It is not possible to remember all of the standards set by official bodies, but yet you must follow the rules and be consistent. You can turn to these guides for help.

We use the following resources as standards and guides to style.

For overall guidance, use:

• Council of Biology Editors. Scientific style and format. 6th ed. Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press; 1994.

This book is good because it covers many scientific disciplines in detail and references the decisions of important international committees. The 7th edition will be available June 2006. You can preview some of the changes.)

For questions of reference style, use:

• Patrias K. National Library of Medicine recommended formats for bibliographic citation. Bethesda (MD): U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health; 1991.
• Patrias K. National Library of Medicine recommended formats for bibliographic citation. Supplement: internet formats. Bethesda (MD): U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health; 2001.

This pair of documents is probably the most complete recording of reference requirements you may ever see. PDFs for these documents are available. By the end of 2006, an updated, combined electronic version will be available on the Bookshelf as “Citing Medicine: The NLM Style Guide for Authors, Editors, and Publishers”.

For a quick overview of reference styles in “The NCBI Style Guide”, see Special Content, References.

For questions of chemical style, use:

• International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry and International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. IUPAC-IUBMB Joint Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature and Nomenclature Commission of IUBMB. Available from: IUPAC.

This Union is the nomenclature authority.