How to format your references using the Acta Cytologica citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Acta Cytologica. For a complete guide how to prepare your manuscript refer to the journal's instructions to authors.

Using reference management software

Typically you don't format your citations and bibliography by hand. The easiest way is to use a reference manager:

PaperpileThe citation style is built in and you can choose it in Settings > Citation Style or Paperpile > Citation Style in Google Docs.
EndNoteDownload the output style file
Mendeley, Zotero, Papers, and othersThe style is either built in or you can download a CSL file that is supported by most references management programs.
BibTeXBibTeX syles are usually part of a LaTeX template. Check the instructions to authors if the publisher offers a LaTeX template for this journal.

Journal articles

Those examples are references to articles in scholarly journals and how they are supposed to appear in your bibliography.

Not all journals organize their published articles in volumes and issues, so these fields are optional. Some electronic journals do not provide a page range, but instead list an article identifier. In a case like this it's safe to use the article identifier instead of the page range.

A journal article with 1 author
1
Dang CV. Gene regulation: fine-tuned amplification in cells. Nature. 2014 Jul;511(7510):417–8.
A journal article with 2 authors
1
Salzman H, Lowell L. Making the grade. Nature. 2008 May;453(7191):28–30.
A journal article with 3 authors
1
Coyte KZ, Schluter J, Foster KR. The ecology of the microbiome: Networks, competition, and stability. Science. 2015 Nov;350(6261):663–6.
A journal article with 7 or more authors
1
Pei Y, Wei M-Y, Cheng B, Liu Y, Xie Z, Nguyen K, et al. High resolution imaging beyond the acoustic diffraction limit in deep tissue via ultrasound-switchable NIR fluorescence. Sci Rep. 2014 Apr;4:4690.

Books and book chapters

Here are examples of references for authored and edited books as well as book chapters.

An authored book
1
Yang H, Lee EK. Healthcare Analytics: From Data to Knowledge to Healthcare Improvement. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 2016.
An edited book
1
Karplus VJ. Agricultural Biotechnology in China: Origins and Prospects. New York, NY: Springer; 2008.
A chapter in an edited book
1
Kim S. The Dental School We Aspire to Work for, Be Part of, and Invest Our Future in. In: Sasaki K, Suzuki O, Takahashi N, editors. Interface Oral Health Science 2011. Tokyo: Springer Japan; 2012; pp 29–30.

Web sites

Sometimes references to web sites should appear directly in the text rather than in the bibliography. Refer to the Instructions to authors for Acta Cytologica.

Blog post
1
Andrew E. Western Australia Will Not Continue Shark Cull [Internet]. IFLScience. 2014 Sep [cited 2018 Oct 30]. Available from: https://www.iflscience.com/environment/western-australia-will-not-continue-shark-cull/

Reports

This example shows the general structure used for government reports, technical reports, and scientific reports. If you can't locate the report number then it might be better to cite the report as a book. For reports it is usually not individual people that are credited as authors, but a governmental department or agency like "U. S. Food and Drug Administration" or "National Cancer Institute".

Government report
1
Government Accountability Office. Awarding and Implementing an Emergency School Aid Act Grant to the North End Concerned Citizens Community Council, Detroit, Michigan. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1974.

Theses and dissertations

Theses including Ph.D. dissertations, Master's theses or Bachelor theses follow the basic format outlined below.

Doctoral dissertation
1
Aldridge KN. The Impact of Improved Teachers’ Classroom Management and Cultural Responsiveness on Student Behavior. 2015

News paper articles

Unlike scholarly journals, news papers do not usually have a volume and issue number. Instead, the full date and page number is required for a correct reference.

New York Times article
1
Soble J. Toshiba Auction of Chip Unit Is Slowed by Dispute With U.S. Partner. New York Times. 2017 May;B8.

In-text citations

References should be cited in the text by sequential numbers in square brackets:

This sentence cites one reference [1].
This sentence cites two references [1,2].
This sentence cites four references [1–4].

About the journal

Full journal titleActa Cytologica
AbbreviationActa Cytol.
ISSN (print)0001-5547
ISSN (online)1938-2650
ScopeGeneral Medicine
Histology
Pathology and Forensic Medicine

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