How to format your references using the Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics. 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

Rees M. Time for global statistics we can count on. Nature (2013) 502:273.

A journal article with 2 authors

Dubrulle J, Pourquié O. fgf8 mRNA decay establishes a gradient that couples axial elongation to patterning in the vertebrate embryo. Nature (2004) 427:419–422.

A journal article with 3 authors

Wang D, Song C, Barabási A-L. Quantifying long-term scientific impact. Science (2013) 342:127–132.

A journal article with 11 or more authors

Shu Y, Hasenstaub A, Duque A, Yu Y, McCormick DA. Modulation of intracortical synaptic potentials by presynaptic somatic membrane potential. Nature (2006) 441:761–765.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Pozzilli P, Lenzi A, Clarke BL, Young WF Jr. Imaging in Endocrinology. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons Ltd (2013).

An edited book

Grioli G, Truesdell C eds. Non-linear Continuum Theories. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer (2011). 358 p p.

A chapter in an edited book

Baer S, Ensslin K. “Non-Abelian Statistics and Its Signatures in Interference Experiments.,” In: Ensslin K, editor. Transport Spectroscopy of Confined Fractional Quantum Hall Systems. Springer Series in Solid-State Sciences. Cham: Springer International Publishing (2015). p. 63–71

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 Research Metrics and Analytics.

Blog post

Luntz S. Magnificent Roll Cloud Filmed Over Texas. IFLScience (2014) https://www.iflscience.com/physics/magnificent-roll-cloud-filmed-over-texas/ [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. SSA Services to Employers. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office (1994).

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Villa J. Multicultural Training for Mental Health Professionals Working in the Juvenile Justice System. [Doctoral dissertation]. Long Beach, CA: California State University, Long Beach (2017).

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

Saslow L. Students Help Track Black Squirrels. New York Times (2008)LI2.

In-text citations

References should be cited in the text by sequential numbers in parentheses:

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	Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics
Abbreviation	Front. Res. Metr. Anal.
ISSN (online)	2504-0537
Scope

Research and Writing Guides