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

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for BMC Veterinary Research. 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. Zuber MT. Planetary science. Learning to think like Martians. Science. 2003;302:1694–5.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Akbalik G, Schuman EM. Molecular biology. mRNA, live and unmasked. Science. 2014;343:375–6.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Lillo F, Farmer JD, Mantegna RN. Econophysics: Master curve for price-impact function. Nature. 2003;421:129–30.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Moon RT, Bowerman B, Boutros M, Perrimon N. The promise and perils of Wnt signaling through beta-catenin. Science. 2002;296:1644–6.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Gadd K. TRIZ für Ingenieure. Weinheim, Germany: Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA; 2016.

An edited book

1. Vashchenko VA. Physical Limitations of Semiconductor Devices. Boston, MA: Springer US; 2008.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Korres DS. Fractures of the Axis. In: Korres DS, editor. The Axis Vertebra. Milano: Springer; 2013. p. 41–3.

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 Veterinary Research.

Blog post

1. Andrews R. Massive Methane Reservoirs Being Unleashed By Global Warming. IFLScience. 2015. https://www.iflscience.com/environment/massive-methane-reservoirs-being-unleashed-global-warming/. 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. Aviation Safety: Airlines Should Check Pilot Applicants’ Safety History. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1988.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Pradhan SH. User Interface Design, Database Connectivity, and Security in Fortified Cards. Doctoral dissertation. California State University, Long Beach; 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. GEORGE GENE GUSTINES; Compiled by DAVE ITZKOFF. Batman Beats Superman In the Marketplace. New York Times. 2010;:C2.

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 Veterinary Research
Abbreviation	BMC Vet. Res.
ISSN (online)	1746-6148
Scope	General Medicine General Veterinary

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