Style Requirements

Before submitting your style to the CSL style repository, please make sure it follows our requirements:

1 - Title Abbreviations

The style name in <title/> should be written out in full. To store a title abbreviation, use the <title-short/> element, e.g.:

<info>
  <title>Modern Humanities Research Association</title>
  <title-short>MHRA</title-short>
</info>

2 - Title Diacritics

Don't remove diacritics from the style title. E.g. use <title>Associação Brasileira de Normas Técnicas</title> instead of <title>Associacao Brasileira de Normas Tecnicas</title>.

3 - Style Locale

If your style is meant to be used in one particular language, set the default-locale attribute on <style/> to the appropriate locale code. For example, CSL styles for English-language journals should typically be set to US English ("en-US") or British English ("en-GB"). For a list of languages and their locale codes, see https://github.com/citation-style-language/locales/wiki.

When using default-locale, add the chosen locale to the style title, unless the language is English. An example:

<style xmlns="http://purl.org/net/xbiblio/csl" class="in-text" version="1.0" default-locale="de-DE">
  <info>
    <title>Zeitschrift für Soziologie (German)</title>
    <id>http://www.zotero.org/styles/zeitschrift-fur-soziologie</id>
  </info>
</style>

4 - File Name

The file name of a style should be based on its title. However, file names may only contain lowercase roman letters (a-z), digits (0-9), and single hyphens (-), and must end with the ".csl" extension. To create the file name from the title:

• replace capitals with lowercase letters
• replace ampersands with "and" (e.g., "Arts & Health" becomes "arts-and-health.csl")
• replace spaces and apostrophes with hyphens (e.g., "Documents d'archéologie française (French)" becomes "documents-d-archeologie-francaise.csl")
• drop diacritics (e.g., "für" becomes "fur", not "fuer")
• drop text between parentheses (e.g., "Ugeskrift for Læger (Danish)" becomes "ugeskrift-for-laeger.csl")
• avoid abbreviations (e.g., use "modern-humanities-research-association.csl" instead of "mhra.csl")
• add the ".csl" extension

You can use a 'slugify' tool like https://blog.tersmitten.nl/slugify/ to quickly lowercase titles and replace spaces by hyphens, although you may have to make some more changes by hand.

5 - Style ID

The style ID must be "http://www.zotero.org/styles/file-name", with "file-name" representing the style's file name without the ".csl" extension. E.g., "http://www.zotero.org/styles/modern-humanities-research-association" for "modern-humanities-research-association.csl":

<info>
  <id>http://www.zotero.org/styles/modern-humanities-research-association</id>
</info>

6 - "self" Link

The style's "self" link, which tells where the style will available online, must match the style ID:

<info>
  <link href="http://www.zotero.org/styles/modern-humanities-research-association" rel="self"/>
</info>

7 - License

The style must be licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License. Use the exact text below, without any hard line breaks for <rights/>:

<info>
  <rights license="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License</rights>
</info>

8 - "template" Link

If you started from another CSL style, delete the original style authors and contributors, and point to the original style with a "template" link:

<info>
  <link href="http://www.zotero.org/styles/original-style" rel="template"/>
</info>

9 - ISSN and eISSN

Journal styles should list the journal's print ISSN (<issn/>) and online ISSN (<eissn/>), if available:

<info>
  <issn>0028-0836</issn>
  <eissn>1476-4687</eissn>
</info>

10 - "documentation" Link

Independent styles should have a "documentation" link that points to a description of the style's citation format. For journals this is typically the "instructions to authors" webpage. If a style guide is only available in print, provide a URL that allows us to locate a paper copy.

<info>
  <link href="http://www.mhra.org.uk/Publications/Books/StyleGuide/download.shtml" rel="documentation"/>
</info>

11 - XML Indentation

Indent the style's XML with 2 spaces per level. Some text editors support automatic indentation of XML. Alternatively, use our style formatter tool.

12 - Validation

Make sure your finished style validates against the CSL schema.

That's it! You're ready to submit your style!