diff --git a/assets/css/doors/base.css b/assets/css/doors/base.css
index 4defd74672b..cfbe2714faf 100644
--- a/assets/css/doors/base.css
+++ b/assets/css/doors/base.css
@@ -19,10 +19,15 @@ main:lang(zh){--display:'Noto Serif CJK SC','Songti SC','STSong',SimSun,serif;--
 *,*::before,*::after,.font-italic{font-style:normal!important}
 em,i:not([class]),dfn,cite,var{font-weight:600}
 .references-list :is(em,i),.references-page .article-style :is(em,i),
-:is(h2,h3,h4)[id^=references i]~:is(ul,ol,p) :is(em,i),.csl-bib-body :is(em,i){font-style:italic!important;font-weight:400}
+:is(h2,h3,h4)[id^=references i]~:is(ul,ol,p) :is(em,i),.csl-bib-body :is(em,i),
+.ref-apa :is(em,i),.rl-detail-apa :is(em,i){font-style:italic!important;font-weight:400}
+/* Publication titles from those lists keep their journal names and species in italics, at the title's weight. */
+:is(.fr-title,.fc-title,.ref-popup-title,.rl-panel-item-title) i{font-style:italic!important;font-weight:inherit}
 
 .wrap{width:min(1280px,calc(100% - 96px));margin-inline:auto}
 .visually-hidden{position:absolute;width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden;clip-path:inset(50%);white-space:nowrap}
+/* Small capitals in publication titles from Crossref (<scp>), see clusters/rich_text.html */
+.scp{font-variant:small-caps}
 .skip{position:fixed;top:-100px;inset-inline-start:12px;z-index:1100;background:var(--ink);color:#fff;padding:12px 16px}
 .skip:focus,.skip:hover{top:8px;color:#fff}
 .crumbs{font-size:15px;line-height:1.4;color:var(--ink)}
diff --git a/layouts/partials/clusters/cluster_section.html b/layouts/partials/clusters/cluster_section.html
index 8fae4c85ebc..232b5678be9 100644
--- a/layouts/partials/clusters/cluster_section.html
+++ b/layouts/partials/clusters/cluster_section.html
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ <h3 class="acc-label"><button type="button" class="acc-trigger" aria-expanded="f
                 {{ with $card.focus }}<span class="tag tag-focus">{{ . }}</span>{{ end }}
                 {{ with $card.resource_type }}<span class="tag tag-type">{{ . }}</span>{{ end }}
               </div>
-              <div class="fr-title">{{ $card.title }}</div>
+              <div class="fr-title">{{ partial "clusters/rich_text.html" $card.title }}</div>
               {{ with $card.summary }}<div class="fr-summary">{{ . }}</div>{{ end }}
               <div class="fr-actions">
                 <button class="fr-ref-trigger" data-doi="{{ .doi }}">
@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@ <h3 class="acc-label"><button type="button" class="acc-trigger" aria-expanded="f
                   {{ with $card.focus }}<span class="tag tag-focus">{{ . }}</span>{{ end }}
                   {{ with $card.resource_type }}<span class="tag tag-type">{{ . }}</span>{{ end }}
                 </div>
-                <div class="fc-title">{{ $card.title }}</div>
+                <div class="fc-title">{{ partial "clusters/rich_text.html" $card.title }}</div>
               </div>
               {{ with $card.summary }}
               <div class="fc-summary">{{ . }}</div>
diff --git a/layouts/partials/clusters/featured_cards.html b/layouts/partials/clusters/featured_cards.html
index 6abb75d26a6..6734505d63c 100644
--- a/layouts/partials/clusters/featured_cards.html
+++ b/layouts/partials/clusters/featured_cards.html
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
           {{ if .focus }}<span class="tag tag-focus">{{ .focus }}</span>{{ end }}
           {{ if .resource_type }}<span class="tag tag-type">{{ .resource_type }}</span>{{ end }}
         </div>
-        <div class="fr-title">{{ .title }}</div>
+        <div class="fr-title">{{ partial "clusters/rich_text.html" .title }}</div>
         <div class="fr-summary">{{ .summary }}</div>
         <div class="fr-actions">
           <button class="fr-ref-trigger" data-doi="{{ .doi }}">
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@
             {{ if .focus }}<span class="tag tag-focus">{{ .focus }}</span>{{ end }}
             {{ if .resource_type }}<span class="tag tag-type">{{ .resource_type }}</span>{{ end }}
           </div>
-          <div class="fc-title">{{ .title }}</div>
+          <div class="fc-title">{{ partial "clusters/rich_text.html" .title }}</div>
         </div>
         {{ if .summary }}
         <div class="fc-summary">{{ .summary }}</div>
diff --git a/layouts/partials/clusters/rich_text.html b/layouts/partials/clusters/rich_text.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..84f8922fca2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/layouts/partials/clusters/rich_text.html
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+{{- /* Publication titles from Crossref: plain text plus <i>, <em> and <scp> markup, sometimes
+       with HTML entities. Escape everything, then restore only those tags (scp as small caps).
+       static/js/featured-resources.js has the same rule (richText). */ -}}
+{{- $s := . | default "" | htmlUnescape | replaceRE `\s+` " " | strings.TrimSpace | htmlEscape -}}
+{{- $s = replaceRE `&lt;i&gt;(.*?)&lt;/i&gt;` "<i>$1</i>" $s -}}
+{{- $s = replaceRE `&lt;em&gt;(.*?)&lt;/em&gt;` "<i>$1</i>" $s -}}
+{{- $s = replaceRE `&lt;scp&gt;(.*?)&lt;/scp&gt;` `<span class="scp">$1</span>` $s -}}
+{{- return ($s | safeHTML) -}}
diff --git a/scripts/check_seo_html.py b/scripts/check_seo_html.py
index baff1574130..47a5b7844fd 100644
--- a/scripts/check_seo_html.py
+++ b/scripts/check_seo_html.py
@@ -41,6 +41,8 @@
      so a section that is not rendered cannot leave an empty link in the trail.
   18. No glossary page's <title> or <h1> shows Markdown emphasis as typed, e.g. "(*p*)".
   19. No page loads EmailOctopus or reCAPTCHA before a visitor subscribes.
+  20. Cluster pages render publication-title markup (<i>, <em>, <scp>) instead of
+     showing it as literal or escaped text, and at least one cluster page exists.
   21. The /clusters/ illustration (svg.clusters-map__art) is hidden from assistive technology
       and holds no tab stop (every link has tabindex="-1"), and every in-page link in the
       clusters map reaches an id on the page.
@@ -337,6 +339,26 @@ def check_img_alt(pages):
             for p in pages if p.imgs_without_alt]
 
 
+# Escaped once (&lt;i&gt;) or twice (&amp;lt;i&amp;gt;), or a raw <scp> no browser styles.
+LITERAL_TITLE_MARKUP = re.compile(r"&(?:amp;)?lt;/?(?:i|em|scp)&(?:amp;)?gt;|</?scp>", re.IGNORECASE)
+
+
+def check_cluster_title_markup(public_dir):
+    """Cluster pages render publication-title markup (clusters/rich_text.html), never show it."""
+    clusters_dir = os.path.join(public_dir, "clusters")
+    found, scanned = [], 0
+    for root, _dirs, files in os.walk(clusters_dir):
+        if "index.html" in files:
+            scanned += 1
+            full = os.path.join(root, "index.html")
+            with open(full, encoding="utf-8", errors="replace") as handle:
+                if LITERAL_TITLE_MARKUP.search(handle.read()):
+                    found.append(os.path.relpath(full, public_dir))
+    if not scanned:
+        return ["clusters/ (no cluster pages found)"]
+    return sorted(found)
+
+
 def check_citation_targets(pages):
     return ["%s (%s)" % (p.path, href or "missing href")
             for p in pages for href in p.citations
@@ -651,6 +673,7 @@ def main(public_dir):
         "16. glossary links reach existing English terms": check_glossary_links(pages),
         "17. every breadcrumb link has a target": [p.path for p in pages if any(not h.strip() for h in p.crumb_links)],
         "19. no page loads EmailOctopus or reCAPTCHA before a visitor subscribes": check_third_party_forms(pages),
+        "20. cluster pages show no literal <i>/<em>/<scp> title markup": check_cluster_title_markup(public_dir),
         "21. the clusters illustration holds no tab stop and its links have targets": check_clusters_map(public_dir),
     }
     conditional = check_conditional_assets(pages)
diff --git a/scripts/tests/test_check_seo_html.py b/scripts/tests/test_check_seo_html.py
index b09098b1d51..1b5f01da79e 100644
--- a/scripts/tests/test_check_seo_html.py
+++ b/scripts/tests/test_check_seo_html.py
@@ -68,6 +68,9 @@ def test_raw_url_report_does_not_fail_otherwise_valid_build(self):
                     "<meta property='og:image:height' content='630'>"
                     "<meta name='twitter:card' content='summary_large_image'>")
             (Path(public) / "index.html").write_text(html, encoding="utf-8")
+            cluster = Path(public) / "clusters" / "cluster-1" / "index.html"
+            cluster.parent.mkdir(parents=True)
+            cluster.write_text("<meta name='description' content='Cluster 1'><h1>Cluster 1</h1>", encoding="utf-8")
             output = StringIO()
             with redirect_stdout(output):
                 self.assertEqual(seo.main(public), 0)
@@ -243,6 +246,26 @@ def test_crumb_links_need_a_target(self):
         self.assertEqual(bad.crumb_links, ["/", ""])
 
 
+class ClusterTitleMarkupCheck(unittest.TestCase):
+    def check(self, body):
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as public:
+            page = Path(public) / "clusters" / "cluster-1" / "index.html"
+            page.parent.mkdir(parents=True)
+            page.write_text("<div class=fc-title>%s</div>" % body, encoding="utf-8")
+            return seo.check_cluster_title_markup(public)
+
+    def test_rendered_markup_passes(self):
+        self.assertEqual(self.check("In <span class=scp>A</span>frica at <i>Cognition</i> (p &lt; .05)"), [])
+
+    def test_literal_or_unrendered_markup_fails(self):
+        for body in ("at &lt;i&gt;Cognition&lt;/i&gt;", "in <scp>A</scp>frica", "&lt;em&gt;AIMS&lt;/em&gt;",
+                     "at &amp;lt;i&amp;gt;Cognition&amp;lt;/i&amp;gt;"):
+            self.assertEqual(self.check(body), ["clusters/cluster-1/index.html"], body)
+
+    def test_missing_cluster_pages_fail(self):
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as public:
+            self.assertEqual(seo.check_cluster_title_markup(public), ["clusters/ (no cluster pages found)"])
+
 
 def clusters_map_failures(page):
     with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as public:
diff --git a/static/js/featured-resources.js b/static/js/featured-resources.js
index da29b2eb0a8..131f0cc400b 100644
--- a/static/js/featured-resources.js
+++ b/static/js/featured-resources.js
@@ -22,6 +22,26 @@
     return d.innerHTML;
   }
 
+  /** Decode HTML entities without parsing markup (a textarea's content is text only). */
+  function decodeEntities(s) {
+    var t = document.createElement('textarea');
+    t.innerHTML = s || '';
+    return t.value;
+  }
+
+  /** Titles and references from Crossref carry <i>, <em> and <scp>: escape, then restore those.
+      Same rule as layouts/partials/clusters/rich_text.html. */
+  function richText(s) {
+    return escHtml(decodeEntities(s).replace(/\s+/g, ' ').trim())
+      .replace(/&lt;(i|em)&gt;([\s\S]*?)&lt;\/\1&gt;/g, '<i>$2</i>')
+      .replace(/&lt;scp&gt;([\s\S]*?)&lt;\/scp&gt;/g, '<span class="scp">$1</span>');
+  }
+
+  /** The same text without markup, for copying and the PDF. */
+  function plainText(s) {
+    return decodeEntities(s).replace(/<\/?(?:i|em|scp)>/gi, '').replace(/\s+/g, ' ').trim();
+  }
+
   /** Flat lookup: DOI → resource object across all clusters. */
   function buildResourceIndex(data) {
     var idx = {};
@@ -85,13 +105,13 @@
       if (r.focus) html += '<span class="tag tag-focus">' + escHtml(r.focus) + '</span>';
       if (r.resource_type) html += '<span class="tag tag-type">' + escHtml(r.resource_type) + '</span>';
       html += '</div>';
-      html += '<div class="ref-popup-title">' + escHtml(r.title) + '</div>';
+      html += '<div class="ref-popup-title">' + richText(r.title) + '</div>';
 
       // APA
       if (r.apa) {
         html += '<div class="ref-section">';
         html += '<div class="ref-section-label">APA Reference</div>';
-        html += '<div class="ref-apa">' + escHtml(r.apa) + '</div>';
+        html += '<div class="ref-apa">' + richText(r.apa) + '</div>';
         html += '<div class="ref-copy-row">';
         html += '<button class="ref-copy-btn" data-copy="apa" data-doi="' + escHtml(doi) + '">' +
           '<svg viewBox="0 0 16 16" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="1.5"><rect x="3" y="3" width="8" height="10" rx="1"/><path d="M5 3V2a1 1 0 011-1h5a1 1 0 011 1v9a1 1 0 01-1 1h-1"/></svg>' +
@@ -154,7 +174,7 @@
         var d = copyBtn.getAttribute('data-doi');
         var res = resourceIdx[d];
         if (!res) return;
-        var text = type === 'bibtex' ? res.bibtex : res.apa;
+        var text = type === 'bibtex' ? res.bibtex : plainText(res.apa);
         navigator.clipboard.writeText(text).then(function () {
           copyBtn.classList.add('copied');
           var orig = copyBtn.innerHTML;
@@ -258,7 +278,7 @@
         html += '<svg viewBox="0 0 16 16" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2"><path d="M4 6l4 4 4-4"/></svg>';
         html += '</button>';
         html += '<div class="rl-panel-item-info">';
-        html += '<div class="rl-panel-item-title">' + escHtml(r.title || doi) + '</div>';
+        html += '<div class="rl-panel-item-title">' + (r.title ? richText(r.title) : escHtml(doi)) + '</div>';
         html += '<div class="rl-panel-item-ref">' + escHtml(r.short_ref || '') + '</div>';
         html += '</div>';
         html += '<button class="rl-panel-item-remove" data-doi="' + escHtml(doi) + '" aria-label="Remove">&times;</button>';
@@ -268,7 +288,7 @@
         html += '<div class="rl-panel-item-details">';
         if (r.apa) {
           html += '<div class="rl-detail-ref-row">';
-          html += '<div class="rl-detail-apa">' + escHtml(r.apa) + '</div>';
+          html += '<div class="rl-detail-apa">' + richText(r.apa) + '</div>';
           html += '<button class="rl-detail-copy" data-copy-apa="' + escHtml(doi) + '" title="Copy APA reference">';
           html += '<svg viewBox="0 0 16 16" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="1.5"><rect x="3" y="3" width="8" height="10" rx="1"/><path d="M5 3V2a1 1 0 011-1h5a1 1 0 011 1v9a1 1 0 01-1 1h-1"/></svg>';
           html += '</button>';
@@ -365,7 +385,7 @@
         var d = copyBtn.getAttribute('data-copy-apa');
         var res = resourceIdx[d];
         if (res && res.apa) {
-          navigator.clipboard.writeText(res.apa).then(function () {
+          navigator.clipboard.writeText(plainText(res.apa)).then(function () {
             copyBtn.classList.add('copied');
             setTimeout(function () { copyBtn.classList.remove('copied'); }, 1500);
           });
@@ -467,7 +487,7 @@
           doc.setFont('helvetica', 'bold');
           doc.setFontSize(11);
           doc.setTextColor(34, 34, 34);
-          var titleLines = doc.splitTextToSize(r.title || doi, contentW);
+          var titleLines = doc.splitTextToSize(r.title ? plainText(r.title) : doi, contentW);
           doc.text(titleLines, margin, y);
           y += titleLines.length * 5 + 2;
 
@@ -477,7 +497,7 @@
             doc.setFont('times', 'normal');
             doc.setFontSize(9);
             doc.setTextColor(68, 68, 68);
-            var apaLines = doc.splitTextToSize(r.apa, contentW - 10);
+            var apaLines = doc.splitTextToSize(plainText(r.apa), contentW - 10);
             // Hanging indent: first line at margin, rest indented
             apaLines.forEach(function (line, li) {
               checkPage(4);