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. Horby P. H7N9 is a virus worth worrying about. Nature. 2013;496:399.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Mesmin B, Antonny B. Cell biology. Vitamin currency in a lipid exchange market. Science. 2013;340:1051–2.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Krishnamurthy H, Piscitelli CL, Gouaux E. Unlocking the molecular secrets of sodium-coupled transporters. Nature. 2009;459:347–55.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Mueller A-K, Labaied M, Kappe SHI, Matuschewski K. Genetically modified Plasmodium parasites as a protective experimental malaria vaccine. Nature. 2005;433:164–7.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Murphy DB, Davidson MW. Fundamentals of Light Microscopy and Electronic Imaging. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 2012.

An edited book

1. Boiti C, Ferlazzo A, Gaiti A, Pugliese A, editors. Trends in Veterinary Sciences: Current Aspects in Veterinary Morphophysiology, Biochemistry, Animal Production, Food Hygiene and Clinical Sciences. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2013.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Colombo J, Arora R, DePace NL, Vinik AI. Autonomic (Parasympathetic and Sympathetic) Assessment. In: Arora R, DePace NL, Vinik AI, editors. Clinical Autonomic Dysfunction: Measurement, Indications, Therapies, and Outcomes. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2015. p. 77–84.

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. Andrew E. Divers Find Million-Dollar Treasure On 300-Year-Old Shipwreck [Internet]. IFLScience. IFLScience; 2015 [cited 2018 Oct 30]. Available from: https://www.iflscience.com/environment/divers-find-million-dollar-treasure-300-year-old-shipwreck/

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. Information Technology: Implementing Best Practices and Reform Initiatives Can Help Improve the Management of Investments. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 2014 May. Report No.: GAO-14-596T.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Herrlich A. Transparency and medical interventions in vital statistics reports: Quantitative research and analysis [Doctoral dissertation]. [Washington, DC]: George Washington University; 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. Leland W by J. Silence Is Golden. New York Times. 2017 Aug 23;MB7.

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