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

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

Dang CV: Gene regulation: fine-tuned amplification in cells. Nature 2014, 511:417–418.

A journal article with 2 authors

Aβmann M, Bayer M: Compressive adaptive computational ghost imaging. Sci Rep 2013, 3:1545.

A journal article with 3 authors

Kim J, Park S-M, Cho K-H: Discovery of a kernel for controlling biomolecular regulatory networks. Sci Rep 2013, 3:2223.

A journal article with 11 or more authors

Hon W-C, Wilson MI, Harlos K, Claridge TDW, Schofield CJ, Pugh CW, Maxwell PH, Ratcliffe PJ, Stuart DI, Jones EY: Structural basis for the recognition of hydroxyproline in HIF-1 alpha by pVHL. Nature 2002, 417:975–978.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Kula G, Raab M, Stahn S: Beyond Smart Beta. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd; 2017.

An edited book

Chalamwong Y, Thabchumpon N, Chantavanich S (Eds): Temporary Shelters and Surrounding Communities: Livelihood Opportunities, the Labour Market, Social Welfare and Social Security. Springer International Publishing; 2014.

A chapter in an edited book

Khan RA: Introduction: The Use of Extrathecal CSF Shunts, Optional vs Mandatory, Unavoidable Complications. In Complications of CSF Shunting in Hydrocephalus: Prevention, Identification, and Management. Edited by Di Rocco C, Turgut M, Jallo G, Martínez-Lage JF. Springer International Publishing; 2015:75–80.

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 Opinion in Plant Biology.

Blog post

Carpineti A: Pear-Shaped Nuclei Explain Lack Of Antimatter And Make Time-Travel Impossible. IFLScience 2016,

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: The Impact of Federal Commodity Donations on the School Lunch Program. U.S. Government Printing Office; 1977.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Tsai C-N: A simulation study of hierarchical wireless sensor networks. 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

Saslow L: It’s Not Their Party, but They’ll Still Take Levy. New York Times 2007,

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 Plant Biology
Abbreviation	Curr. Opin. Plant Biol.
ISSN (print)	1369-5266
ISSN (online)	1879-0356
Scope	Plant Science