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Feature requests

Bring your own citation style

Upload a CSL file for a journal or department style that isn’t in the built-in list, and cite in it everywhere.

F

Folio Team

July 6, 2026 2 min read

The idea

Alongside the built-in styles, let you upload a Citation Style Language (CSL) file, the open format thousands of journals already publish, and have Folio format your in-text citations and bibliography in it, the same way it does the standard styles. Your niche journal's house style becomes a first-class option instead of something you fix by hand at the end.

Why it matters

There are thousands of journal styles, and the seven Folio ships with (APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 18 author-date and notes, IEEE, Harvard and Vancouver) don't cover the one your target journal may actually require. Right now that means reformatting a reference list by hand at submission time, exactly the moment you have the least patience for it. Supporting CSL means "format for this specific journal" is a dropdown, not an evening.

Where we are

Not built yet. Folio's citation engine already renders its styles from CSL, so adding user-supplied CSL is an extension of something that exists rather than a new system from scratch. The main work is a safe, validated upload and a good error message when a CSL file is malformed.

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