How to format your references using the Computer citation style

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

PaperpileThe citation style is built in and you can choose it in Settings > Citation Style or Paperpile > Citation Style in Google Docs.
EndNoteDownload the output style file
Mendeley, Zotero, Papers, and othersThe style is either built in or you can download a CSL file that is supported by most references management programs.
BibTeXBibTeX 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]
W. F. Ruddiman, “Retrospective. Nicholas J. Shackleton (1937-2006),” Science, vol. 312, no. 5774, p. 711, May 2006.
A journal article with 2 authors
[1]
S. J. Simpson and J. Travis, “Testing our defenses,” Science, vol. 317, no. 5838, p. 611, Aug. 2007.
A journal article with 3 authors
[1]
P. Michel, W. Benz, and D. C. Richardson, “Disruption of fragmented parent bodies as the origin of asteroid families,” Nature, vol. 421, no. 6923, pp. 608–611, Feb. 2003.
A journal article with 4 or more authors
[1]
W. B. Kim, T. Voitl, G. J. Rodriguez-Rivera, and J. A. Dumesic, “Powering fuel cells with CO via aqueous polyoxometalates and gold catalysts,” Science, vol. 305, no. 5688, pp. 1280–1283, Aug. 2004.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book
[1]
D. Wagner, Trading ETFs. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2012.
An edited book
[1]
J. Hodler, C. L. Zollikofer, and G. K. von Schulthess, Eds., Diseases of the Heart, Chest & Breast: Diagnostic Imaging and Interventional Techniques 39th International Diagnostic Course in Davos (IDKD) Davos, March 25–30, 2007 Pediatric Satellite Course “Kangaroo” Davos, March 24–25, 2007. Milano: Springer, 2007.
A chapter in an edited book
[1]
R. Sroufe, “Quality Assurance and Consumer Electronics Recycling,” in Quality Management in Reverse Logistics: A Broad Look on Quality Issues and Their Interaction with Closed-Loop Supply Chains, Y. Nikolaidis, Ed., London: Springer, 2013, pp. 73–94.

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 Computer.

Blog post
[1]
J. Fang, “What Can Rats Wearing Jackets Tell Us About Men Who Love Lingerie?,” IFLScience. Accessed: Oct. 30, 2018. [Online]. Available: https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/what-can-rats-wearing-jackets-tell-us-about-men-who-love-lingerie/

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: Data Problems Threaten FAA Strides on Safety Analysis System,” U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, AIMD-95-27, Feb. 1995.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation
[1]
J. M. Coleman, “Classroom management: Whose responsibility is it?,” Doctoral dissertation, California State University, Long Beach, Long Beach, CA, 2012.

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]
J. Wagner, “Taking His Off-Season Cuts, Conforto Leaves Demotions Behind,” New York Times, p. B11, Mar. 07, 2017.

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], [2], [3], [4].

About the journal

Full journal titleComputer
AbbreviationComputer (Long Beach Calif.)
ISSN (print)0018-9162
ScopeGeneral Computer Science

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