What does a Plos reference list entry look like?

A journal article formatted in Plos looks like this: 1. Rivera M, Chen D. The mapping of meaning: A study of citation practice. Journal of Scholarly Communication. 2021;12: 145–162. doi:10.1000/jsc.2021.145

How can I generate a Plos citation?

Use the free generator on this page: paste a DOI, URL (e.g. a news article), or BibTeX, or search for a book by title or author. Select Plos as the citation style and click Generate to get a formatted reference you can copy into your paper or bibliography.

Plos Citation Generator

Create accurate Plos citations for books, articles, and websites in one click.

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Plos citation examples

The same three sources formatted in Plos — a numeric style: sources are numbered in the order they are first cited, and in-text citations use those numbers:

Journal article: 1. Rivera M, Chen D. The mapping of meaning: A study of citation practice. Journal of Scholarly Communication. 2021;12: 145–162. doi:10.1000/jsc.2021.145
Book: 2. Okafor A. The craft of research writing. 2nd ed. Cambridge: University Press; 2019.
Website: 3. Larsen S. How peer review works. In: Open Science Digest [Internet]. 14 May 2023 [cited 10 Jan 2024]. Available: https://www.example.org/peer-review
In-text citation (for the journal article): [1]

About Plos

Citation style for Plos. From the Citation Style Language repository.

When to use Plos: When submitting to or citing in publications that use the Plos style. Common in: International.

Subject areas: science.

How to use this Plos generator

Paste a DOI, a URL to a news article or webpage, or raw BibTeX into the box above. You can also search for a book by title or author and cite it by ISBN. Choose "Plos" in the style dropdown (it's pre-selected on this page), then click "Generate citation." Copy the result into your reference list or bibliography. You can edit the generated entry (e.g. fix a title or add a date) before copying.

Frequently asked questions about Plos

What is Plos?: Citation style for Plos. From the Citation Style Language repository.
When should I use Plos?: When submitting to or citing in publications that use the Plos style.
What does an in-text citation look like in Plos?: Plos is a numeric style: sources are numbered in the order they are first cited, and in-text citations use those numbers. Citing our sample journal article in the text looks like: [1]
What does a Plos reference list entry look like?: A journal article formatted in Plos looks like this: 1. Rivera M, Chen D. The mapping of meaning: A study of citation practice. Journal of Scholarly Communication. 2021;12: 145–162. doi:10.1000/jsc.2021.145
How can I generate a Plos citation?: Use the free generator on this page: paste a DOI, URL (e.g. a news article), or BibTeX, or search for a book by title or author. Select Plos as the citation style and click Generate to get a formatted reference you can copy into your paper or bibliography.

CitationEasy supports many citation styles from around the world. Our generator uses Citation Style Language (CSL) styles from the official CSL repository.