How to format your references using the Frontiers in Plant-Microbe Interaction citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Frontiers in Plant-Microbe Interaction. 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:

PaperpileThe citation style is built in and you can choose it in Settings > Citation Style or Paperpile > Citation Style in Google Docs.
EndNoteFind the style here: output styles overview
Mendeley, Zotero, Papers, and othersThe style is either built in or you can download a CSL file that is supported by most references management programs.
BibTeXBibTeX 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
DeWeerdt, S. (2011). Diagnostics: a testing journey. Nature 474, S20-1.
A journal article with 2 authors
England, P. C., and Katz, R. F. (2010). Melting above the anhydrous solidus controls the location of volcanic arcs. Nature 467, 700–703.
A journal article with 3 authors
Tahir, M., MacKinnon, A., and Schwingenschlögl, U. (2014). Novel spectral features of nanoelectromechanical systems. Sci. Rep. 4, 4035.
A journal article with 7 or more authors
Drenowatz, C., Shook, R. P., Hand, G. A., Hébert, J. R., and Blair, S. N. (2014). The independent association between diet quality and body composition. Sci. Rep. 4, 4928.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book
Smed, J., and Hakonen, H. (2017). Algorithms and Networking for Computer Games. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
An edited book
Hoe, L. V. (2006). MR Cholangiopancreatography: Atlas with Cross-Sectional Imaging Correlation. , eds. D. Vanbeckevoort, K. Mermuys, and W. V. Steenbergen Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer.
A chapter in an edited book
Delgado, S. V., Strawn, J. R., and Pedapati, E. V. (2015). “Key Concepts in Two-Person Relational Psychology,” in Contemporary Psychodynamic Psychotherapy for Children and Adolescents: Integrating Intersubjectivity and Neuroscience, eds. J. R. Strawn and E. V. Pedapati (Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer), 79–113.

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 Plant-Microbe Interaction.

Blog post
Carpineti, A. (2015). 3D Electron Discovery In High-Temperature Superconductor Could Lead To Breakthrough. IFLScience. Available at: https://www.iflscience.com/physics/new-discovery-get-us-closer-fully-understand-high-temperature-superconductors/ [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 (1996). Information Technology Investment: Agencies Can Improve Performance, Reduce Costs, and Minimize Risks. 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
Woodard, J. (2012). Emergent properties.

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. (2013). Beyond the Whimsy, Sushi With Ambition. New York Times, LI7.

In-text citations

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

This sentence cites one reference (DeWeerdt, 2011).
This sentence cites two references (England and Katz, 2010; DeWeerdt, 2011).

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

  • Two authors: (England and Katz, 2010)
  • Three or more authors: (Drenowatz et al., 2014)

About the journal

Full journal titleFrontiers in Plant-Microbe Interaction
AbbreviationFront. Plant Sci.
ISSN (online)1664-462X
ScopePlant Science

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