Chen [2], vapor pressure governs crystal growth.”

REVTeX and LaTeX Usage

Physics compuscripts are typically authored in LaTeX with the American Physical Society’s REVTeX 4.2 package and apsrev4-2.bst:

% In text:
Experimental data cite{Vance2021} align with models cite{Sterling2022,Hawthorne2020}.

% REVTeX collapses consecutive references:
cite{ref1,ref2,ref3,ref5} % Renders as [1–3, 5]

For journals formatting citations in superscript, REVTeX provides onlinecite{tag} to output an inline reference (e.g., “Ref. 1”).

Common errors

Physics manuscripts often face editorial delays from common referencing mistakes:

• Including journal article titles: APS standard references intentionally omit article titles to conserve print space.
• Premature “et al.” truncation: APS rules mandate listing all authors up to 10. Only works with 11 or more authors use “et al.” after the first 10 names.
• Alphabetizing the reference list: References must strictly follow the chronological order of appearance in the text.
• Adding chapter titles: Citations for edited collections cite chapter authors and jump directly to “in [Book Title]”.
• Adding book URLs: Monograph entries should not include URLs or access dates when standard publication data exists.
• Confusing AP style with APS: Associated Press journalism style uses conversational attribution rather than reference lists.

Style-guide edition

The governing standards for American Physical Society citations are documented in the APS Journals Style Guide for Authors and the Physical Review Style and Notation Guide, aligned with REVTeX 4.2. In university physics departments, these rules are reinforced by the American Institute of Physics (AIP) Style Manual (4th edition).

Across scholarly publishing, APS conventions sit alongside current benchmark editions: APA 7th Edition (2020), MLA 9th Edition (2021), and Chicago Manual of Style 18th Edition (2024). Physics authors should compile manuscripts against the latest REVTeX release for compliance.

FAQ

What is the difference between APS referencing and APA style?

APS referencing is a numeric citation system for physics that places bracketed numbers (e.g., [1]) in text and omits article titles in references. APA style (7th edition) is an author-date system for social sciences using parenthetical author names and years (e.g., Smith, 2024) with an alphabetized bibliography containing full titles and DOIs.

How do you cite sources in AP citation style?

Associated Press (AP) style is a journalistic standard that does not use reference lists, footnotes, or bracketed numbers. Instead, journalists integrate attribution directly into narrative sentences (e.g., “According to a study released Wednesday by researchers at Oxford…”).

When should “et al.” be used in APS style reference lists?

In APS reference lists, “et al.” is permitted only when a cited source has 11 or more authors. Authors must list the first 10 authors in full (initials and surname) followed by “et al.” Works with 10 or fewer authors must name every contributor.

How are journal titles formatted in APS citations?

Journal titles are abbreviated according to international physical science standards (e.g., Phys. Rev. Lett., J. Appl. Phys.). Volume numbers appear in boldface type immediately following the abbreviated title.

Sources

• University of Warwick Library. “Quick guide to referencing: APS.” Accessed November 8, 2026. https://warwick.ac.uk/services/library/students/referencing/referencing-styles/aps-referencing-guide.pdf.
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Department of Physics. American Institute of Physics (AIP) Style Manual, 4th ed. (1990). Accessed November 8, 2026. https://courses.physics.illinois.edu/PHYS496/sp2021/Resources/AIP_Style_4thed.pdf.
• Cornell University Laboratory for Accelerator-based Sciences and Education. “REVTeX Information for APS: Compuscript Instructions – Endnotes and references.” Accessed November 8, 2026. https://www.classe.cornell.edu/~cleoac/revtex/manaps/node20.html.