How to format your references using the Biology Direct citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Biology Direct. 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. Paillard D. Atmosphere. What drives the ice age cycle? Science. 2006;313:455–6.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Seelig B, Szostak JW. Selection and evolution of enzymes from a partially randomized non-catalytic scaffold. Nature. 2007;448:828–31.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Hiraga T, Anderson IM, Kohlstedt DL. Grain boundaries as reservoirs of incompatible elements in the Earth’s mantle. Nature. 2004;427:699–703.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Kang HJ, Dai P, Lynn JW, Matsuura M, Thompson JR, Zhang S-C, et al. Antiferromagnetic order as the competing ground state in electron-doped Nd1.85Ce0.15CuO4. Nature. 2003;423:522–5.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Chen CJ. Physics of Solar Energy. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 2011.

An edited book

1. Biehl M, Hammer B, Verleysen M, Villmann T, editors. Similarity-Based Clustering: Recent Developments and Biomedical Applications. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2009.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Kok LJJ, Poston K, Moore G. Bombardier Aerospace FSW Demonstrator. In: Komorowski J, editor. ICAF 2011 Structural Integrity: Influence of Efficiency and Green Imperatives: Proceedings of the 26th Symposium of the International Committee on Aeronautical Fatigue, Montreal, Canada, 1-3 June 2011. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands; 2011. p. 73–81.

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 Biology Direct.

Blog post

1. Andrew E. What Are These Odd Green Balls Covering This Australian Beach? [Internet]. IFLScience. IFLScience; 2014 [cited 2018 Oct 30]. Available from: https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/what-are-odd-green-balls-covering-australian-beach/

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. Polar Weather Satellites: NOAA Is Working to Ensure Continuity but Needs to Quickly Address Information Security Weaknesses and Future Program Uncertainties. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 2016 May. Report No.: GAO-16-359.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Tabak S. Aspiring States at the International Court of Justice [Doctoral dissertation]. [Washington, DC]: George Washington University; 2015.

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. Pilon M. Right to Play Is a Victory For a School. New York Times. 2013 Mar 2;D3.

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	Biology Direct
Abbreviation	Biol. Direct
ISSN (online)	1745-6150
Scope	General Agricultural and Biological Sciences Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology Immunology Applied Mathematics Modelling and Simulation