How to format your references using the BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth. 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. Ramaswamy S. Biochemistry. One atom makes all the difference. Science. 2011;334:914–5.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Trainor P, Krumlauf R. Development. Riding the crest of the Wnt signaling wave. Science. 2002;297:781–3.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Rauzi M, Lenne P-F, Lecuit T. Planar polarized actomyosin contractile flows control epithelial junction remodelling. Nature. 2010;468:1110–4.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Treviño M, Oviedo T, Jendritza P, Li S-B, Köhr G, De Marco RJ. Controlled variations in stimulus similarity during learning determine visual discrimination capacity in freely moving mice. Sci Rep. 2013;3:1048.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Gupta KM, Gupta N. Advanced Electrical and Electronics Materials. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 2015.

An edited book

1. Hutton R, editor. Physical Evidence for Ritual Acts, Sorcery and Witchcraft in Christian Britain: A Feeling for Magic. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK; 2016.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Nagel MA, Cohrs RJ, Gilden D. Varicella Zoster Virus Infections. In: Jackson AC, editor. Viral Infections of the Human Nervous System. Basel: Springer; 2013. p. 87–114.

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 Pregnancy and Childbirth.

Blog post

1. Evans K. Burning Less Coal Means Less Mercury In Your Sushi. IFLScience. 2016. https://www.iflscience.com/environment/burning-less-coal-means-less-mercury-in-your-sushi/. 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. Tribal Transportation: Better Data Could Improve Road Management and Inform Indian Student Attendance Strategies. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 2017.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Irving AV. Occupational Stress and Law Enforcement Officer Significant Relationships. Doctoral dissertation. Northcentral University; 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. Vecsey G. Hostesses as Recruiters? How Far Is Too Far? New York Times. 2009;:B11.

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 Pregnancy and Childbirth
Abbreviation	BMC Pregnancy Childbirth
ISSN (online)	1471-2393
Scope	Obstetrics and Gynaecology