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How do I cite NCBI services and databases?

To acknowledge NCBI services in your writing, you can refer to (1) publications that NCBI staff publishes in peer-reviewed journals or (2) to the NCBI web site (internet) and individual services/records within the site.
 
1. Publications describing NCBI services in peer-reviewed journals:


2. Citing the NCBI internet site and individual web pages and records:

  • To cite the entire NCBI site, use this format:

National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)[Internet]. Bethesda (MD): National Library of Medicine (US), National Center for Biotechnology Information; [1988] – [cited 2017 Apr 06]. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
(The date within the square brackets represents your date of citing the site.)

  • To cite an individual service or database, format your citation according to this example:

Gene [Internet]. Bethesda (MD): National Library of Medicine (US), National Center for Biotechnology Information; 2004 – [cited YYYY Mmm DD]. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/

  • To cite an individual record, format your citation according to this example:

Nucleotide [Internet]. Bethesda (MD): National Library of Medicine (US), National Center for Biotechnology Information; [1988] – . Accession No. NM_001349333.1, Homo sapiens FYN binding protein (FYB), transcript variant 4, mRNA; [cited YYYY Mmm DD]. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/NM_001349333.1

Pay attention to the correct accession format when citing individual records.


For more details also see: