How to format your references using the BMC Immunology citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for BMC Immunology. 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. Wilks Y. Computer science. Is there progress on talking sensibly to machines? Science. 2007;318:927–8.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Kaib NA, Quinn T. Reassessing the source of long-period comets. Science. 2009;325:1234–6.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Kieffer HH, Christensen PR, Titus TN. CO2 jets formed by sublimation beneath translucent slab ice in Mars’ seasonal south polar ice cap. Nature. 2006;442:793–6.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Kasera S, Herrmann LO, del Barrio J, Baumberg JJ, Scherman OA. Quantitative multiplexing with nano-self-assemblies in SERS. Sci Rep. 2014;4:6785.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Neuber A, Nuttall T. Diagnostic Techniques in Veterinary Dermatology. Oxford, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd; 2017.

An edited book

1. Milutinović DL. Cells and Robots: Modeling and Control of Large-Size Agent Populations. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2007.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Fiori PL, Rappelli P, Dessì D, Hirt R, Gould S, Tachezy J, et al. Trichomonas. In: Walochnik J, Duchêne M, editors. Molecular Parasitology: Protozoan Parasites and their Molecules. Vienna: Springer; 2016. p. 115–55.

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 Immunology.

Blog post

1. Andrew E. The March Of The King Crabs: A Warning From Antarctica. IFLScience. 2015. https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/march-king-crabs-warning-antarctica/. 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. Year 2000 Computing Crisis: Actions Needed on Electronic Data Exchanges. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1998.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Carter CA. The Panhellenic Project: Assessing learning engagement using Web 2.0 technologies. Doctoral dissertation. Pepperdine 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

1. Steel E, Koblin J. Lawyer Says Fox News Is Under Investigation. New York Times. 2017;:B5.

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 Immunology
Abbreviation	BMC Immunol.
ISSN (online)	1471-2172
Scope	Immunology

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