Citation style language
Encyclopedia
The Citation Style Language (CSL) is an open XML
-based language to describe the formatting of citation
s and bibliographies. Reference management programs
using CSL include Zotero
, Mendeley
and Papers
.
-based "CiteProc
" CSL processor. CSL was further developed in collaboration with Zotero
developer Simon Kornblith. First released in 2006, Zotero
became the first application to adopt CSL. Members of the Zotero
user community subsequently contributed the majority of currently available CSL styles. In 2008 Mendeley
was released with CSL support, and in 2011, Papers
and Qiqqa
gained support for CSL-based citation formatting.
The releases of CSL are 0.8 (March 21, 2009), 0.8.1 (February 1, 2010) and 1.0 (March 22, 2010). CSL 1.0, developed by D'Arcus, Frank Bennett and Rintze Zelle, is a backward-incompatible release.
, Mendeley
, Papers
and Qiqqa
all support CSL 1.0 (Zotero
also supports CSL 0.8.1 styles, which are internally updated to CSL 1.0). Zotero
, Mendeley
and Qiqqa
rely on the citeproc-js JavaScript CSL processor. CSL 1.0 processors have also been written in Haskell (citeproc-hs), PHP, Python, and Ruby.
Styles in the 0.8.1 format can be automatically updated to the CSL 1.0 format.
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
-based language to describe the formatting of citation
Citation
Broadly, a citation is a reference to a published or unpublished source . More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated alphanumeric expression Broadly, a citation is a reference to a published or unpublished source (not always the original source). More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated...
s and bibliographies. Reference management programs
Reference management software
Reference management software, citation management software or personal bibliographic management software is software for scholars and authors to use for recording and utilising bibliographic citations . Once a citation has been recorded, it can be used time and again in generating bibliographies,...
using CSL include Zotero
Zotero
Zotero is free, open source reference management software to manage bibliographic data and related research materials . Notable features include web browser integration, online syncing, generation of in-text citations, footnotes and bibliographies, as well as integration with the word processors...
, Mendeley
Mendeley
Mendeley is a desktop and web program for managing and sharing research papers, discovering research data and collaborating online. It combines Mendeley Desktop, a PDF and reference management application with Mendeley Web, an online social network for researchers. Mendeley requires the user to...
and Papers
Papers (software)
Papers is reference management software for Mac OS X, used to manage bibliographies and references when writing essays and articles. It is primarily used to organize references and maintain a library of PDF documents, and also provides a uniform interface for document repository searches, metadata...
.
History
CSL was created by Bruce D'Arcus for use with OpenOffice, and an XSLTXSLT
XSLT is a declarative, XML-based language used for the transformation of XML documents. The original document is not changed; rather, a new document is created based on the content of an existing one. The new document may be serialized by the processor in standard XML syntax or in another format,...
-based "CiteProc
CiteProc
CiteProc is the generic name for programs that produce formatted bibliographies and citations based on the metadata of the cited objects and the formatting instructions provided by Citation Style Language styles...
" CSL processor. CSL was further developed in collaboration with Zotero
Zotero
Zotero is free, open source reference management software to manage bibliographic data and related research materials . Notable features include web browser integration, online syncing, generation of in-text citations, footnotes and bibliographies, as well as integration with the word processors...
developer Simon Kornblith. First released in 2006, Zotero
Zotero
Zotero is free, open source reference management software to manage bibliographic data and related research materials . Notable features include web browser integration, online syncing, generation of in-text citations, footnotes and bibliographies, as well as integration with the word processors...
became the first application to adopt CSL. Members of the Zotero
Zotero
Zotero is free, open source reference management software to manage bibliographic data and related research materials . Notable features include web browser integration, online syncing, generation of in-text citations, footnotes and bibliographies, as well as integration with the word processors...
user community subsequently contributed the majority of currently available CSL styles. In 2008 Mendeley
Mendeley
Mendeley is a desktop and web program for managing and sharing research papers, discovering research data and collaborating online. It combines Mendeley Desktop, a PDF and reference management application with Mendeley Web, an online social network for researchers. Mendeley requires the user to...
was released with CSL support, and in 2011, Papers
Papers (software)
Papers is reference management software for Mac OS X, used to manage bibliographies and references when writing essays and articles. It is primarily used to organize references and maintain a library of PDF documents, and also provides a uniform interface for document repository searches, metadata...
and Qiqqa
Qiqqa
Qiqqa is freeware and freemium reference management software that allows researchers to work with thousands of PDFs. It combines PDF reference management tools, a citation manager and a mind map brainstorming tool. It integrates with Microsoft Word XP, 2003, 2007 and 2010 and BibTeX/LaTeX to...
gained support for CSL-based citation formatting.
The releases of CSL are 0.8 (March 21, 2009), 0.8.1 (February 1, 2010) and 1.0 (March 22, 2010). CSL 1.0, developed by D'Arcus, Frank Bennett and Rintze Zelle, is a backward-incompatible release.
Software Support
ZoteroZotero
Zotero is free, open source reference management software to manage bibliographic data and related research materials . Notable features include web browser integration, online syncing, generation of in-text citations, footnotes and bibliographies, as well as integration with the word processors...
, Mendeley
Mendeley
Mendeley is a desktop and web program for managing and sharing research papers, discovering research data and collaborating online. It combines Mendeley Desktop, a PDF and reference management application with Mendeley Web, an online social network for researchers. Mendeley requires the user to...
, Papers
Papers (software)
Papers is reference management software for Mac OS X, used to manage bibliographies and references when writing essays and articles. It is primarily used to organize references and maintain a library of PDF documents, and also provides a uniform interface for document repository searches, metadata...
and Qiqqa
Qiqqa
Qiqqa is freeware and freemium reference management software that allows researchers to work with thousands of PDFs. It combines PDF reference management tools, a citation manager and a mind map brainstorming tool. It integrates with Microsoft Word XP, 2003, 2007 and 2010 and BibTeX/LaTeX to...
all support CSL 1.0 (Zotero
Zotero
Zotero is free, open source reference management software to manage bibliographic data and related research materials . Notable features include web browser integration, online syncing, generation of in-text citations, footnotes and bibliographies, as well as integration with the word processors...
also supports CSL 0.8.1 styles, which are internally updated to CSL 1.0). Zotero
Zotero
Zotero is free, open source reference management software to manage bibliographic data and related research materials . Notable features include web browser integration, online syncing, generation of in-text citations, footnotes and bibliographies, as well as integration with the word processors...
, Mendeley
Mendeley
Mendeley is a desktop and web program for managing and sharing research papers, discovering research data and collaborating online. It combines Mendeley Desktop, a PDF and reference management application with Mendeley Web, an online social network for researchers. Mendeley requires the user to...
and Qiqqa
Qiqqa
Qiqqa is freeware and freemium reference management software that allows researchers to work with thousands of PDFs. It combines PDF reference management tools, a citation manager and a mind map brainstorming tool. It integrates with Microsoft Word XP, 2003, 2007 and 2010 and BibTeX/LaTeX to...
rely on the citeproc-js JavaScript CSL processor. CSL 1.0 processors have also been written in Haskell (citeproc-hs), PHP, Python, and Ruby.
Styles
The CSL project maintains a CSL 1.0 style repository at https://github.com/citation-style-language/styles, which contains over 1700 styles. These styles can be browsed and searched via the Zotero Style Repository.Styles in the 0.8.1 format can be automatically updated to the CSL 1.0 format.
External links
- Project home of the Citation Style Language
- Zotero's CSL documentation
- WYSIWYG CSL 1.0 style editor (in development, by MendeleyMendeleyMendeley is a desktop and web program for managing and sharing research papers, discovering research data and collaborating online. It combines Mendeley Desktop, a PDF and reference management application with Mendeley Web, an online social network for researchers. Mendeley requires the user to...
)
Other XML-based bibliographic metadata systems
- OSBIB, another approach to using XMLXMLExtensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
style files for bibliographic metadataMetadataThe term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at... - BiblioX, Peter Flynn's 2004 experiment in creating an XMLXMLExtensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
-based system for formatting bibliographic citations and references using XSLTXSLTXSLT is a declarative, XML-based language used for the transformation of XML documents. The original document is not changed; rather, a new document is created based on the content of an existing one. The new document may be serialized by the processor in standard XML syntax or in another format,...