How to format your references using the Computers citation style

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

Campbell, C.T. Surface Science. Waltzing with O2. Science 2003, 299, 357.

A journal article with 2 authors

Morton, J.J.L.; Mølmer, K. Quantum Information: Spin Memories in for the Long Haul. Nature 2015, 517, 153–154.

A journal article with 3 authors

Latimer, A.M.; Silander, J.A., Jr; Cowling, R.M. Neutral Ecological Theory Reveals Isolation and Rapid Speciation in a Biodiversity Hot Spot. Science 2005, 309, 1722–1725.

A journal article with 4 or more authors

Smedskjaer, M.M.; Youngman, R.E.; Striepe, S.; Potuzak, M.; Bauer, U.; Deubener, J.; Behrens, H.; Mauro, J.C.; Yue, Y. Irreversibility of Pressure Induced Boron Speciation Change in Glass. Sci. Rep. 2014, 4, 3770.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Machner, H. Einführung in Die Kern- Und Elementarteilchenphysik; Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA: Weinheim, Germany, 2005; ISBN 9783527662371.

An edited book

Advanced Computer Science and Information Technology: Second International Conference, AST 2010, Miyazaki, Japan, June 23-25, 2010. Proceedings; Tomar, G.S., Chang, R.-S., Gervasi, O., Kim, T.-H., Bandyopadhyay, S.K., Eds.; Communications in Computer and Information Science; Springer: Berlin, Heidelberg, 2010; Vol. 74; ISBN 9783642133459.

A chapter in an edited book

Toulouevski, Y.N.; Zinurov, I.Y. Methods of Realization of High-Temperature Scrap Preheating. In Electric Arc Furnace with Flat Bath: Achievements and Prospects; Zinurov, I.Y., Ed.; SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology; Springer International Publishing: Cham, 2015; pp. 69–82 ISBN 9783319158853.

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 Computers.

Blog post

Andrews, R. What The Heck Is This Weird Purple Blob Found Off The Coast Of California? Available online: https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/what-the-heck-is-this-weird-purple-blob-found-off-the-coast-of-california/ (accessed on 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 U.S. Science and Engineering Base: A Synthesis of Concerns About Budget and Policy Development; U.S. Government Printing Office: Washington, DC, 1987;

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Minick, V. Educators’ Beliefs About and Approaches to the Evaluation of Student Writing. Doctoral dissertation, University of South Florida: Tampa, FL, 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

Kleinfield, N.R.; Fitzsimmons, E.G. Friends and Work Colleagues Remembering Lives Lost in the Metro-North Crash. New York Times 2015, A22.

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	Computers
ISSN (online)	2073-431X
Scope