How to format your references using the BMC Structural Biology citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for BMC Structural Biology. 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. Smaglik P. Lessons in career planning. Nature. 2002;418:3.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Knapp AK, Smith MD. Variation among biomes in temporal dynamics of aboveground primary production. Science. 2001;291:481–4.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Dillin A, Crawford DK, Kenyon C. Timing requirements for insulin/IGF-1 signaling in C. elegans. Science. 2002;298:830–4.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Tzedakis PC, Roucoux KH, de Abreu L, Shackleton NJ. The duration of forest stages in southern Europe and interglacial climate variability. Science. 2004;306:2231–5.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Coutts J. Loft Conversions. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd; 2013.

An edited book

1. Yazici H, Yazici Y, Lesaffre E, editors. Understanding Evidence-Based Rheumatology: A Guide to Interpreting Criteria, Drugs, Trials, Registries, and Ethics. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2014.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Cocks M. What is Biocultural Diversity? A Theoretical Review. In: Bates DG, Tucker J, editors. Human Ecology: Contemporary Research and Practice. Boston, MA: Springer US; 2010. p. 67–77.

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 Structural Biology.

Blog post

1. Luntz S. Straight Hopping Toads Gain The Most Ground. IFLScience. 2014. https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/straightest-movers-win-evolutionary-race/. 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. D.C. Tuition Assistance Grants: Program May Increase College Choices, but a Few Program Procedures May Hinder Grant Receipt for Some Residents. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 2001.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Ray-Dulany WR. Base change for the Iwahori-Hecke algebra of GL2. Doctoral dissertation. University of Maryland, College Park; 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. Ratliff B. At Home in Her Range. New York Times. 2017;:BR17.

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 Structural Biology
Abbreviation	BMC Struct. Biol.
ISSN (online)	1472-6807
Scope	Structural Biology

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