How to format your references using the Algorithms for Molecular Biology citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Algorithms for Molecular Biology. 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

1. Lewis R. Chemistry in context. Nature. 2007;446:464–5.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Halloran ME, Longini IM Jr. Public health. Community studies for vaccinating schoolchildren against influenza. Science. 2006;311:615–6.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Bryden HL, Longworth HR, Cunningham SA. Slowing of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation at 25 degrees N. Nature. 2005;438:655–7.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Hamada FN, Rosenzweig M, Kang K, Pulver SR, Ghezzi A, Jegla TJ, et al. An internal thermal sensor controlling temperature preference in Drosophila. Nature. 2008;454:217–20.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Zhang B, Wang X. Chaos Analysis and Chaotic EMI Suppression of DC-DC Converters. Singapore: John Wiley & Sons Singapore Pte. Ltd; 2014.

An edited book

1. Glaβmeier K-H. Geomagnetic Field Variations. Soffel H, Negendank JFW, editors. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2009.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Laurenczy C, Berlie D, Jacot J. Ultrasonic Press–Fitting: A New Assembly Technique. In: Ratchev S, editor. Precision Assembly Technologies and Systems: 7th IFIP WG 55 International Precision Assembly Seminar, IPAS 2014, Chamonix, France, February 16-18, 2014, Revised Selected Papers. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2014. p. 22–9.

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 Algorithms for Molecular Biology.

Blog post

1. Hale T. NASA’s Solar Observatory Does A Corkscrew Spin And Gets Some Amazing Images [Internet]. IFLScience. IFLScience; 2016 [cited 2018 Oct 30]. Available from: https://www.iflscience.com/space/nasa-s-solar-observatory-does-a-corkscrew-spin-and-gets-some-amazing-images/

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. Polar Satellites: Agencies Need to Address Potential Gaps in Weather and Climate Data Coverage. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 2011 Sep. Report No.: GAO-11-945T.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Evans MD. A Correlational Analysis of Teacher Observation Scores and Student Achievement [Doctoral dissertation]. [ St. Charles, MO]: Lindenwood University; 2014.

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. Michael Kelly With. THE 1992 CAMPAIGN: The Vietnam War; Campaign Focus on Vietnam Reviving Debates of the 60’s. New York Times. 1992 Oct 9;A1.

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	Algorithms for Molecular Biology
Abbreviation	Algorithms Mol. Biol.
ISSN (online)	1748-7188
Scope	Molecular Biology Structural Biology Computational Theory and Mathematics Applied Mathematics