How to cite a journal article in Nature
A peer-reviewed paper published in an academic journal. Numbered superscript style used by Nature and its sister journals.
Quick answer
To cite a journal article in Nature, include the author(s), year, title, and container or publisher details. A concrete example is below.
Example
Sweller, J. Cognitive load during problem solving: A reinterpretation. Cognitive Science **12**, 257-285 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1207/s15516709cog1202_4
This example is rendered with the official CSL definition for Nature. For the exact style required by your journal, paste your references into DEEPNOTIS and pick that style from the dropdown — the app covers 2,800+ variants.
What you need
For a journal article, Nature expects these fields at minimum:
- Author(s)
- Year of publication
- Article title
- Journal name
- Volume and issue number
- Page range
- DOI (if available)
Common mistakes
- Mixing bibliography formatting with in-text citation rules. Reference-list entries and in-text cites follow different patterns — use the style's official guide for both.
- Forgetting the DOI. When a DOI exists, most styles now require it (usually as a full https://doi.org/… URL).
- Inconsistent capitalization. APA uses sentence case for titles; MLA and Chicago use title case. Mixing them is the single most common style error.
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Last updated: 5 May 2026