How to format your references using the Current Molecular Biology Reports citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Current Molecular Biology Reports. 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

1. Reedijk J. Chemistry. Dioxygen surprises. Science. 2005;308:1876–7.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Weaver BAA, Cleveland DW. Comment on “A centrosome-independent role for gamma-TuRC proteins in the spindle assembly checkpoint.” Science. 2007;316:982; author reply 982.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Toope SJ, Tan CC, Fedoroff NV. Science in Asia. Improving Asia-Pacific science collaboration. Science. 2012;336:38–9.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Rioual P, Andrieu-Ponel V, Rietti-Shati M, Battarbee RW, de Beaulieu JL, Cheddadi R, et al. High-resolution record of climate stability in France during the last interglacial period. Nature. 2001;413:293–6.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Clayton LA. Bartolomé de las Casas and the Conquest of the Americas. Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell; 2010.

An edited book

1. Gupta S, Alt F, Cooper M, Melchers F, Rajewsky K, editors. Mechanisms of Lymphocyte Activation and Immune Regulation XI: B Cell Biology. Boston, MA: Springer US; 2007.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Nowak P. Competitiveness of EU Region and Sustainable Development Policies Measures in Logistics: Experiences of Emilia Romagna. In: Golinska P, Hajdul M, editors. Sustainable Transport: New Trends and Business Practices. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2012. p. 67–80.

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 Current Molecular Biology Reports.

Blog post

1. Luntz S. New Finch Species Evolves Before Our Eyes [Internet]. IFLScience. IFLScience; 2014 [cited 2018 Oct 30]. Available from: https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/new-finch-species-evolves-our-eyes/

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. Comments on Bill To Amend NASA Act of 1958. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1966 May. Report No.: B-141387.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Proser M. Ingredients for Optimal Care: Exploring Factors Associated with Patient Quality Outcomes among Federally-Qualified Health Centers [Doctoral dissertation]. [Washington, DC]: George Washington University; 2015.

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. Greenhouse L. Court to Rule on What Constitutes Employer Retaliation. New York Times. 2005 Dec 6;A23.

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	Current Molecular Biology Reports
Abbreviation	Curr. Mol. Biol. Rep.
ISSN (online)	2198-6428
Scope