How to format your references using the BMC Neurology citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for BMC Neurology. 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. Kerr RA. PLANETARY SCIENCE: Saturn Wins Satellite Title With New Moons. Science. 2000;290:689a.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Zheng J, Jia Z. Structural biology: tiny enzyme uses context to succeed. Nature. 2013;497:445–6.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Ruff CC, Ugazio G, Fehr E. Changing social norm compliance with noninvasive brain stimulation. Science. 2013;342:482–4.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Yamaguchi Y, Suzuki M, Motoyama T, Sugii S, Katagiri C, Takahira K, et al. Photoprecursor approach as an effective means for preparing multilayer organic semiconducting thin films by solution processes. Sci Rep. 2014;4:7151.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Brown DJ. Cinnolines and Phthalazines: Supplement II. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd; 2005.

An edited book

1. Wismath S, Wolff A, editors. Graph Drawing: 21st International Symposium, GD 2013, Bordeaux, France, September 23-25, 2013, Revised Selected Papers. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2013.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Ithier G, Nguyen F, Collin E, Boulant N, Meeson PJ, Joyez P, et al. Decoherence of a Quantum Bit Circuit. In: Duplantier B, Raimond J-M, Rivasseau V, editors. Quantum Decoherence: Poincaré Seminar 2005. Basel: Birkhäuser; 2007. p. 125–49.

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 Neurology.

Blog post

1. O`Callaghan J. The Prime Meridian Line In Greenwich Is In The Wrong Place. IFLScience. 2015. https://www.iflscience.com/space/prime-meridian-greenwich-wrong-place/. 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. Mass Transit Grants: Scarce Federal Funds Misused in UMTA’s Philadelphia Region. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1991.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Thornsberry JL. Freshman transition and its effectiveness on student success as measured by improved attendance, improved grades, decreased discipline referrals, and decreased dropout rate. Doctoral dissertation. Lindenwood University; 2010.

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. Barron J. Waiting for a Pastor, Not a Prince. New York Times. 2016;:A21.

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 Neurology
Abbreviation	BMC Neurol.
ISSN (online)	1471-2377
Scope	General Medicine Clinical Neurology