How to format your references using the Biological Procedures Online citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Biological Procedures Online. 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. Covington M. Applied physics. A ringing confirmation of spintronics theory. Science. 2005;307:215–6.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Valsami-Jones E, Lynch I. NANOSAFETY. How safe are nanomaterials? Science. 2015;350:388–9.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Kender S, Yu J, Peck VL. Deep ocean carbonate ion increase during mid Miocene CO2 decline. Sci Rep. 2014;4:4187.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Thiebaut de Schotten M, Urbanski M, Duffau H, Volle E, Lévy R, Dubois B, et al. Direct evidence for a parietal-frontal pathway subserving spatial awareness in humans. Science. 2005;309:2226–8.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Corten R. Computational Approaches to Studying the Co-evolution of Networks and Behavior in Social Dilemmas. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd; 2014.

An edited book

1. Ratto C, Doglietto GB, Lowry AC, Påhlman L, Romano G, editors. Fecal Incontinence: Diagnosis and Treatment. Milano: Springer; 2007.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Reynolds HR, Craig RG. Atherosclerotic Vascular Disease and Periodontal Disease. In: Craig RG, Kamer AR, editors. A Clinician’s Guide to Systemic Effects of Periodontal Diseases. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2016. p. 39–51.

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 Biological Procedures Online.

Blog post

1. Davis J. Trial Provides Tentative Hope Of “Functional Cure” For Some People Living With HIV [Internet]. IFLScience. IFLScience; 2017 [cited 2018 Oct 30]. Available from: https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/trial-provides-tentative-hope-of-functional-cure-for-some-people-living-with-hiv/

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. Aviation Safety: FAA’s Assessment of Pre-flight Service Technology Options. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1994 Jun. Report No.: AIMD-94-137BR.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Dinh W. Elderly Vietnamese’ perceptions of the effects of Adult Day Health Care services on their mental and physical well-being [Doctoral dissertation]. [Long Beach, CA]: California State University, Long Beach; 2009.

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. Baker L. Redevelopment Project Doubles as Social Experiment. New York Times. 2009 Nov 25;B6.

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	Biological Procedures Online
Abbreviation	Biol. Proced. Online
ISSN (online)	1480-9222
Scope	General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology