How to format your references using the BMC Public Health citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for BMC Public Health. 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. Azim E. Neuroscience. Shortcuts and checkpoints on the road to skilled movement. Science. 2014;346:554–5.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Chouard T, Gray N. Glia. Nature. 2010;468:213.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Laliberté E, Zemunik G, Turner BL. Environmental filtering explains variation in plant diversity along resource gradients. Science. 2014;345:1602–5.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Luo M, Li Z-Z, Li Y-Y, Chen L-Z, Yan S-P, Chen P, et al. Relationship between red cell distribution width and serum uric acid in patients with untreated essential hypertension. Sci Rep. 2014;4:7291.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Maude D. Global Private Banking and Wealth Management. Oxford, UK: John Wiley & Sons Ltd; 2006.

An edited book

1. Fässler TF, editor. Zintl Phases: Principles and Recent Developments. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2011.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Ramos NMM, Delgado JMPQ, Almeida RMSF, Simões ML, Manuel S. Case Study. In: Delgado JMPQ, Almeida RMSF, Simões ML, Manuel S, editors. Application of Data Mining Techniques in the Analysis of Indoor Hygrothermal Conditions. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2016. p. 31–6.

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 Public Health.

Blog post

1. Andrew E. World First - Baby Polar Bears Caught On Camera Opening Their Eyes For The First Time. IFLScience. 2014. https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/world-first-baby-polar-bears-caught-camera-opening-their-eyes-first-time/. 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. Close Air Support: Comparison of Air Force and Marine Corps Requirements and Aircraft. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1989.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Timko EJ. Polynomial Tuples of Commuting Isometries Constrained by 1-Dimensional Varieties. Doctoral dissertation. Indiana 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. Whiteside K. With City Passing By in a Blur, a Star Adds Yet Another Title. New York Times. 2016;:F2.

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 Public Health
Abbreviation	BMC Public Health
ISSN (online)	1471-2458
Scope	Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health