How to format your references using the AIMS Molecular Science citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for AIMS Molecular Science. 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 reference managers.
BibTeX	BibTeX styles 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

Zerhouni EA (2006) Research funding. NIH in the post-doubling era: realities and strategies. Science 314: 1088–1090.

A journal article with 2 authors

Dauphas N, Kasting JF (2011) Low pCO2 in the pore water, not in the Archean air. Nature 474: E2-3; discussion E4-5.

A journal article with 3 authors

Buck WR, Lavier LL, Poliakov ANB (2005) Modes of faulting at mid-ocean ridges. Nature 434: 719–723.

A journal article with 4 or more authors

Brileya KA, Connolly JM, Downey C, et al. (2013) Taxis toward hydrogen gas by Methanococcus maripaludis. Sci Rep 3: 3140.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Rao CL, Narayanamurthy V, Simha KRY (2016) Applied Impact Mechanics, Chichester, UK, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

An edited book

Laza R, Schütt M, Yui N (Eds.) (2015) Calabi-Yau Varieties: Arithmetic, Geometry and Physics: Lecture Notes on Concentrated Graduate Courses, New York, NY, Springer.

A chapter in an edited book

Creed IF, Sass GZ (2011) Digital Terrain Analysis Approaches for Tracking Hydrological and Biogeochemical Pathways and Processes in Forested Landscapes, In: Levia DF, Carlyle-Moses D, Tanaka T (Eds.), Forest Hydrology and Biogeochemistry: Synthesis of Past Research and Future Directions, Dordrecht, Springer Netherlands, 69–100.

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 AIMS Molecular Science.

Blog post

Andrew E (2014) IFLScience, Slow Motion Video: Underwater Bullet, 2014. Available from: https://www.iflscience.com/physics/slow-motion-video-underwater-bullet/.

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 (2016) Airport and Airway Trust Fund: Less Than Half of Noncommercial Jet Fuel Tax Receipts Are Transferred, Washington, DC, U.S. Government Printing Office.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Nichol KP (2013) English Language Learners and Gifted Identification: Exploring the Perceptions of Teachers and Parents.

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

Kelly K, Davis JH (2017) Lawsuit Challenges the Secrecy of White House Advisers on Infrastructure. New York Times A10.

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 title	AIMS Molecular Science
ISSN (online)	2372-0301
Scope