4authors-year-doi-url: Minimal, numeric CSL style for documents with extreme space constraints

2025 research methods

The 4authors-year-doi-url CSL style is designed to be as compact as possible—ideal for posters, slides and abstracts—while retaining the three most critical pieces of information for a reference: who (authors), when (year) and where (DOI/URL).

Features

  • In-Text Citations: Simple, superscripted numbers (e.g., 1, 2, 3).

  • Bibliography:

    • Numeric: A numbered list, ordered by appearance in the text.

    • No Titles: Article and book titles are completely omitted to save space.

  • Authors:

    • 1-3 Authors: All authors are listed.

    • 4+ Authors: Lists the first 3 authors, followed by an ellipsis (…) and the last author.

  • Year: The publication year is included in parentheses.

  • (DOI) URL: The reference ends with a DOI URL or another available URL.

Examples

In-Text Citation

We also recognise the many-to-many relationship between forms of knowledge and skills.2 To build a predictive model, we will analyse interactions between reader-level factors and a comprehensive set of computationally-derived text variables.5–8

Bibliography

1. Orben, A., & Przybylski, A. K. (2019). https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619830329
2. Hattan, C., & Kendeou, P. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2024.2418048
3. Mathers, S. J., Kolancali, P., Jelley, F., … Murphy, V. A. (2025). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2025.100665
4. Li, S., Hiver, P., & Papi, M. (Eds). (2022). https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003270546
5. Nielsen, J. L., Christensen, R. V., & Poulsen, M. (2025). https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.70003
6. Kaup, B., Günther, F., & Dudschig, C. (2025). https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.plm.2025.08.001
7. Martinc, M., Pollak, S., & Robnik-Šikonja, M. (2021). https://doi.org/10.1162/coli_a_00398
8. Bernabeu, P. (2022). https://doi.org/10.17635/lancaster/thesis/1795
9. Blasi, D. E., Henrich, J., Adamou, E., … Majid, A. (2022). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2022.09.015

How to Use

  1. Download the 4authors-year-doi-url.csl file from GitHub.

  2. Add the file to your reference manager:

  • Zotero:

    1. Go to Edit > Preferences.

    2. Go to the Cite tab and click the Styles sub-tab.

    3. Click the + button and select the .csl file you downloaded.

  • Mendeley:

    1. Go to View > Citation Style > More Styles….

    2. Go to the Custom Styles tab.

    3. Drag and drop the .csl file onto the page.

  • Other Platforms: Most reference managers (e.g., EndNote, Papers) have an option to add a custom CSL style. Consult their documentation for specific instructions.

  1. Select “4authors-year-doi-url” as the citation style in your reference manager and word processor.

Licence

This CSL file is made available under the Creative Commons 4.0 Attribution 4.0 International licence. Feel free to use, modify and distribute this CSL style.

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