Citation Styles by Academic Discipline

Quick Answer: Which Citation Style Does My Field Use?

Start with the document that will grade or publish the paper. If that document is silent, use the field default below, then confirm it against a recent article in a top journal in that field. Do not mix two manuals in one paper.

Harvard College's writing program states the campus-level rule in one paragraph that this map does not replace:

That paragraph is from Citing Sources in the Harvard Guide to Using Sources. It names the three styles most college papers actually use. This page inventories the other official manuals that appear once you leave a first-year writing course.

Current Official Editions

Naming a style without an edition is how APA 6 running heads, Chicago 17 city-of-publication rules, and IEEE en-dash ranges survive on new papers. Unless the instructor still specifies an older handbook, use the current official edition.

Why Fields Cluster Around Different Systems

Styles are designed around what a field needs the reader to see. Author-date styles put the year in the sentence so a methods reader can judge recency. Notes styles keep the prose clean and park archives, commentary, and unusual sources in footnotes. Numbered styles keep engineering and clinical sentences short. Chicago is one manual with two systems; the official Quick Guide says which fields prefer which:

Those sentences are from the Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide, opened for this rewrite. CMOS 18 points to chapter 13 for the two systems and chapter 14 for source examples. CMOS 14.30 no longer requires a place of publication for a modern book. If an assignment says "Chicago" and nothing else, ask whether it wants notes or author-date. Turabian vs Chicago explains the student-handbook case: Turabian 9 (2018) is still the published student book and follows CMOS 17 examples; the tenth edition is announced for 8 October 2026 and is not yet the handbook a September 2026 syllabus usually means.

Official Samples, Not Invented Restyles

These are official handbook or style-center strings, not one fake source rewritten four ways. Use them to recognize the family. Do not copy a sample from the wrong manual into your paper.

The Yu note is the live CMOS 18 book model: publisher and year, no city. The Harvard Guide still prints a Durham city for Ho because that campus page has not been restyled to CMOS 14.30. If your history syllabus names Chicago 18, follow Yu, not the leftover city. The Niepel reference is APA Style's own current journal example; four authors become et al. from the first APA in-text citation.

Humanities Disciplines

Literature, languages, and composition

Start with MLA 9th edition (2021). MLA is built around the work and the page, not the year, which fits close reading. The Modern Language Association states that the handbook is the only official book on the style and names the classrooms it is written for:

Those sentences are from the official MLA Handbook, ninth edition product page. Free examples live at the MLA Style Center. History-of-the-book or archival literature courses sometimes switch to Chicago notes. Compare systems in MLA vs Chicago only after the course has named one. See literature and the literature citation guide.

History

Start with Chicago notes-bibliography. History readers expect a footnote that can carry an archive box, a newspaper dateline, or a short argument about the source. That is CMOS 18's notes system, not APA with extra commas. If the assignment says Turabian, use the published student handbook: Turabian 9th edition (2018) still follows CMOS 17 examples, including a city of publication for a modern book. Do not silently upgrade a Turabian paper to CMOS 18 unless the thesis office says so. See history, the history citation guide, and how to cite a dissertation in Chicago.

Philosophy, arts, and religious studies

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Psychology, education, social work, and US nursing coursework

Start with APA 7th edition (2020). Psychology built the style; education, social work, communication, and most US nursing programs adopted the same author-date system because the year sits in the sentence. Harvard's Guide to Using Sources restates that campus fact: APA "is primarily used for papers in the social sciences." The official journal model is Niepel et al. (2025) in the Common Reference Examples Guide dated 3 March 2026. Field pages: psychology, education, social work, nursing. Longer walkthroughs: psychology citation guide, education citation guide, social work citation guide, nursing citation guide.

Sociology

Start with ASA, not APA, unless the syllabus names APA. The American Sociological Association publishes its own author-date manual for ASA journals and for departments that adopt it:

That sentence is from the official ASA Style Guide page (last updated 29 October 2024). The current print edition is the 7th (2022). ASA looks like Chicago author-date, but it is not a substitute for CMOS and it is not APA: the in-text page mark uses a colon, as in (Lopez 2022:14), and the end list is headed References. Nearby psychology courses still want APA. See sociology and ASA vs APA.

Political science

Start with APSA for APSA journals, or Chicago for many theory and historical-institution courses. APSA's own site calls the manual the field standard and then chooses Chicago's author-date system, not notes:

Those sentences are from the APSA Style Manual and its parenthetical citations chapter, opened for this rewrite. The public manual still cites CMOS 17 section numbers. Official parentheticals on that page include (Arena 2014) and (Jentleson 2015, 12–14). A public-policy or behavioral course may instead require APA. See political science.

Anthropology, economics, communication, and criminology

Anthropology is the field where a 2015 decision still trips students. The American Anthropological Association retired its own style guide and later moved journals to free-format submission. Its Publishing Style Guide (last reviewed July 2026) is the current association page:

Health Sciences

Medicine and clinical research

Start with the target journal. Most biomedical journals follow the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors and number references in order of first mention. ICMJE then sends authors to the National Library of Medicine for the reference forms:

Those sentences are from Preparing a Manuscript for Submission to a Medical Journal. The public sample list is NLM Samples of Formatted References (last reviewed 2 June 2026). NLM's first official journal-article example is a real New England Journal of Medicine paper:

Vancouver and NLM are names for that numbered ICMJE/NLM family. They are not identical to AMA. JAMA Network journals require AMA 11th edition (2020). JAMA Network Open's Instructions for Authors state the house rule in one sentence:

That sentence is from the JAMA Network Open Instructions for Authors manuscript-style paragraph (footnote markers omitted). Superscript versus parentheses still varies by journal. Compare AMA vs Vancouver and see medicine and the medical citation guide.

Nursing, public health, pharmacy, and allied health

Do not assume medicine's numbered style. US nursing coursework almost always wants APA 7; a clinical journal may still want Vancouver or AMA. Public health splits the same way: APA for behavioral and policy papers, Vancouver or AMA for epidemiology. Pharmacy often follows AMA or the target journal. Physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology programs usually teach APA. Harvard's Guide to Using Sources flags the science-course exception on the same citing-sources page:

See nursing, public health, pharmacy, and nursing citation guide.

STEM Disciplines

Chemistry

Start with ACS. The current manual is the ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication, References chapter 4.3. The open-access ACS Style Quick Guide (DOI 10.1021/acsguide.40303; last updated 14 April 2026) is the official example set. Harvard's citing-sources page names that society guide as the chemistry-course default:

The Quick Guide's first journal-article row is a real Nature Chemistry paper, not an invented molecule:

See chemistry, the chemistry citation guide, and ACS vs APA.

Biology, physics, and mathematics

Biology's association manual is The CSE Manual, 9th edition (2024), Chapter 29. The free CSE Citation Quick Guide is explicit that CSE is three systems, not one:

Engineering and computer science

Start with IEEE for electrical, computer, and many other engineering courses. The current citation source is the IEEE Reference Style Guide for Authors (IEEE Publication Operations, V 3.28.2025). Older handouts still cite the 12 August 2022 Reference Guide. The student-visible change is that consecutive reference numbers are no longer joined with an en dash. Section I.A is explicit:

Those sentences are from the IEEE Reference Style Guide for Authors V 3.28.2025, linked from the IEEE Editorial Style Manual page. ACM publications are a separate author-date house style. If the paper is for an ACM conference, IEEE brackets are wrong even if the department "usually uses IEEE." Mechanical and civil engineering journals may instead require ASME or ASCE house style — check that journal, do not assume IEEE. See engineering, computer science, the engineering citation guide, and IEEE vs APA.

Law, Business, and Interdisciplinary Fields

Law

US law reviews, memos, and court documents use Bluebook 22nd edition (2025). Some US legal-writing courses accept ALWD as an alternative. UK courses use OSCOLA. Australian courses use AGLC. A political-science or history paper that happens to cite a case still usually follows APA, MLA, or Chicago, not Bluebook, unless the instructor is a law faculty member. See law, the law citation guide, and how to cite legal cases.

Business and management

US business schools often assign APA. UK, Australian, and many European business programs assign Harvard — and they mean that program's own Harvard sheet, frequently Cite Them Right, 13th edition (1 May 2025), not APA and not a random Harvard CSL file. Some MBA journals accept Chicago author-date. Organizational-behavior courses usually stay with APA. See business, the business citation guide, and Harvard vs APA.

Environmental studies, architecture, and other cross-field programs

Match the methods, not the department name. An environmental-science paper that reports measurements usually follows CSE, APA, or the science journal; an environmental-history paper usually follows Chicago notes; a policy paper may follow APA or a named Harvard variant. Architecture programs often use Chicago for history and APA or a journal style for empirical work. Women's and gender studies follow the host method: MLA for literary work, Chicago for historical work, APA for social-science work. See environmental science and architecture.

How to Verify Your Discipline's Style

Stop at the first answer a reader of the paper would recognize as official.

1. Course syllabus or assignment sheet. Instructors specify the required style for that course. A psychology department custom does not override a history seminar that says Chicago notes.
2. Journal Instructions for Authors. House style outranks the field. JAMA Network Open names AMA 11; an IEEE Transactions paper names the IEEE Reference Style Guide for Authors V 3.28.2025.
3. Department handbook or thesis template. Sociology programs often specify ASA even when nearby psychology courses require APA.
4. Professional association manual. APA, MLA, CMOS, ASA, APSA, ACS, CSE, IEEE, ICMJE/NLM, AMA, and the Bluebook are the official books behind the table above.
5. Ask the instructor or advisor in writing. Harvard's citing-sources page ends the same way: if you are not sure, consult your instructor.

Failure Modes Students Actually Hit

• Treating the department as a style. Different courses in one department can require different manuals. The syllabus wins.
• Saying "Chicago" without naming the system. Notes-bibliography and author-date are both Chicago 18. Mixing footnotes with (Lopez 2022) in one paper is a restyle, not a variant.
• Using APA for sociology because a psychology course used APA. ASA is the sociology association's style. Confirm before you restyle.
• Treating "AAA style" as a living handbook. AAA retired its guide in 2015. For coursework, Chicago 18 author-date is the closest current match; for an AAA journal, read that journal's author guidelines.
• Using Vancouver for a US nursing paper. Nursing education is usually APA 7. Clinical journals may still want a numbered style.
• Using IEEE brackets on an ACM paper. ACM is author-date. The computing department default is not a conference's house style.
• Writing IEEE ranges with an en dash. V 3.28.2025 writes [1], [2], [3], [4]. Older 2022 handouts and some .bst files still emit [1]–[4].
• Using Bluebook in a history or political-science paper that cites a case. Unless the course is legal writing, cite the case in APA, MLA, or Chicago.
• Treating Harvard as one manual. Harvard is a family of author-date styles. Use the named campus or Cite Them Right 13 sheet.
• Using CSE without naming the system. Citation-sequence, citation-name, and name-year are three different papers.
• Silently upgrading Turabian 9 to CMOS 18. The student book is still the 2018 ninth edition. The tenth is announced for 8 October 2026.
• Using an outdated edition. APA 7, MLA 9, CMOS 18, ASA 7, CSE 9, AMA 11, IEEE V 3.28.2025, and Bluebook 22 are the current books unless the instructor still names an older one.
• Mixing styles in one bibliography. Pick one manual and restyle every entry. The citation style converter is for a full restyle, not for blending punctuation.

Official Sources

• Harvard Guide to Using Sources: Citing sources — take the instructor's format; MLA, APA, and Chicago are the usual campus trio.
• MLA Handbook, ninth edition and the MLA Style Center.
• Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide — official notes-bibliography and author-date samples for CMOS 18, including Yu and Kwon.
• APA Style and the Common Reference Examples Guide (3 March 2026) — official Niepel journal example.
• ASA Style Guide — 7th edition (2022).
• APSA Style Manual — 2018 manual.
• AAA Publishing Style Guide — free-format journals; CMOS 18 author-date for historic "AAA style."
• ICMJE: Preparing a manuscript and NLM sample references (last reviewed 2 June 2026).
• JAMA Network Open Instructions for Authors and the AMA Manual of Style.
• CSE Citation Quick Guide — CSE Manual 9th edition, Chapter 29.
• ACS Style Quick Guide — ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication §4.3.3 (14 April 2026).
• IEEE Editorial Style Manual — IEEE Reference Style Guide for Authors V 3.28.2025.
• The Bluebook — 22nd edition (2025).
• UChicago Press: Turabian, tenth edition — announced for 8 October 2026.

Related Guides

• Which Citation Style Should I Use?
• When to Use APA Style
• APA vs MLA
• APA vs Chicago
• MLA vs Chicago
• ASA vs APA
• Harvard vs APA
• IEEE vs APA
• AMA vs Vancouver
• Law Citation Guide