How to format your references using the BMC International Health and Human Rights citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for BMC International Health and Human Rights. 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:

PaperpileThe citation style is built in and you can choose it in Settings > Citation Style or Paperpile > Citation Style in Google Docs.
EndNoteDownload the output style file
Mendeley, Zotero, Papers, and othersThe style is either built in or you can download a CSL file that is supported by most references management programs.
BibTeXBibTeX 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. Wickware P. Postdocs reject academic research. Nature. 2000;407:429–30.
A journal article with 2 authors
1. Green DJ, Alemseged Z. Australopithecus afarensis scapular ontogeny, function, and the role of climbing in human evolution. Science. 2012;338:514–7.
A journal article with 3 authors
1. Gwak G, Ko J, Ju H. Effects of porous properties on cold-start behavior of polymer electrolyte fuel cells from sub-zero to normal operating temperatures. Sci Rep. 2014;4:5770.
A journal article with 7 or more authors
1. Pimtong W, Datta M, Ulrich AM, Rhodes J. Drl.3 governs primitive hematopoiesis in zebrafish. Sci Rep. 2014;4:5791.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book
1. Wright D. Using Commercial Contracts. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd; 2016.
An edited book
1. Meyers RA, editor. Complex Systems in Finance and Econometrics. New York, NY: Springer; 2011.
A chapter in an edited book
1. Siskin G, Golzarian J. Visceral and Abdominal Solid Organ Trauma. In: Golzarian J, Sun S, Sharafuddin MJ, editors. Vascular Embolotherapy: A Comprehensive Approach Volume 2 Oncology, Trauma, Gene Therapy, Vascular Malformations, and Neck. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2006. p. 43–57.

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 International Health and Human Rights.

Blog post
1. Andrew E. Antibody Injections Could Be Stepping Stone To HIV Vaccine. IFLScience. 2016. https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/antibody-injections-could-be-stepping-stone-hiv-vaccine/. 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. The Proper Use of Consultants, Experts, and Contractors. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1978.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation
1. Tegtmeier T. Science-related attitudes of urban middle school students. Doctoral dissertation. California State University, Long Beach; 2009.

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. New Pension Rules Seek Disclosure. New York Times. 2012;:B1.

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 titleBMC International Health and Human Rights
AbbreviationBMC Int. Health Hum. Rights
ISSN (online)1472-698X
ScopePublic Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

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