How to format your references using the BJOG citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for BJOG. 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

Sapolsky RM. The influence of social hierarchy on primate health. Science. 2005 Apr 29;308(5722):648–52.

A journal article with 2 authors

Weaver AJ, Hillaire-Marcel C. Ocean science. Global warming and the next ice age. Science. 2004 Apr 16;304(5669):400–2.

A journal article with 3 authors

Song Y, Wang J, Yau ST. Controlled glucose consumption in yeast using a transistor-like device. Sci Rep. 2014 Jun 25;4:5429.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

Bininda-Emonds ORP, Cardillo M, Jones KE, MacPhee RDE, Beck RMD, Grenyer R, et al. The delayed rise of present-day mammals. Nature. 2007 Mar 29;446(7135):507–12.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Khan RM. Problem Solving and Data Analysis using Minitab. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd; 2013.

An edited book

Lingeman JM. Network Inference in Molecular Biology: A Hands-on Framework. Shasha D, editor. New York, NY: Springer; 2012. IX, 100 p. 58 illus. (SpringerBriefs in Electrical and Computer Engineering).

A chapter in an edited book

Manolopoulos Y, Nanopoulos A, Papadopoulos AN, Theodoridis Y. Processing More Complex Queries. In: Nanopoulos A, Papadopoulos AN, Theodoridis Y, editors. R-Trees: Theory and Applications. London: Springer; 2006. p. 69–95. (Jain L, Wu X, editors. Advanced Information and Knowledge Processing).

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 BJOG.

Blog post

Fang J. Where Do Penises Come From? [Internet]. IFLScience. IFLScience; 2014 [cited 2018 Oct 30]. Available from: https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/why-men-have-just-one-penis-while-snakes-and-lizards-have-pair/

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. Air Traffic Control System: Selected Stakeholders’ Perspectives on Operations, Modernization, and Structure. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 2014 Sep. Report No.: GAO-14-770.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Dorrance AM. The Role of the Partial Tandem Duplication of MLL (MLL PTD) in Leukemogenesis [Doctoral dissertation]. [Columbus, OH]: Ohio State University; 2008.

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

Crow K. Skip the Climbing Wall: This Start-Up Just Wants to Hang On. New York Times. 2001 Jun 13;H4.

In-text citations

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

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	BJOG
Abbreviation	BJOG
ISSN (print)	1470-0328
ISSN (online)	1471-0528
Scope	Obstetrics and Gynaecology