How to format your references using the Frontiers in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Frontiers in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology. 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

Graham, M. D. (2015). Fluid dynamics: Turbulence spreads like wildfire. Nature 526, 508–509.

A journal article with 2 authors

Lefkowitz, R. J., and Shenoy, S. K. (2005). Transduction of receptor signals by beta-arrestins. Science 308, 512–517.

A journal article with 3 authors

Pollitz, F. F., Wicks, C., and Thatcher, W. (2001). Mantle flow beneath a continental strike-slip fault: postseismic deformation after the 1999 Hector Mine earthquake. Science 293, 1814–1818.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

Formisano, V., Atreya, S., Encrenaz, T., Ignatiev, N., and Giuranna, M. (2004). Detection of methane in the atmosphere of Mars. Science 306, 1758–1761.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Anson, E. M. (2014). Alexander’s Heirs. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

An edited book

Ross, A. H., and Abel, S. M. eds. (2011). The Juvenile Skeleton in Forensic Abuse Investigations. Totowa, NJ: Humana Press.

A chapter in an edited book

Moffitt, M. A., Lee, D. C., and Bradley, K. (2009). “Spinal Cord Stimulation: Engineering Approaches to Clinical and Physiological Challenges,” in Implantable Neural Prostheses 1: Devices and Applications Biological and Medical Physics, Biomedical Engineering., eds. E. Greenbaum and D. Zhou (New York, NY: Springer US), 155–194.

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 Frontiers in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology.

Blog post

Andrew, E. (2015). Biker Was IMPALED Through The Neck By A Tree Branch, And Just Cycled To The Nearest Hospital! IFLScience. Available at: https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/biker-impaled-tree-branch-through-neck-and-he-simply-cycles-nearest-hospital/ [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

Government Accountability Office (2003). Transportation-Disadvantaged Populations: Many Federal Programs Fund Transportation Services, but Obstacles to Coordination Persist. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Seesengood, B. N. (2014). Analysis of the Repairability of Resin Modified Glass Ionomer Cement.

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

Novick, S. M. (2015). Authentic Mexican Flavors for Summer. New York Times, LI8.

In-text citations

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

This sentence cites one reference (Graham, 2015).
This sentence cites two references (Lefkowitz and Shenoy, 2005; Graham, 2015).

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

Two authors: (Lefkowitz and Shenoy, 2005)
Three or more authors: (Formisano et al., 2004)

About the journal

Full journal title	Frontiers in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Abbreviation	Front. Genet.
ISSN (online)	1664-8021
Scope	Genetics Molecular Medicine Genetics(clinical)

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