Supported citation formats in Lattuce — APA, Vancouver, Nature, and 27 more
Lattuce Writer supports 30 citation formats — APA, Vancouver, Nature, and more. Preview in-text and bibliography, then lock a style before Word export.
A journal desk will bounce a manuscript for the wrong bibliography as quickly as for a weak claim. Lattuce Writer ships a curated catalog of 30 citation formats so you can match a venue, compare how a source looks in-text and in the reference list, and lock one style for the whole paper before you export to Word.
This is the full catalog. An earlier citation style preview walkthrough used five common starters (APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, IEEE). The picker has grown: those five are still the fastest way in, and the dialog now searches and compares thirty curated styles.
Lattuce is the research-and-writing layer at lattuce.app — academic writing with sources you can check, not a Notion replacement. Formatting uses Citation Style Language (CSL) — shared style definitions many tools use. CSL is not a copy-edit guarantee for every special issue.
Who this is for
| You are… | This catalog helps when… |
|---|---|
| Article or thesis author | The target journal names a house style (Nature, Vancouver, OSCOLA) and you need to confirm Lattuce can format it |
| Co-author switching venues | You resubmit from a social-science draft (APA) to a medical journal (Vancouver) without rebuilding the library |
| Supervisor or lab admin | You want one paper-wide style the group can preview before anyone pastes into Word |
Zotero (or another manager) still owns collecting and tagging references. Lattuce formats what is already on the paper. Import and BibTeX handoff stay complementary — see Lattuce with Zotero.
Before you start
| You need | Notes |
|---|---|
| A paper project in Lattuce | Library → Papers → New paper, or open an existing manuscript |
| Writer workspace | Open Write (or Compose) for that paper |
| Optional: sources attached | Preview is clearer when a source is selected or open in Details |
| Optional: a venue name | Journal, faculty handbook, or publisher — so you can search the catalog instead of guessing |
No extra AI keys are required to browse or apply a citation style. New to the product? Try Lattuce without signup on a demo paper.
The default on a new paper is APA 7th. Change it when the venue asks for something else.
How to find and set a style
- Open the paper in Write.
- In the References strip at the bottom of the editor (wide layouts), open the Citation style control. On narrower layouts, the same control is under More in the paper header.
- Click Preview to open Citation style preview.
- Type in Search styles… — names such as
vancouver,nature, oroscolafilter the list. - Compare the live In-text citation and Bibliography entry for the same metadata. Copy either string if you need it in email or a supervisor comment.
- Click Use this style to save that choice on the paper, or change the style dropdown next to Preview to set it without the dialog.
The preview can prefill from Details, from a source you marked for compose, or from a built-in sample. Edits you type inside the preview are for comparison only — they do not save to your bibliography. Save metadata in Details when the library record should change.
Use preview when you are still choosing (APA vs Vancouver, Harvard vs SAGE Harvard). Lock the paper style when you are ready for live in-text markers, the References strip, and Word export to stay in sync. The preview guide covers prefill order and copy buttons in more detail.
Path A — Journal sciences (numeric)
Best when the venue uses numbered citations — engineering, chemistry, life sciences, and most clinical journals.
Search for IEEE, Vancouver (Elsevier), AMA, ACS, Nature, Science, Cell, The Lancet, BMJ, or PLOS. In-text markers are numeric (for example [1]) rather than (Author, Year). Lock the style before you draft so Compose chips match the journal’s habit.
Path B — Humanities and law (author–date or notes)
Best for theses, history, literature, and legal writing.
Start with MLA 9th, Chicago (author-date), Turabian, or Harvard. For law, search OSCOLA, AGLC, or Bluebook. These are typically author–date or note styles as labeled — preview a book chapter and a journal article before you commit, because punctuation and italic titles differ more than the in-text form.
Path C — Publisher house styles
Best when the author guidelines say “follow our house style” rather than a named handbook.
Search the publisher: Springer Basic, Springer SocPsych, Wiley, Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Taylor & Francis, SAGE Harvard, Elsevier Harvard, Frontiers, MDPI, or Copernicus. House styles are close cousins of Harvard or Vancouver; preview still matters because bibliography punctuation is not identical.
Supported formats (thirty styles)
Grouped for scanning. Labels match the Writer picker.
Common academic starters
| Style in Writer | Typical use |
|---|---|
| APA 7th (default) | Social sciences, education, many interdisciplinary journals |
| Chicago (author-date) | History and mixed-method work that wants author–date, not footnotes |
| MLA 9th | Humanities and some conference papers |
| Harvard | UK and Commonwealth theses; a common faculty default |
| Turabian | Student theses that follow Chicago’s student handbook |
STEM journals
| Style in Writer | Typical use |
|---|---|
| IEEE | Engineering — numeric in-text markers |
| ACS | Chemistry — numeric |
| Nature | Nature family — numeric |
| Science | AAAS Science — numeric |
| Cell | Cell Press — numeric |
| Royal Society | Royal Society journals |
Medicine and health
| Style in Writer | Typical use |
|---|---|
| Vancouver (Elsevier) | Clinical and biomedical journals — numeric |
| AMA | Medical association journals — numeric |
| The Lancet | Lancet family — numeric |
| BMJ | BMJ journals — numeric |
| PLOS | PLOS journals — numeric |
Publisher house styles
| Style in Writer | Typical use |
|---|---|
| Springer Basic | Springer journals that cite the basic template |
| Springer SocPsych | Springer social / psychology titles |
| Wiley | Wiley author guidelines |
| Cambridge University Press | CUP journals and books |
| Oxford University Press | OUP journals and books |
| Taylor & Francis | T&F journals |
| SAGE Harvard | SAGE titles that specify Harvard |
| Elsevier Harvard | Elsevier titles that specify Harvard (not Vancouver) |
| Frontiers | Frontiers journals |
| MDPI | MDPI journals |
| Copernicus | Copernicus / EGU-style journals |
Law
| Style in Writer | Typical use |
|---|---|
| OSCOLA | UK and common-law academic legal writing |
| AGLC | Australian Guide to Legal Citation |
| Bluebook | US legal citation |
Numeric in-text markers (as shipped): IEEE, Vancouver, AMA, ACS, Nature, Science, Cell, The Lancet, BMJ, and PLOS. The rest are typically author–date or note styles as labeled in the picker.
What the style changes in the pipeline
| Stage | What the paper style affects |
|---|---|
| Compose | In-text markers and citation chips follow the locked style (numeric vs author–date) |
| Live References strip | Bibliography lines for sources you have cited reformat immediately |
| Export to Word | The reference section in the .docx uses the same paper style |
| BibTeX download | Still available from the References strip for a handoff to Overleaf or Zotero — download does not replace the Word bibliography |
Citation verification — whether a sentence actually matches the source — is a different Compose check. Do not treat a correctly styled (Lee, 2021) as proof the claim is grounded. That flow lives in the literature review guide.
After the bibliography looks right, export and layout still have their own passes: sources to DOCX and thesis format check.
Honest limits
- Thirty curated styles, not every CSL file on the web. If a special issue invents a one-off variant, pick the closest house style and fix the last mile in Word.
- CSL formatting is not a journal copy-edit. Ahead-of-print, supplements, and legal pinpoint cites often need a human pass.
- Zotero still owns the reference manager job. Lattuce does not write citations back into your Zotero library. Keep collecting there; format and write here.
- Preview edits are disposable. Changing a title in the dialog does not update the source record.
- Lattuce is not a team wiki. Keep lab notes in Notion or your vault; use Writer when the work must become a cited manuscript.
Related reading
- Citation style preview in Lattuce — how the compare dialog, prefill, and copy buttons work
- Literature review with Lattuce — research through Compose, including citation checks (not style formatting)
- Sources to DOCX — export path after you lock a style
- Thesis format check — layout pass once citations are stable
- Try Lattuce without signup — open Writer on a demo paper
- Lattuce with Zotero — import and BibTeX handoff; Zotero remains the manager
Bottom line
Lattuce Writer supports thirty curated citation formats — from APA 7th (the default) through Vancouver, Nature, and Bluebook. Search the catalog, preview in-text and bibliography on your own metadata, then lock one paper-wide style so Compose, the References strip, and Word export stay aligned. Use preview to choose; lock the style to ship. Keep Zotero for the library, and treat CSL output as a strong draft, not the journal’s last word.