How to format your references using the EXCLI Journal citation style

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

Russo E. Success in an uneven market. Nature. 2003;424:597.

A journal article with 2 authors

Maslin M, Scott J. Carbon trading needs a multi-level approach. Nature. 2011;475:445–7.

A journal article with 3 authors

Rohani P, Zhong X, King AA. Contact network structure explains the changing epidemiology of pertussis. Science. 2010;330:982–5.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

Hungate BA, Stiling PD, Dijkstra P, Johnson DW, Ketterer ME, Hymus GJ, et al. CO2 elicits long-term decline in nitrogen fixation. Science. 2004;304:1291.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Thie PR, Keough GE. An Introduction to Linear Programming and Game Theory. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 2008.

An edited book

Engquist B, editor. Encyclopedia of Applied and Computational Mathematics. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2015.

A chapter in an edited book

Terrill AL, Garofalo JP. Cardiovascular Disease and the Workplace. In: Gatchel RJ, Schultz IZ, editors. Handbook of Occupational Health and Wellness. Boston, MA: Springer US; 2012. p. 87–103.

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 EXCLI Journal.

Blog post

Hale T. Rare Drone Footage Captures Whales Hunting Down And Grabbing A Shark. IFLScience. IFLScience; 2016. https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/extremely-rare-footage-captures-false-killer-whales-hunting-down-shark/. accessed 30 October 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. Information Security: State Has Taken Steps to Implement a Continuous Monitoring Application, but Key Challenges Remain. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 2011 Jul. Report No.: GAO-11-149.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Wick HF. Applying Natural Horn Technique to Modern Valved Horn Performance Practice [Doctoral dissertation]. [Columbus, OH]: Ohio State University; 2001.

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

Crow K. What Rhymes With Asbestos? An Urban Musical in Three Acts. New York Times. 2000;148.

In-text citations

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

This sentence cites one reference (Russo 2003).
This sentence cites two references (Russo 2003; Maslin and Scott 2011).

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

Two authors: (Maslin and Scott 2011)
Three or more authors: (Hungate et al. 2004)

About the journal

Full journal title	EXCLI Journal
ISSN (online)	1611-2156
Scope