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. Goldston D. Technical advice. Nature. 2007;448:119.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Mellars P, French JC. Tenfold population increase in Western Europe at the Neandertal-to-modern human transition. Science. 2011;333:623–7.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Vannucchi P, Remitti F, Bettelli G. Geological record of fluid flow and seismogenesis along an erosive subducting plate boundary. Nature. 2008;451:699–703.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Wildermuth MC, Dewdney J, Wu G, Ausubel FM. Isochorismate synthase is required to synthesize salicylic acid for plant defence. Nature. 2001;414:562–5.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Reason B, Løvlie L, Brand Flu M. Service Design for Business. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc; 2015.

An edited book

1. Rioux R, editor. Model Systems in Catalysis: Single Crystals to Supported Enzyme Mimics. 1st ed. New York, NY: Springer; 2010.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Srivastava PR, Ray M, Dermoudy J, Kang B-H, Kim T-H. Test Case Minimization and Prioritization Using CMIMX Technique. In: Ślęzak D, Kim T-H, Kiumi A, Jiang T, Verner J, Abrahão S, editors. Advances in Software Engineering: International Conference on Advanced Software Engineering and Its Applications, ASEA 2009 Held as Part of the Future Generation Information Technology Conference, FGIT 2009, Jeju Island, Korea, December 10-12, 2009 Proceedings. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2009. p. 25–33.

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. Davis J. Bornean Orangutans Now Considered Critically Endangered [Internet]. IFLScience. IFLScience; 2016 [cited 2018 Oct 30]. Available from: https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/bornean-orangutans-now-considered-critically-endangered/

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. NOAA Satellites. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1996 Sep. Report No.: AIMD-96-141R.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Blanchard EJ. Legato trombone: A survey of pedagogical resources [Doctoral dissertation]. [Cincinnati, OH]: University of Cincinnati; 2010.

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. Vecsey G. Gathering in the Boss’s Office, This Time to Honor Him. New York Times. 2010 Sep 21;B17.

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

Research and Writing Guides