How to cite a video in Cell
A video hosted on YouTube, Vimeo, or a similar platform. Style required by Cell Press journals.
Quick answer
To cite a video in Cell, include the author(s), year, title, and container or publisher details. A concrete example is below.
Example
Academic Writing Hub How to format a reference list. YouTube, — (2023). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=example
This example is rendered with the official CSL definition for Cell. 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 video, Cell expects these fields at minimum:
- Uploader / creator
- Year (and date for some styles)
- Video title
- Platform (YouTube, Vimeo…)
- URL
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