How to format your references using the Bell Labs Technical Journal citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Bell Labs Technical Journal. 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	Download the output style file
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]

A. M. Lister, “The role of behaviour in adaptive morphological evolution of African proboscideans,” Nature, vol. 500, no. 7462, pp. 331–334, Aug. 2013.

A journal article with 2 authors

[1]

M. E. Herberstein and D. J. Kemp, “Physiology. A clearer view from fuzzy images,” Science, vol. 335, no. 6067, pp. 409–410, Jan. 2012.

A journal article with 3 authors

[1]

S. Atsumi, T. Hanai, and J. C. Liao, “Non-fermentative pathways for synthesis of branched-chain higher alcohols as biofuels,” Nature, vol. 451, no. 7174, pp. 86–89, Jan. 2008.

A journal article with 4 or more authors

[1]

J. Martin et al., “Localization of fractionally charged quasi-particles,” Science, vol. 305, no. 5686, pp. 980–983, Aug. 2004.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

[1]

P. A. Rees, An Introduction to Zoo Biology and Management. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2011.

An edited book

[1]

B. Heißing and M. Ersoy, Eds., Chassis Handbook: Fundamentals, Driving Dynamics, Components, Mechatronics, Perspectives. Wiesbaden: Vieweg+Teubner, 2011.

A chapter in an edited book

[1]

T. Kotkasaari, “Transboundary Cooperation Between Finland and Its Neighbouring Countries,” in Management of Transboundary Rivers and Lakes, O. Varis, A. K. Biswas, and C. Tortajada, Eds., in Water Resources Development and Management. , Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer, 2008, pp. 123–141.

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 Bell Labs Technical Journal.

Blog post

[1]

J. Fang, “Study With 95,000 Children Finds No Link Between Autism and Measles Vaccine, Even In High Risk Children,” IFLScience. Accessed: Oct. 30, 2018. [Online]. Available: https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/study-95000-children-found-no-link-between-autism-and-measles-vaccine/

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, “Transportation Security Administration: More Clarity on the Authority of Federal Security Directors Is Needed,” U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, GAO-05-935, Sep. 2005.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

[1]

M. K. Guillory, “An Analysis of Corporal Punishment Practices in the State of Tennessee,” Doctoral dissertation, University of Louisiana, Lafayette, LA, 2017.

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]

L. Saslow, “Long Island Weekend: A 48-Hour Treadmill of Activity -- Saturday,” New York Times, p. 14LI12, Nov. 19, 2006.

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], [2], [3], [4].

About the journal

Full journal title	Bell Labs Technical Journal
Abbreviation	Bell Labs Tech. J.
ISSN (print)	1089-7089
Scope	Electrical and Electronic Engineering