How to format your references using the BMC Obesity citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for BMC Obesity. 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. Sukhdev P. Sustainability: The corporate climate overhaul. Nature. 2012;486:27–8.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Trumbore SE, Czimczik CI. Geology. An uncertain future for soil carbon. Science. 2008;321:1455–6.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Jewitt D, Aussel H, Evans A. The size and albedo of the Kuiper-belt object (20000) Varuna. Nature. 2001;411:446–7.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Carlsson F, Stålhammar-Carlemalm M, Flärdh K, Sandin C, Carlemalm E, Lindahl G. Signal sequence directs localized secretion of bacterial surface proteins. Nature. 2006;442:943–6.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Lacaze PC, Lacroix J-C. Non-Volatile Memories. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 2014.

An edited book

1. Cimino G, Gavagnin M, editors. Molluscs: From Chemo-ecological Study to Biotechnological Application. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2006.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Vaclavik VA, Christian EW. Pectins and Gums. In: Christian EW, editor. Essentials of Food Science. New York, NY: Springer; 2014. p. 53–61.

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 Obesity.

Blog post

1. O`Callaghan J. Why Haven’t We Met Any Aliens Yet? IFLScience. 2015. https://www.iflscience.com/space/fermi-paradox-explained-where-are-all-aliens/. 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. Space Science: Status of the Hubble Space Telescope Program. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1988.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Boothe CS. The effects of prototype medium on the user’s overall perception of usability and ability to detect usability flaws. Doctoral dissertation. Mississippi State University; 2012.

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. Hodgman J. Bonus Advice From Judge John Hodgman. New York Times. 2017;:MM16.

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 Obesity
Abbreviation	BMC Obes.
ISSN (online)	2052-9538
Scope