How to format your references using the Current Opinion in Biotechnology citation style

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

Luo Z-X: Evolution: Tooth structure re-engineered. Nature 2014, 512:36–37.

A journal article with 2 authors

Frank T, Friedrich RW: Neurobiology: Individuality sniffed out in flies. Nature 2015, 526:200–201.

A journal article with 3 authors

Ringstad N, Abe N, Horvitz HR: Ligand-gated chloride channels are receptors for biogenic amines in C. elegans. Science 2009, 325:96–100.

A journal article with 11 or more authors

Wagner K, Janousek J, Delaubert V, Zou H, Harb C, Treps N, Morizur JF, Lam PK, Bachor HA: Entangling the spatial properties of laser beams. Science 2008, 321:541–543.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Perez A: Voice Over LTE. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 2013.

An edited book

Champagnat J, Denavit-Saubié M, Fortin G, Foutz AS, Thoby-Brisson M (Eds): Post-Genomic Perspectives in Modeling and Control of Breathing. Springer US; 2005.

A chapter in an edited book

Nakkeeran S, Renukadevi P, Aiyanathan KEA: Exploring the Potential of Trichoderma for the Management of Seed and Soil-Borne Diseases of Crops. In Integrated Pest Management of Tropical Vegetable Crops. Edited by Muniappan R, Heinrichs EA. Springer Netherlands; 2016:77–130.

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 Opinion in Biotechnology.

Blog post

Andrew E: Nobel Prize Awarded To Scientists Who Identified The Brain’s “GPS System.” IFLScience 2014,

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: Urban Mass Transportation Administration’s Enforcement of Buy America Provisions of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act. U.S. Government Printing Office; 1988.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Dillon KS: Social support to families of children with special needs: A grant. 2009,

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

Johnson G: Cancer’s Secrets Come Into Sharper Focus. New York Times 2011,

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 Opinion in Biotechnology
Abbreviation	Curr. Opin. Biotechnol.
ISSN (print)	0958-1669
ISSN (online)	1879-0429
Scope	Biotechnology Bioengineering Biomedical Engineering