How to format your references using the Evidence-Based Medicine citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Evidence-Based Medicine. 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

Couzin-Frankel J. A lonely crusade. Science 2014;344:793–7.

A journal article with 2 authors

Leathers ML, Olson CR. Response to comment on ‘In monkeys making value-based decisions, LIP neurons encode cue salience and not action value’. Science 2013;340:430.

A journal article with 3 authors

Buckling A, Wills MA, Colegrave N. Adaptation limits diversification of experimental bacterial populations. Science 2003;302:2107–9.

A journal article with 4 or more authors

Yasuda S, Oceguera-Yanez F, Kato T, et al. Cdc42 and mDia3 regulate microtubule attachment to kinetochores. Nature 2004;428:767–71.

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. Hoboken, NJ USA: : John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2013.

An edited book

Fioranelli M. Cardiologia dello Sport: Diagnostica e clinica cardiovascolare. Milano: : Springer 2011.

A chapter in an edited book

Ceelen WP, Morris S, Paraskeva P, et al. Surgical Trauma, Minimal Residual Disease and Locoregional Cancer Recurrence. In: Ceelen WP, ed. Peritoneal Carcinomatosis: A Multidisciplinary Approach. Boston, MA: : Springer US 2007. 51–69.

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 Evidence-Based Medicine.

Blog post

Andrew E. New Tyrannosaur Nicknamed ‘Pinocchio rex’ Discovered In China. IFLScience. 2014.https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/new-tyrannosaur-nicknamed-pinocchio-rex-discovered-china/ (accessed 30 Oct 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. Key Controls NASA Employs to Guide Use and Management of Funded Space Act Agreements Are Generally Sufficient, but Some Could Be Strengthened and Clarified. Washington, DC: : U.S. Government Printing Office 2011.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Nguyen LL. Pacific Psychiatric Group: A Business Plan For a Direct Pay Outpatient Psychiatric Practice. 2017.

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. Reviving World Cup Hopes Out of Thin Air. New York Times. 2017;:D6.

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	Evidence-Based Medicine
Abbreviation	Evid. Based. Med.
ISSN (print)	1356-5524
ISSN (online)	1473-6810
Scope	General Medicine

Research and Writing Guides