How to format your references using the Biophysical Journal citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Biophysical Journal. 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	Download the output style file
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

Grinnell, F. 2013. It is time to update US biomedical funding. Nature. 501:137.

A journal article with 2 authors

Ramachandran, V., and X. Chen. 2008. Degradation of microRNAs by a family of exoribonucleases in Arabidopsis. Science. 321:1490–1492.

A journal article with 3 authors

Attri, A.K., U. Kumar, and V.K. Jain. 2001. Formation of ozone by fireworks. Nature. 411:1015.

A journal article with 99 or more authors

Sancak, Y., T.R. Peterson, Y.D. Shaul, R.A. Lindquist, C.C. Thoreen, L. Bar-Peled, and D.M. Sabatini. 2008. The Rag GTPases bind raptor and mediate amino acid signaling to mTORC1. Science. 320:1496–1501.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Bays, D.H. 2011. A New History of Christianity in China. Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.

An edited book

2014. System Analysis and Modeling: Models and Reusability: 8th International Conference, SAM 2014, Valencia, Spain, September 29-30, 2014. Proceedings. Cham: Springer International Publishing.

A chapter in an edited book

Bhattacharya, A., and Vijaylaxmi. 2010. Physiological Responses of Grain Legumes to Stress Environments. In: Yadav SS, R Redden, editors. Climate Change and Management of Cool Season Grain Legume Crops. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands. pp. 35–86.

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 Biophysical Journal.

Blog post

Andrew, E. 2014. Researchers Reveal Smallest, Fastest Nanomotor Yet. IFLScience.

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

Government Accountability Office. 1996. Telecommunications: Initiatives Taken by Three States to Promote Increased Access and Investment. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Sevier, J. 2013. A preventative and treatment substance use program for GLBT adolescents in Long Beach: A grant proposal. .

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

Gustines, G.G. 2015. Black Mask Plans YouTube Comics Channels and Animated Movies. New York Times. B5.

In-text citations

References should be cited in the text by sequential numbers in parentheses:

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	Biophysical Journal
Abbreviation	Biophys. J.
ISSN (print)	0006-3495
ISSN (online)	1542-0086
Scope	Biophysics