How to format your references using the Behavioral and Brain Functions citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Behavioral and Brain Functions. 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. Carpick RW. Physics. Controlling friction. Science. 2006;313:184–5.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Boolchand P, Bresser WJ. Mobile silver ions and glass formation in solid electrolytes. Nature. 2001;410:1070–3.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Xi Z, Khoo CCH, Dobson SL. Wolbachia establishment and invasion in an Aedes aegypti laboratory population. Science. 2005;310:326–8.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Lamb MP, Dietrich WE, Aciego SM, Depaolo DJ, Manga M. Formation of Box Canyon, Idaho, by megaflood: implications for seepage erosion on Earth and Mars. Science. 2008;320:1067–70.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Jacobsson M, Niemegeers I, Heemstra de Groot S. Personal Networks. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd; 2010.

An edited book

1. Cleophas TJ. Machine Learning in Medicine - Cookbook Two. Zwinderman AH, editor. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2014.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Kanemaru S-I. An Approach in Regenerative Medicine for the Treatment of Intractable Otitis Media. In: Ito J, editor. Regenerative Medicine in Otolaryngology. Tokyo: Springer Japan; 2015. p. 61–73.

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 Behavioral and Brain Functions.

Blog post

1. Carpineti A. Watch Four Exoplanets Orbit Their Star In This Amazing Video [Internet]. IFLScience. IFLScience; 2017 [cited 2018 Oct 30]. Available from: https://www.iflscience.com/space/watch-four-exoplanets-orbit-their-star-in-this-amazing-video/

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. Student Loans: Characteristics of Defaulted Borrowers in the Stafford Student Loan Program. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1991 Apr. Report No.: HRD-91-82BR.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Kafi W. The effects of patient demographic variables on cesarean section-related surgical site infection rates [Doctoral dissertation]. [Long Beach, CA]: California State University, Long Beach; 2013.

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. Eligon J. On Big Stage, Ward Makes Big Statement. New York Times. 2016 Nov 20;SP9.

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	Behavioral and Brain Functions
Abbreviation	Behav. Brain Funct.
ISSN (online)	1744-9081
Scope	General Medicine Behavioral Neuroscience Biological Psychiatry Cognitive Neuroscience