How to format your references using the BMC Nutrition citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for BMC Nutrition. 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	Find the style here: output styles overview
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. Nutton V. Portraits of science. Logic, learning, and experimental medicine. Science. 2002;295:800–1.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Palmer PI, Smith MJ. Earth systems: Model human adaptation to climate change. Nature. 2014;512:365–6.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Rao JN, Madasu Y, Dominguez R. Mechanism of actin filament pointed-end capping by tropomodulin. Science. 2014;345:463–7.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Hoegh-Guldberg O, Hughes L, McIntyre S, Lindenmayer DB, Parmesan C, Possingham HP, et al. Ecology. Assisted colonization and rapid climate change. Science. 2008;321:345–6.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Jarry P, Beneat JN. Microwave Amplifier and Active Circuit Design Using the Real Frequency Technique. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc; 2016.

An edited book

1. Kirkwood DH. Semi-solid Processing of Alloys. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2010.

A chapter in an edited book

1. LaBoskey VK. “Name It and Claim It”: The Methodology of Self-Study as Social Justice Teacher Education. In: Fitzgerald L, Heston M, Tidwell D, editors. Research Methods for the Self-study of Practice. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands; 2009. p. 73–82.

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 Nutrition.

Blog post

1. Andrew E. True color of ancient sea creatures revealed by fossilized pigment. IFLScience. 2014. https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/true-color-ancient-sea-creatures-revealed-fossilized-pigment/. 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. Corrective Actions Taken or in Process To Reduce Job Corps’ Vulnerability to Improper Use of Contracting Authority. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1983.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Bade LL. Extending the benefits of alcohol and drug treatment: An exploration of volunteer utilization and delivery of recovery services. Doctoral dissertation. Pepperdine 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. Walsh MW. Puerto Rico Debt Plan Prioritizes Pensions. New York Times. 2016;: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 title	BMC Nutrition
Abbreviation	BMC Nutr.
ISSN (online)	2055-0928
Scope