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. Asplund M. Astronomy. A stellar swan-song. Science. 2005;308:210–1.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Jain S, Bates FS. On the origins of morphological complexity in block copolymer surfactants. Science. 2003;300:460–4.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Sleutels F, Zwart R, Barlow DP. The non-coding Air RNA is required for silencing autosomal imprinted genes. Nature. 2002;415:810–3.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Chereau D, Boczkowska M, Skwarek-Maruszewska A, Fujiwara I, Hayes DB, Rebowski G, et al. Leiomodin is an actin filament nucleator in muscle cells. Science. 2008;320:239–43.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Cooper N, Forrest K, Cramp P. Essential Guide to Generic Skills. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd; 2008.

An edited book

1. Page R, Horváth Z, Zsók V, editors. Trends in Functional Programming: 11th International Symposium, TFP 2010, Norman, OK, USA, May 17-19, 2010. Revised Selected Papers. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2011.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Straume T. Medical Concerns with Space Radiation and Radiobiological Effects. In: Pelton JN, Allahdadi F, editors. Handbook of Cosmic Hazards and Planetary Defense. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2015. p. 259–93.

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. Davis J. Unusually Large Numbers Of Fur Seals Stranding On Californian Coast. IFLScience. 2015. https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/unusually-large-numbers-fur-seals-stranding-californian-coast/. 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. Hispanics’ Schooling: Risk Factors for Dropping Out and Barriers to Resuming Their Education. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1994.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Green RE. From Hart to Hammerstein: The music of Richard Rodgers and his evolution toward the integrated musical. Doctoral dissertation. California State University, Long Beach; 2010.

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. Justices to Hear Case on Use of Union Fees. New York Times. 2006;:A21.

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