How to format your references using the BMC Cancer citation style

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

1. Gershon D. Proteomics technologies: probing the proteome. Nature. 2003;424:581–7.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Cui Y, Lieber CM. Functional nanoscale electronic devices assembled using silicon nanowire building blocks. Science. 2001;291:851–3.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Hanczyc MM, Fujikawa SM, Szostak JW. Experimental models of primitive cellular compartments: encapsulation, growth, and division. Science. 2003;302:618–22.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Okubo Y, Mera T, Wang L, Faustman DL. Homogeneous expansion of human T-regulatory cells via tumor necrosis factor receptor 2. Sci Rep. 2013;3:3153.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Marks KH, Robbins LE, Fernández G, Funkhouser JP, Williams DL. The Handbook of Financing Growth. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 2009.

An edited book

1. Confalonieri N, Romagnoli S, editors. Small Implants in Knee Reconstruction. Milano: Springer; 2013.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Moreira L, Balaguer F, Goel A. The Epigenetics in Intestinal Tumorigenesis. In: Yang VW, Bialkowska AB, editors. Intestinal Tumorigenesis: Mechanisms of Development & Progression. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2015. p. 137–68.

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 BMC Cancer.

Blog post

1. Andrew D. Food Poisoning Expert Reveals 6 Things He Refuses To Eat. IFLScience. 2016. https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/food-poisoning-expert-reveals-6-things-he-refuses-to-eat/. Accessed 30 Oct 2018.

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. No Child Left Behind Act: Education Actions Could Improve the Targeting of School Improvement Funds to Schools Most in Need of Assistance. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 2008.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Nonu ME. Eagle Lake Climate Change during the Holocene and during the Last 100 Years. Doctoral dissertation. California State University, Long Beach; 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. Walsh MW. Puerto Rico Officials to Testify on Debt Crisis Before Senate Panel. New York Times. 2015;:B7.

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	BMC Cancer
Abbreviation	BMC Cancer
ISSN (online)	1471-2407
Scope	Cancer Research Genetics Oncology

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