How to format your references using the BMC Genetics citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for BMC Genetics. 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. Lerdau M. Ecology. A positive feedback with negative consequences. Science. 2007;316:212–3.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Gorostiza P, Isacoff EY. Optical switches for remote and noninvasive control of cell signaling. Science. 2008;322:395–9.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Pocock MJO, Evans DM, Memmott J. The robustness and restoration of a network of ecological networks. Science. 2012;335:973–7.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Meyerson JR, Rao P, Kumar J, Chittori S, Banerjee S, Pierson J, et al. Self-assembled monolayers improve protein distribution on holey carbon cryo-EM supports. Sci Rep. 2014;4:7084.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Ahmad K. Sourcebook of ATM and IP Internetworking. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 2005.

An edited book

1. Cortellessa V, Varró D, editors. Fundamental Approaches to Software Engineering: 16th International Conference, FASE 2013, Held as Part of the European Joint Conferences on Theory and Practice of Software, ETAPS 2013, Rome, Italy, March 16-24, 2013. Proceedings. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2013.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Štengl V, Henych J, Janoš P, Skoumal M. Nanostructured Metal Oxides for Stoichiometric Degradation of Chemical Warfare Agents. In: de Voogt P, editor. Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology Volume 236. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2016. p. 239–58.

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 Genetics.

Blog post

1. Carpineti A. Rocky Planets Can Form In Binary Systems. IFLScience. 2017. https://www.iflscience.com/space/rocky-planets-can-form-in-binary-systems/. 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. Federal Research: Superconducting Super Collider Cost and Schedule. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1993.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Coleman ED. The Nature of Leadership: A Case Study of Distributed Leadership Amidst A Participative Change Effort. Doctoral dissertation. George Washington University; 2014.

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. Schwirtz M, Rashbaum WK. Accused of Spying, a New York City Correction Official Is Removed. New York Times. 2017;:A18.

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 Genetics
Abbreviation	BMC Genet.
ISSN (online)	1471-2156
Scope	Genetics Genetics(clinical)