def METHOD_NAME(citation, title=False):
    """
    Very basic and minimal formatter for citations. It
    is adopted from basic ACS style formatting. Fields within
    [] are optional.
    <authors> [journal] <year>; [doi]
    Note that the formatter cannot fromat latex
    like syntax (e.g. a{\"} for ae)
    """
    # first we split the author-list
    citation_string = ""
    # the spaces around the and are required!
    for match in citation["author"].split(" and "):
        last_name, first_names = match.split(",", 1)
        citation_string += last_name.strip() + ","
        for name in first_names.strip().split(' '):
            citation_string += " " + name.strip()[0]
        citation_string += "; "
    if "journal" in citation:
        citation_string += " " + citation["journal"]
    citation_string += " " + citation["year"]
    if "doi" in citation:
        citation_string += "; " + citation["doi"]
    return citation_string