ACS House Style and Claim Discipline (jacs-writing-style)

When to trigger

• The data and figures are solid and the manuscript needs language polish
• Prose is wordy, over-claimed, or uses vague boosters ("novel", "very important")
• Nomenclature, units, or abbreviations are inconsistent
• Citation style is not ACS-numbered

ACS prose conventions

• Concise and declarative. State what was done and found; avoid padding and throat-clearing.
• Tense/voice. Past tense for what you did and observed; present for established facts. Active voice is acceptable and encouraged in ACS writing where it improves clarity.
• Compound numbering. Bold numerals (e.g., 3a); the same number always means the same structure across text, schemes, and SI.
• Nomenclature. Correct IUPAC/ACS names or clearly defined trivial names; consistent throughout.
• Units and symbols. SI units, italic variables (e.g., J, T, k), roman unit symbols; spaces between number and unit (5 mol %, 80 °C).
• Abbreviations. Define at first use; use standard ACS abbreviations for reagents/solvents.
• Citations. ACS numbered style (superscript), references in citation order; abbreviated journal titles.