How to format your references using the Evolving Systems citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Evolving Systems. 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

Thiffeault J-L (2010) Oceans. Chaos in the Gulf. Science 330:458–459

A journal article with 2 authors

Kiani R, Shadlen MN (2009) Representation of confidence associated with a decision by neurons in the parietal cortex. Science 324:759–764

A journal article with 3 authors

Ji M, Odelius M, Gaffney KJ (2010) Large angular jump mechanism observed for hydrogen bond exchange in aqueous perchlorate solution. Science 328:1003–1005

A journal article with 5 or more authors

Hock H, Hamblen MJ, Rooke HM, et al (2004) Gfi-1 restricts proliferation and preserves functional integrity of haematopoietic stem cells. Nature 431:1002–1007

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Trimble MR, George MS (2010) Biological Psychiatry. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, UK

An edited book

Fursikov AV, Galdi GP, Pukhnachev VV (eds) (2010) New Directions in Mathematical Fluid Mechanics: The Alexander V. Kazhikhov Memorial Volume. Birkhäuser, Basel

A chapter in an edited book

Bentsen HB (2005) Polygenic Inheritance. In: Gjedrem T (ed) Selection and Breeding Programs in Aquaculture. Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht, pp 35–43

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 Evolving Systems.

Blog post

O`Callaghan J (2016) Check Out This Amazing Footage Of Blue Origin’s Rocket Landing From Space. In: IFLScience. https://www.iflscience.com/space/check-out-amazing-footage-blue-origins-rocket-landing-space/. 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 (1970) Observations of the Test of the Simplifed Method for Determining Eligibility of Persons for Adult Public Assistance Programs. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Randolph JL (2017) A Mixed-Methods Investigation of FMS Shoulder Mobility and Reported Upper Body Injury in Collegiate Football Athletes at a Division II Midwestern University. Doctoral dissertation, Lindenwood University

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

Widdicombe B (2016) Diamonds (and Other Gems) That Are Forever. New York Times D10

In-text citations

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

This sentence cites one reference (Thiffeault 2010).
This sentence cites two references (Kiani and Shadlen 2009; Thiffeault 2010).

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

Two authors: (Kiani and Shadlen 2009)
Three or more authors: (Hock et al. 2004)

About the journal

Full journal title	Evolving Systems
ISSN (print)	1868-6478
ISSN (online)	1868-6486
Scope	Computer Science Applications Control and Systems Engineering Control and Optimization Modelling and Simulation