How to format your references using the BMC Pediatrics citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for BMC Pediatrics. 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. Dixit V. Jürg Tschopp (1951-2011). Nature. 2011;472:296.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Shen B, Goodman HM. Uridine addition after microRNA-directed cleavage. Science. 2004;306:997.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Aarts DGAL, Schmidt M, Lekkerkerker HNW. Direct visual observation of thermal capillary waves. Science. 2004;304:847–50.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Cooper G, Kimmich N, Belisle W, Sarinana J, Brabham K, Garrel L. Carbonaceous meteorites as a source of sugar-related organic compounds for the early Earth. Nature. 2001;414:879–83.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Chartered Institute of Building. Code of Practice for Project Management for Construction and Development. Oxford: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd; 2014.

An edited book

1. Shirase K, Aoyagi S, editors. Service Robotics and Mechatronics: Selected Papers of the International Conference on Machine Automation ICMA2008. London: Springer; 2010.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Lafrenz K. From Crisis to Value Increase: How Companies Can Attain High Profits During a Restructuring Phase. In: Blatz M, Kraus K-J, Haghani S, editors. Corporate Restructuring: Finance in Times of Crisis. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2006. p. 43–53.

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 Pediatrics.

Blog post

1. Andrews R. Ancient Human Sacrifices Found Under Walls Of Korean Castle. IFLScience. 2017. https://www.iflscience.com/editors-blog/ancient-human-sacrifices-found-under-walls-korean-castle/. 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. Review of the High Speed Antiradiation Missile Program. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1981.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Ismail A-R. Assessing the relationship between the Internet, radio frequency identifier (RFID), and information technology (IT) flexibility: A correlational study and findings. Doctoral dissertation. Capella University; 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. Kenigsberg B. You’re Killing Me Susana. New York Times. 2017;:C13.

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 Pediatrics
Abbreviation	BMC Pediatr.
ISSN (online)	1471-2431
Scope	Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health