How to format your references using the FEMS Microbiology Letters citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for FEMS Microbiology Letters. 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

Macilwain C. Concerns over nuclear energy are legitimate. Nature 2011;471:549.

A journal article with 2 authors

Koch C, Hepp K. Quantum mechanics in the brain. Nature 2006;440:611.

A journal article with 3 authors

Thürmer K, Hwang RQ, Bartelt NC. Surface self-organization caused by dislocation networks. Science 2006;311:1272–4.

A journal article with 4 or more authors

Yancopoulos GD, Davis S, Gale NW et al. Vascular-specific growth factors and blood vessel formation. Nature 2000;407:242–8.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Schwartz RA, Carew MG, Maksimenko T. Micro Markets. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2010.

An edited book

Dana SK, Roy PK, Kurths J eds. Complex Dynamics in Physiological Systems: From Heart to Brain. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands, 2009.

A chapter in an edited book

van Ooijen PMA, Kristanto W, de Jonge GJ et al. Multi-Dimensional Computed Cardiac Visualization. In: Oudkerk M, Reiser MF (eds.). Coronary Radiology. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer, 2009, 297–338.

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 FEMS Microbiology Letters.

Blog post

Davis J. One-Third Of European Children Aged Six To Nine Now Overweight Or Obese. 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. Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority: Contracting Practices Do Not Always Comply with Airport Lease Requirements. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2002.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Castan JU. Congruence x employment tenure: A study with transitioning youth with disabilities. 2010.

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

Gustines GG. Leaping Off the Pages in the Himalayas. New York Times. December 30, 2011:C27.

In-text citations

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

This sentence cites one reference (Macilwain 2011).
This sentence cites two references (Koch and Hepp 2006; Macilwain 2011).

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

Two authors: (Koch and Hepp 2006)
Three authors: (Thürmer, Hwang and Bartelt 2006)
4 or more authors: (Yancopoulos et al. 2000)

About the journal

Full journal title	FEMS Microbiology Letters
Abbreviation	FEMS Microbiol. Lett.
ISSN (print)	0378-1097
ISSN (online)	1574-6968
Scope	Genetics Molecular Biology Microbiology