How to format your references using the Election Law Journal citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Election Law Journal (ELJ). 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

Alexander RM. Evolution. Enhanced: A Rodent as Big as a Buffalo. Science 2003;301(5640):1678–1679.

A journal article with 2 authors

Clarke A and Kapustin V. Hemispheric Aerosol Vertical Profiles: Anthropogenic Impacts on Optical Depth and Cloud Nuclei. Science 2010;329(5998):1488–1492.

A journal article with 3 authors

Stern P, Hines PJ and Travis J. The Aging Brain. Introduction. Science 2014;346(6209):566–567.

A journal article with 4 or more authors

Umbach JL, Kramer MF, Jurak I, et al. MicroRNAs Expressed by Herpes Simplex Virus 1 during Latent Infection Regulate Viral MRNAs. Nature 2008;454(7205):780–783.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Hoy J. Forensic Radio Survey Techniques for Cell Site Analysis. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester, UK; 2015.

An edited book

Dallenbach-Hellweg G. Atlas of Endometrial Histopathology. 3rd ed. (Schmidt D and Dallenbach F. eds). Springer: Berlin, Heidelberg; 2010.

A chapter in an edited book

Zhang L, Yang T, Shi P, et al. Time-Delay Systems Case. In: Analysis and Design of Markov Jump Systems with Complex Transition Probabilities. (Yang T, Shi P, and Zhu Y. eds). Studies in Systems, Decision and Control Springer International Publishing: Cham; 2016; pp. 57–70.

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 Election Law Journal.

Blog post

Luntz S. 1/4 of American Adults Do Not Know That The Earth Orbits The Sun. IFLScience; 2014. Available from: https://www.iflscience.com/technology/scientific-knoweldge-trails-support-0/ [Last accessed: 10/30/2018].

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. Vocational Education: Information on the National Research Center’s Grant Award Process. U.S. Government Printing Office: Washington, DC; 1988.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Frantz DE. The Effects of Aroclor 1254 on the Reproductive Function of Male Round Stingrays (Urobatis Halleri). Doctoral dissertation. California State University, Long Beach: Long Beach, CA; 2014.

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

Kishkovsky S. Russian Novelist Scoffs at Post-Soviet Leaders. New York Times 2002;114.

In-text citations

References should be cited in the text by name and year in parentheses:

This sentence cites one reference (Alexander, 2003).
This sentence cites two references (Alexander, 2003; Clarke and Kapustin, 2010).

Here are examples of in-text citations with multiple authors:

Two authors: (Clarke and Kapustin, 2010)
Three or more authors: (Umbach et al., 2008)

About the journal

Full journal title	Election Law Journal
ISSN (print)	1533-1296
ISSN (online)	1557-8062
Scope