How to format your references using the Biologicals citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Biologicals. 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.
EndNoteDownload the output style file
Mendeley, Zotero, Papers, and othersThe style is either built in or you can download a CSL file that is supported by most reference managers.
BibTeXBibTeX styles 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]
Knapp S. Genetics. Celebrating spuds. Science 2008;321:206–7.
A journal article with 2 authors
[1]
Gomes CP, Selman B. Computer science. Satisfied with physics. Science 2002;297:784–5.
A journal article with 3 authors
[1]
Chen J, Weidner DJ, Vaughan MT. The strength of Mg(0.9)Fe(0.1)SiO3 perovskite at high pressure and temperature. Nature 2002;419:824–6.
A journal article with 7 or more authors
[1]
Kimura J, Ichii O, Miyazono K, Nakamura T, Horino T, Otsuka-Kanazawa S, et al. Overexpression of Toll-like receptor 8 correlates with the progression of podocyte injury in murine autoimmune glomerulonephritis. Sci Rep 2014;4:7290.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book
[1]
Cann AJ. Mathe für Biologen. Weinheim, Germany: Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA; 2004.
An edited book
[1]
Hogeling M, editor. Case-Based Inpatient Pediatric Dermatology. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2016.
A chapter in an edited book
[1]
Goin FJ, Woodburne MO, Zimicz AN, Martin GM, Chornogubsky L. Phylogeny and Diversity of South American Metatherians. In: Woodburne M, Zimicz AN, Martin GM, Chornogubsky L, editors. A Brief History of South American Metatherians: Evolutionary Contexts and Intercontinental Dispersals, Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands; 2016, p. 155–83.

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 Biologicals.

Blog post
[1]
Fang J. Liquid Metal Reconnects Severed Nerves in Bullfrogs. IFLScience 2014. https://www.iflscience.com/technology/liquid-metal-reconnects-severed-nerves-bullfrogs/ (accessed October 30, 2018).

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: Better Oversight Would Reduce the Risk of Air Taxi Accidents. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1992.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation
[1]
Dillon M. Active aging program for older adults with early stage dementia. Doctoral dissertation. California State University, Long Beach, 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]
Crow K. An Old Friend Returns, Herbs and Fruit In Hand. New York Times 2003:146.

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 titleBiologicals
AbbreviationBiologicals
ISSN (print)1045-1056
ScopeBiotechnology
Bioengineering
General Immunology and Microbiology
Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology
General Medicine
Pharmacology

Other styles