How to format your references using the Biology of Sex Differences citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Biology of Sex Differences. 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. Irion R. AMERICAN ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY MEETING: Cool Comets, Barren Clusters, and a Maxed-Out Universe. Science. 2000;288:2121–4.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Palmer PI, Smith MJ. Earth systems: Model human adaptation to climate change. Nature. 2014;512:365–6.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Wen J, Zhou S, Chen J. Colorimetric detection of Shewanella oneidensis based on immunomagnetic capture and bacterial intrinsic peroxidase activity. Sci Rep. 2014;4:5191.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Fagarasan S, Muramatsu M, Suzuki K, Nagaoka H, Hiai H, Honjo T. Critical roles of activation-induced cytidine deaminase in the homeostasis of gut flora. Science. 2002;298:1424–7.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Tagare DM. Electric Power Generation. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 2011.

An edited book

1. Gómez G, Masdemont JJ, editors. Astrodynamics Network AstroNet-II: The Final Conference. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2016.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Hassmén P, Keegan R, Piggott D. Research Paradigms, Methodologies and Methods. In: Keegan R, Piggott D, editors. Rethinking Sport and Exercise Psychology Research: Past, Present and Future. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK; 2016. p. 105–29.

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 of Sex Differences.

Blog post

1. Andrews R. 20 Million-Year-Old Flea Could Contain Ancient Ancestor Of Bubonic Plague [Internet]. IFLScience. IFLScience; 2015 [cited 2018 Oct 30]. Available from: https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/black-deaths-ancestor-preserved-amber/

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. Medicaid: States’ Efforts to Maximize Federal Reimbursements Highlight Need for Improved Federal Oversight. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 2005 Jun. Report No.: GAO-05-836T.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Diggs BJ. African American Online Doctor of Management Students’ Perceptions of Dissertation Writing and Support: Narrative Inquiry [Doctoral dissertation]. [Phoenix, AZ]: University of Phoenix; 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. McKINLEY JC Jr, Southall A, Baker AL. Bronx Killing Leaves Only the Police in the Dark. New York Times. 2016 Dec 15;A1.

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 of Sex Differences
Abbreviation	Biol. Sex Differ.
ISSN (online)	2042-6410
Scope