How to format your references using the Biologia citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Biologia. 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:

PaperpileThe citation style is built in and you can choose it in Settings > Citation Style or Paperpile > Citation Style in Google Docs.
EndNoteFind the style here: output styles overview
Mendeley, Zotero, Papers, and othersThe style is either built in or you can download a CSL file that is supported by most references management programs.
BibTeXBibTeX 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
Begelman M.C. 2003. Evidence for black holes. Science. 300: 1898–1903.
A journal article with 2 authors
Swirski F.K. & Nahrendorf M. 2013. Leukocyte behavior in atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, and heart failure. Science. 339: 161–166.
A journal article with 3 authors
Volkov I., Banavar J.R. & Maritan A. 2006. Comment on “Computational improvements reveal great bacterial diversity and high metal toxicity in soil.” Science. 313: 918; author reply 918.
A journal article with 4 or more authors
Mignot T., Shaevitz J.W., Hartzell P.L. & Zusman D.R. 2007. Evidence that focal adhesion complexes power bacterial gliding motility. Science. 315: 853–856.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book
Malina M. 2013. Delivering Sustainable Buildings. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Oxford.
An edited book
2013. Batteries for Sustainability: Selected Entries from the Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology. Springer, New York, NY. VI, 514 p pp.
A chapter in an edited book
Aronoff C.E. & Ward J.L. 2011. Red Flags. pp. 45–55. In: Ward J.L. (eds), How to Choose and Use Advisors: Getting the Best Professional Family Business Advice, Palgrave Macmillan US, New York, NY.

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 Biologia.

Blog post
Fang J. 2016. Available at: https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/animals-with-glowing-courtship-displays-are-more-likely-to-diversify/.

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 2002. School Dropouts: Education Could Play a Stronger Role in Identifying and Disseminating Promising Prevention Strategies. .

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation
Wallace D.R. 2006. A Comparative Analysis of a Conventional Versus a Computer-assisted Technique for Identification of Mechanical Power Press Hazards. Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.

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
Etheredge P. by G. 2016. Nighttime Windows. New York Times. RE12.

In-text citations

References should be cited in the text by name and year in parentheses:

This sentence cites one reference (Begelman, 2003).
This sentence cites two references (Begelman, 2003; Swirski & Nahrendorf, 2013).

Here are examples of in-text citations with multiple authors:

  • Two authors: (Swirski & Nahrendorf, 2013)
  • Three or more authors: (Mignot et al., 2007)

About the journal

Full journal titleBiologia
AbbreviationBiologia (Bratisl.)
ISSN (print)0006-3088
ISSN (online)1336-9563
ScopeAnimal Science and Zoology
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Plant Science
Biochemistry
Cell Biology
Genetics
Molecular Biology

Other styles