How to format your references using the BMC Pharmacology citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for BMC Pharmacology. 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. Insel TR. Neuroscience. Shining light on depression. Science. 2007;317:757–8.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Gomez Perdiguero E, Geissmann F. Cancer immunology. Identifying the infiltrators. Science. 2014;344:801–2.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Sadeghi O, Zakharov LN, Nyman M. Crystal growth. Aqueous formation and manipulation of the iron-oxo Keggin ion. Science. 2015;347:1359–62.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Cardinal RN, Pennicott DR, Sugathapala CL, Robbins TW, Everitt BJ. Impulsive choice induced in rats by lesions of the nucleus accumbens core. Science. 2001;292:2499–501.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Foote M, Hillier J, Mitchell-Wallace K, Jones M. Natural catastrophe risk management and modelling. Oxford, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd; 2017.

An edited book

1. Allan JD. Stream Ecology: Structure and function of running waters. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands; 2007.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Fukaya J, Ooba Y, Kuriiwa H, Yamada R, Oka M, Mori H. A Study on Selection Ability in the 3D Space by the Finger. In: Yamamoto S, editor. Human Interface and the Management of Information. Information and Interaction Design: 15th International Conference, HCI International 2013, Las Vegas, NV, USA, July 21-26, 2013, Proceedings, Part I. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2013. p. 30–6.

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 Pharmacology.

Blog post

1. O`Callaghan J. New Mountains On Pluto And Its Tiny Moons Revealed In Latest Images From New Horizons. IFLScience. 2015. https://www.iflscience.com/space/new-mountains-pluto-and-its-tiny-moons-revealed-latest-images/. 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. Higher Education: Federal Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Programs and Related Trends. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 2005.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Fister TW. Activating the art classroom: Combining critical pedagogy, visual culture and socially engaged art to promote agency amongst high school students. Doctoral dissertation. California State University, Long Beach; 2017.

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. Kelly LCC. PEARL HARBOR’S INFAMY, MY FATHER’S FAME. New York Times. 1981;:125.

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 Pharmacology
ISSN (print)	1471-2210
Scope