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. von Boehmer H. Immunology. Thoracic thymus, exclusive no longer. Science. 2006;312:206–7.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Pryke SR, Griffith SC. Genetic incompatibility drives sex allocation and maternal investment in a polymorphic finch. Science. 2009;323:1605–7.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Liang Y, Wu D, Fu R. Carbon microfibers with hierarchical porous structure from electrospun fiber-like natural biopolymer. Sci Rep. 2013;3:1119.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Robert A, Sirjean O, Browaeys A, Poupard J, Nowak S, Boiron D, et al. A Bose-Einstein condensate of metastable atoms. Science. 2001;292:461–4.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Matignon R. Data Mining Using SAS® Enterprise Miner^TM. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 2007.

An edited book

1. Oza NC, Polikar R, Kittler J, Roli F, editors. Multiple Classifier Systems: 6th International Workshop, MCS 2005, Seaside, CA, USA, June 13-15, 2005. Proceedings. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2005.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Iqbal MW, Lipkin ME, Preminger GM. Percutaneous Stone Removal: Case Discussion on Stones in a Horseshoe Kidney. In: Nakada SY, Pearle MS, editors. Surgical Management of Urolithiasis: Percutaneous, Shockwave and Ureteroscopy. New York, NY: Springer; 2013. p. 31–46.

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. Fang J. Elaborate Accessories Keep Predators Away From Decorator Crabs. IFLScience. 2015. https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/elaborate-accessories-keep-predators-away-decorator-crabs/. 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. Telephone Communications: Bell Operating Company Entry Into New Lines of Business. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1986.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Peterson C. Psycho-socio-cultural risk factors for breech presentation. Doctoral dissertation. University of South Florida; 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. Dominus S. How To Get a Job With a Philosophy Degree. New York Times. 2013;:MM40.

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

Research and Writing Guides