How to format your references using the Forensic Science International: Genetics citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Forensic Science International: Genetics. 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

[1]

G.J. Retallack, Ediacaran life on land, Nature. 493 (2013) 89–92.

A journal article with 2 authors

[1]

H. Yurimoto, K. Kuramoto, Molecular cloud origin for the oxygen isotope heterogeneity in the solar system, Science. 305 (2004) 1763–1766.

A journal article with 3 authors

[1]

H.M. Baulch, E.H. Stanley, E.S. Bernhardt, Can algal uptake stop NO3(-) pollution?, Nature. 477 (2011) E3; discussion E3-4.

A journal article with 4 or more authors

[1]

M. Burresi, L. Cortese, L. Pattelli, M. Kolle, P. Vukusic, D.S. Wiersma, U. Steiner, S. Vignolini, Bright-white beetle scales optimise multiple scattering of light, Sci. Rep. 4 (2014) 6075.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

[1]

B.S. Brodsky, B. Stanley, The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Primer, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, UK, 2013.

An edited book

[1]

T. Pedersen, L. Bals, P.D. Ørberg Jensen, M.M. Larsen, eds., The Offshoring Challenge: Strategic Design and Innovation for Tomorrow’s Organization, Springer, London, 2013.

A chapter in an edited book

[1]

T. Kasper, D. Oswald, C. Paar, Side-Channel Analysis of Cryptographic RFIDs with Analog Demodulation, in: A. Juels, C. Paar (Eds.), RFID. Security and Privacy: 7th International Workshop, RFIDSec 2011, Amherst, USA, June 26-28, 2011, Revised Selected Papers, Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2012: pp. 61–77.

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 Forensic Science International: Genetics.

Blog post

[1]

E. Andrew, Life In Extreme Environments, IFLScience. (2014). https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/life-extreme-environments/ (accessed October 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

[1]

Government Accountability Office, GAO’s Need for an Interim Management Data System (MDS), U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1979.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

[1]

M.T. Hendricks-Harris, Quality Induction: The Effects of Comprehensive Induction on New Teacher Retention and Job Satisfaction, Doctoral dissertation, Lindenwood University, 2012.

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

[1]

B. Kenigsberg, Hong Kong Trilogy: Preschooled Preoccupied Preposterous, New York Times. (2017) C10.

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	Forensic Science International: Genetics
Abbreviation	Forensic Sci. Int. Genet.
ISSN (print)	1872-4973
Scope	Genetics Pathology and Forensic Medicine