How to format your references using the BMJ Open citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for BMJ Open. 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

Butler D. Prion data suggest BSE link to sporadic CJD. Nature. 2002;420:450.

A journal article with 2 authors

Adam D, Butler D. Comet mission hangs in the balance. Nature. 2003;421:102.

A journal article with 3 authors

Jan CH, Williams CC, Weissman JS. LOCAL TRANSLATION. Response to Comment on ‘Principles of ER cotranslational translocation revealed by proximity-specific ribosome profiling’. Science. 2015;348:1217.

A journal article with 4 or more authors

Borneman AR, Gianoulis TA, Zhang ZD, et al. Divergence of transcription factor binding sites across related yeast species. Science. 2007;317:815–9.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Joglekar AM. Industrial Statistics. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010.

An edited book

Costa FF, Conran N, editors. Sickle Cell Anemia: From Basic Science to Clinical Practice. Cham: Springer International Publishing 2016.

A chapter in an edited book

Savransky M. Modes of Connection. In: Stengers I, ed. The Adventure of Relevance: An Ethics of Social Inquiry. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK 2016:121–51.

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 BMJ Open.

Blog post

Luntz S. Pressure Drop Unleashes Eruptions. IFLScience. 2015. https://www.iflscience.com/physics/pressure-drop-unleashes-eruptions/ (accessed 30 October 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

Government Accountability Office. Alternative-Fueled Vehicles: Progress Made in Accelerating Federal Purchases, but Benefits and Costs Remain Uncertain. 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

Pesochinsky N. Effect of Refractive Vision Correction of Myopia and Hyperopia Through Laser Surgery (LASIK & PRK) on Symptoms of Depression, Stress Perception and Self-esteem in Adults (22-55). 2019.

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

Rotella C. LaMotta: More Than ‘Raging’. New York Times. 2017;A27.

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	BMJ Open
Abbreviation	BMJ Open
ISSN (online)	2044-6055
Scope	General Medicine