How to format your references using the Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B (APSB). 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:

Paperpile	The citation style is built in and you can choose it in Settings > Citation Style or Paperpile > Citation Style in Google Docs.
EndNote	Find the style here: output styles overview
Mendeley, Zotero, Papers, and others	The style is either built in or you can download a CSL file that is supported by most references management programs.
BibTeX	BibTeX 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

Heki K. Geophysics. A tale of two earthquakes. Science 2011;332(6036):1390–1.

A journal article with 2 authors

Vukusic P., Sambles JR. Photonic structures in biology. Nature 2003;424(6950):852–5.

A journal article with 3 authors

Luo Y., White L., Hui D. Comment on “Impacts of fine root turnover on forest NPP and soil C sequestration potential.” Science 2004;304(5678):1745; author reply 1745.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

Santhanam G., Ryu SI., Yu BM., Afshar A., Shenoy KV. A high-performance brain-computer interface. Nature 2006;442(7099):195–8.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Jarry P., Beneat JN. Microwave Amplifier and Active Circuit Design Using the Real Frequency Technique, Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc; 2016.

An edited book

Srivastava S. Novel Biomaterials: Decontamination of Toxic Metals from Wastewater, Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2010.

A chapter in an edited book

Nevile JW. Policies to Minimise the Costs of Unemployment. In: Harcourt GC, Kriesler P, and Nevile JW, editors. Post-Keynesian Essays from Down Under Volume III: Essays on Ethics, Social Justice and Economics: Theory and Policy in an Historical Context, London: Palgrave Macmillan UK; 2016, p. 45–66.

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 Pharmaceutica Sinica B.

Blog post

Davis J. Enormous Algal Bloom In Chile Is Poisoning Wildlife. IFLScience. Available from: https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/largest-red-tide-outbreak-currently-hitting-southern-chile/ [accessed October 30, 2018].

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

Government Accountability Office. Federal Student Loans: Borrower Interest Rates Cannot Be Set in Advance to Precisely and Consistently Balance Federal Revenues and Costs, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 2014.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Lord V. Defining eating disorder recovery: A qualitative approach. Doctoral dissertation, California State University, Long Beach, Long Beach, CA, 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

Brantley B. Capturing the Fury of Womanhood. New York Times 2016:C1.

In-text citations

References should be cited in the text by sequential numbers in superscript:

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 title	Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B
Abbreviation	Acta Pharm. Sin. B.
ISSN (print)	2211-3835
ISSN (online)	2211-3843
Scope	General Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics