Citation Style Settings

Citation Style Settings

Configure the default citation style for your site. These settings control how citations and bibliographies are formatted across all posts.

Accessing Settings

Navigate to References > Settings > Citation Style.

Citation Style Settings

Citation style settings tab

Default Citation Style

Selecting a Style

  1. Use the search box to find your style
  2. Type by name: “APA”, “Harvard”, “Nature”
  3. Or browse the list
  4. Click to select

Style Preview

After selecting, preview shows:

  • Sample in-text citation
  • Sample bibliography entry
  • Both for an article and a book

Verify formatting matches your requirements before saving.

Saving

Click Save Changes to apply site-wide.

Popular Styles Quick Select

Commonly used styles have quick-select buttons:

ButtonStyle
APA 7thAmerican Psychological Association, 7th edition
MLA 9thModern Language Association, 9th edition
Chicago Author-DateChicago Manual of Style, author-date
Chicago NotesChicago Manual of Style, notes-bibliography
HarvardHarvard referencing
IEEEInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
VancouverVancouver style for medicine

Searching Styles

The style library includes 10,700+ styles.

Search Tips

By organization:

  • “American Psychological” → APA
  • “Nature Publishing” → Nature, Nature Communications

By journal:

  • “Science” → Science, Science Advances
  • “PLOS” → PLOS ONE, PLOS Biology

By university:

  • “Harvard” → Harvard referencing
  • “Chicago” → Chicago styles

By discipline:

  • “Medicine” → Vancouver, AMA
  • “Law” → Bluebook, OSCOLA

Style Categories

Author-Date Styles

Citations show author and year: (Smith, 2020)

  • APA
  • Harvard
  • Chicago Author-Date
  • Most social science journals

Numeric Styles

Citations are numbered: [1] or (1)

  • IEEE
  • Vancouver
  • Nature
  • Most science journals

Note Styles

Citations use footnotes/endnotes

  • Chicago Notes-Bibliography
  • Turabian
  • OSCOLA (law)

Custom CSL Files

Upload custom Citation Style Language files for:

  • Institutional requirements
  • Modified standard styles
  • New or uncommon styles

Uploading a Custom Style

  1. Scroll to Custom Styles section
  2. Click Upload CSL File
  3. Select your .csl file
  4. File validates automatically
  5. Custom style appears in your list

Finding CSL Files

Official sources:

  • Zotero Style Repository: zotero.org/styles
  • CSL Project: citationstyles.org

Some journals provide their CSL files for authors.

Editing CSL Files

CSL files are XML. Edit with:

  • Text editor (for simple changes)
  • CSL Visual Editor (citationstyles.org/visual-editor)

Warning: Invalid CSL may break citations. Test thoroughly.

Managing Custom Styles

View and manage uploaded styles:

  • Rename for clarity
  • Delete unused styles
  • Download to edit and re-upload

Style Variants

Some styles have variants:

Language Variants

Same style in different languages:

  • APA (English)
  • APA (German)
  • APA (Spanish)

Citations use localized terms (“and” vs “und” vs “y”).

Version Variants

Different editions:

  • APA 6th Edition (older)
  • APA 7th Edition (current)
  • MLA 8th vs 9th

Use the most current unless specified otherwise.

Publication Variants

Journal-specific adaptations:

  • Nature
  • Nature Communications
  • Nature Medicine

Subtle differences in formatting.

Locale Settings

Language

Set the language for citation terms:

  • “and” / “et” / “und”
  • “eds.” / “Hrsg.”
  • Month names
  • Sorting rules

Date Format

How dates appear:

  • MM/DD/YYYY (US)
  • DD/MM/YYYY (UK/EU)
  • YYYY-MM-DD (ISO)

Most styles specify format; locale is fallback.

Style Information

Each style shows:

  • Title: Full style name
  • Short name: Abbreviated version
  • Category: Author-date, numeric, note
  • Updated: When CSL was last updated
  • License: Usage terms (usually open)

Per-Post Override

By default, all posts use the site-wide style.

For future feature (planned):

  • Override style per post
  • Useful for multi-discipline sites
  • Set in post editor

Currently: Change site-wide style when needed.

Testing Styles

Before Changing

  1. Note your current style
  2. Preview new style thoroughly
  3. Test with various reference types
  4. Check special cases (multiple authors, no date)

After Changing

  1. Clear citation cache
  2. View several posts
  3. Check bibliographies render correctly
  4. Verify special characters display

Troubleshooting

Style not found

  • Try different search terms
  • Check spelling
  • Browse by category
  • May need to upload custom CSL

Preview looks wrong

  • Preview uses sample data
  • Your references may differ
  • Check actual posts after saving

Citations not updating

  • Clear citation cache
  • Clear page/browser cache
  • Hard refresh pages

Custom style not working

  • Validate CSL file
  • Check for XML errors
  • Test with CSL validator online

Wrong language in citations

  • Check locale settings
  • Use language-specific variant
  • Edit CSL for custom terms

Best Practices

  1. Choose early – Set style before adding many references
  2. Match requirements – Use exact style your publication requires
  3. Test thoroughly – Check multiple reference types
  4. Document changes – Note why you chose a style
  5. Keep backups – Export custom CSL files

Next Steps

Last updated: January 31, 2026