How to format your references using the Cancer Cell International citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Cancer Cell International. 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. Savage N. Mobile data: Made to measure. Nature. 2015;527:S12-3.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Buzsáki G, Draguhn A. Neuronal oscillations in cortical networks. Science. 2004;304:1926–9.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Pergams ORW, Barnes WM, Nyberg D. Mammalian microevolution: Rapid change in mouse mitochondrial DNA. Nature. 2003;423:397.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Dhar S, Vemulapalli V, Patananan AN, Huang GL, Di Lorenzo A, Richard S, et al. Loss of the major Type I arginine methyltransferase PRMT1 causes substrate scavenging by other PRMTs. Sci Rep. 2013;3:1311.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Federer WT, King F. Variations on Split Plot and Split Block Experiment Designs: Federer/Variations on Split Plot and Split Block Experiment Designs. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 2007.

An edited book

1. López-Campos G. Microarray Detection and Characterization of Bacterial Foodborne Pathogens. Martínez-Suárez JV, Aguado-Urda M, López-Alonso V, editors. Boston, MA: Springer US; 2012.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Vukadin IK, Borovec K, Golub TL. Policing in Croatia: The Main Challenges on the Path to Democratic Policing. In: Meško G, Fields CB, Lobnikar B, Sotlar A, editors. Handbook on Policing in Central and Eastern Europe. New York, NY: Springer; 2013. p. 31–55.

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 Cancer Cell International.

Blog post

1. Luntz S. The Speed Of Light Can Vary In A Vacuum [Internet]. IFLScience. IFLScience; 2015 [cited 2018 Oct 30]. Available from: https://www.iflscience.com/physics/speed-light-can-vary-vacuum/

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. Weather Satellite Costs Have Increased: Problems Have Occurred in Their Manufacturing Quality Control. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1985 Oct. Report No.: RCED-86-28.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Liao X. Creative Learning for Intelligent Robots [Doctoral dissertation]. [Cincinnati, OH]: University of Cincinnati; 2006.

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. St. John Kelly E. PLAYING IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD. New York Times. 1994 May 22;1412.

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	Cancer Cell International
Abbreviation	Cancer Cell Int.
ISSN (online)	1475-2867
Scope	Cancer Research Genetics Oncology