How to format your references using the Canadian Family Physician citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Canadian Family Physician. 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

Ledford H. Liquid fuel synthesis: making it up as you go along. Nature. 2006 Dec 7;444(7120):677–8.

A journal article with 2 authors

Müser MH, Shakhvorostov D. Applied physics. Why thick can be slick. Science. 2010 Apr 2;328(5974):52–3.

A journal article with 3 authors

Sorenson MD, Sefc KM, Payne RB. Speciation by host switch in brood parasitic indigobirds. Nature. 2003 Aug 21;424(6951):928–31.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

Abrahamsen B, Zhao J, Asante CO, Cendan CM, Marsh S, Martinez-Barbera JP, et al. The cell and molecular basis of mechanical, cold, and inflammatory pain. Science. 2008 Aug 1;321(5889):702–5.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Berk J. Cost Reduction and Optimization for Manufacturing and Industrial Companies. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 2010.

An edited book

Williams IH, editor. Biocontrol-Based Integrated Management of Oilseed Rape Pests. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands; 2010. XI, 461 p.

A chapter in an edited book

Suardi M, Kurian M. Results-Based Financing and Its Potential Role in Advancing the Nexus Approach. In: Kurian M, Ardakanian R, editors. Governing the Nexus: Water, Soil and Waste Resources Considering Global Change. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2015. p. 83–104.

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 Canadian Family Physician.

Blog post

Andrews R. IFLScience. IFLScience; 2016 [cited 2018 Oct 30]. New Drug Wards Off Advanced Pancreatic Cancer By Sending Immune System Into Overdrive. Available from: https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/drug-wards-off-advanced-pancreatic-cancer-sending-immune-system-overdrive/

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. Higher Education: Improved Tax Information Could Help Pay for College. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 2012 Jul. Report No.: GAO-12-863T.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Morris L. Evolving the leadership model of the American theatre to forge a fiscally and artistically secure future [Doctoral dissertation]. [Long Beach, CA]: 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

Kelly M. Being Whatever It Takes to Win Election. New York Times. 1992 Aug 23;41.

In-text citations

References should be cited in the text by sequential numbers in parentheses:

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	Canadian Family Physician
ISSN (print)	0008-350X
ISSN (online)	1715-5258
Scope