How to format your references using the Frontiers in Non-Coding RNA citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Frontiers in Non-Coding RNA. 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

Johnstone, R. A. (2002). The evolution of inaccurate mimics. Nature 418, 524–526.

A journal article with 2 authors

Stitzel, M. L., and Seydoux, G. (2007). Regulation of the oocyte-to-zygote transition. Science 316, 407–408.

A journal article with 3 authors

Baier, D. B., Gatesy, S. M., and Jenkins, F. A. (2007). A critical ligamentous mechanism in the evolution of avian flight. Nature 445, 307–310.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

Andreotti, B., Fourrière, A., Ould-Kaddour, F., Murray, B., and Claudin, P. (2009). Giant aeolian dune size determined by the average depth of the atmospheric boundary layer. Nature 457, 1120–1123.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Maidl, B., Herrenknecht, M., Maidl, U., and Wehrmeyer, G. (2012). Mechanised Shield Tunnelling. Weinheim, Germany: Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.

An edited book

Atallah, M. J., and Hopper, N. J. eds. (2010). Privacy Enhancing Technologies: 10th International Symposium, PETS 2010, Berlin, Germany, July 21-23, 2010. Proceedings. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer.

A chapter in an edited book

Wolfsberg, M., Van Hook, W. A., and Paneth, P. (2009). “Condensed Phase Isotope Effects; Isotope Effects in Non-ideal Gases,” in Isotope Effects: in the Chemical, Geological, and Bio Sciences, eds. W. A. Hook, P. Paneth, and L. P. N. Rebelo (Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands), 139–180.

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 Non-Coding RNA.

Blog post

Andrew, E. (2015). Enjoy Nature At Its Finest With These Slow-Motion Animal Attacks. IFLScience. Available at: https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/enjoy-nature-its-finest-these-slow-motion-animal-attacks/ (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 (1992). NASA Procurement: Agencywide Action Needed to Improve Management of Contract Modifications. 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

Shirley, A. (2012). Connecting foster children with their siblings within a summer camp setting: A grant proposal. Long Beach, CA: California State University, Long Beach.

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

Murphy, M. J. O., and Patel, S. (2016). Because I Was a Girl. New York Times, A18.

In-text citations

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

This sentence cites one reference (Johnstone, 2002).
This sentence cites two references (Johnstone, 2002; Stitzel and Seydoux, 2007).

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

Two authors: (Stitzel and Seydoux, 2007)
Three or more authors: (Andreotti et al., 2009)

About the journal

Full journal title	Frontiers in Non-Coding RNA
Abbreviation	Front. Genet.
ISSN (online)	1664-8021
Scope	Genetics Molecular Medicine Genetics(clinical)