How to format your references using the BMC Research Notes citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for BMC Research Notes. 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. Abbott A. Dementia: a problem for our age. Nature. 2011;475:S2-4.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Fauci AS, Marston HD. PUBLIC HEALTH. Toward an HIV vaccine: A scientific journey. Science. 2015;349:386–7.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Garner EC, Campbell CS, Mullins RD. Dynamic instability in a DNA-segregating prokaryotic actin homolog. Science. 2004;306:1021–5.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Xia M, Jing Z, Zhi-yu H, Yu Y, Yan-li H, Chang-tao X, et al. Research of dose-effect relationship parameters of percutaneous microwave ablation for uterine leiomyomas--a quantitative study. Sci Rep. 2014;4:6469.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Carne EB. Connections for the Digital Age. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 2011.

An edited book

1. Kleidt B, editor. The Use of Hybrid Securities. Wiesbaden: DUV; 2006.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Dabrowska C, Li M, Fan Y. Apoptotic Caspases in Promoting Cancer: Implications from Their Roles in Development and Tissue Homeostasis. In: Gregory CD, editor. Apoptosis in Cancer Pathogenesis and Anti-cancer Therapy: New Perspectives and Opportunities. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2016. p. 89–112.

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 Research Notes.

Blog post

1. Andrew E. The Most Distant Galaxy Has Been Discovered. IFLScience. 2014. https://www.iflscience.com/space/most-distant-galaxy-has-been-discovered/. 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. Manned Undersea Science and Technology Needs Focus and Direction. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1977.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Shenasi SY. The Roots of Music Therapy: Healing the Wounds of the Psyche. Doctoral dissertation. Pacifica Graduate Institute; 2015.

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. Greenhouse L. roberts court may be defined in second term. New York Times. 2006;:A1.

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 Research Notes
Abbreviation	BMC Res. Notes
ISSN (online)	1756-0500
Scope	General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology General Medicine