How to format your references using the Cureus citation style

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

Balch AL: Chemistry. H₂O in a desert of carbon atoms. Science. 2011, 333:531–2.

A journal article with 2 authors

Watanabe R, Noji H: Characterization of the temperature-sensitive reaction of F1-ATPase by using single-molecule manipulation. Sci Rep. 2014, 4:4962.

A journal article with 3 authors

Jordan SP, Lee KSM, Preskill J: Quantum algorithms for quantum field theories. Science. 2012, 336:1130–3.

A journal article with 8 or more authors

He P, Xu B, Liu H, He S, Saleem F, Wang X: Polyoxometalate-based supramolecular gel. Sci Rep. 2013, 3:1833.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Bonem JM: Problem Solving for Process Operators and Specialists. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.: Hoboken, NJ; 2011.

An edited book

Paschke A, Biletskiy Y, editors: Advances in Rule Interchange and Applications: International Symposium, RuleML 2007, Orlando, Florida, October 25-26, 2007. Proceedings. Springer: Berlin, Heidelberg; 2007.

A chapter in an edited book

Chen Y, Rui Y: Real Time Object Tracking in Video Sequences. In: Hammoud RI, ed. Interactive Video: Algorithms and Technologies. Springer: Berlin, Heidelberg; 2006. 67–88.

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 Cureus.

Blog post

Andrew E: Revealed: Asteroid That Killed The Dinosaurs Boiled The Earth’s Atmosphere. IFLScience. (2015). Accessed: October 30, 2018. https://www.iflscience.com/space/revealed-asteroid-killed-dinosaurs-boiled-earth-s-atmosphere/.

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: Federal Agency Roles and Responsibilities for Emergency Communications Need Clarification. U.S. Government Printing Office: Washington, DC; 1980.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Henry AG: Plant foods and the dietary ecology of Neandertals and modern humans. 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

Shpigel B: Top Safety From L.S.U. With Reputation for Intensity Drops Into Jets’ Lap at No. 6. New York Times. 2017, B10.

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	Cureus
ISSN (online)	2168-8184
Scope