Citation Styles

Academic References formats citations and bibliographies using the Citation Style Language (CSL). One default style applies site-wide, and individual blocks can override it.

Set the default style

1. Go to References > Settings > Citation Style.
2. Search for and select a style. Over 10,000 styles are available, including:
   • APA (American Psychological Association)
   • MLA (Modern Language Association)
   • Chicago (author-date and notes-bibliography)
   • Harvard
   • Vancouver
   • IEEE
   • Nature, and thousands of journal-specific formats
3. Save. Every citation and bibliography now uses this style unless a block overrides it.

How styles are loaded

• Twelve popular styles ship with the plugin and load instantly.
• Any other style is fetched on demand from the official CSL styles repository the first time it is used, then cached.

Upload a custom CSL file

If you need a style that is not in the list:

1. Obtain the .csl file (for example from the CSL styles repository).
2. Go to References > Settings > Citation Style.
3. Upload the file under the custom CSL option.
4. Select it as your style and save.

Footnote style

If you cite with footnotes, the footnote numbering and format follow the footnote style option in References > Settings > Display.