How to format your references using the Frontiers in Surgery citation style

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

Lok C. Smithsonian head ruffled by inquiry. Nature (2001) 412:257.

A journal article with 2 authors

Hu X, Zhou Q. Novel hydrated graphene ribbon unexpectedly promotes aged seed germination and root differentiation. Sci Rep (2014) 4:3782.

A journal article with 3 authors

Kuzuyama T, Noel JP, Richard SB. Structural basis for the promiscuous biosynthetic prenylation of aromatic natural products. Nature (2005) 435:983–987.

A journal article with 11 or more authors

Clark PU, Dyke AS, Shakun JD, Carlson AE, Clark J, Wohlfarth B, Mitrovica JX, Hostetler SW, McCabe AM. The Last Glacial Maximum. Science (2009) 325:710–714.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Homès B. Fundamentals of Software Testing. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (2012).

An edited book

Lajtha A, Johnson DA eds. Handbook of Neurochemistry and Molecular Neurobiology: Sensory Neurochemistry. Boston, MA: Springer US. (2007). X, 302 p. 68 illus., 13 illus. in color. eReference p.

A chapter in an edited book

Shevchenko EV, Talapin DV. “Self-assembly of semiconductor nanocrystals into ordered superstructures.,” In: Rogach AL, editor. Semiconductor Nanocrystal Quantum Dots: Synthesis, Assembly, Spectroscopy and Applications. Vienna: Springer (2008). p. 119–169

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 Surgery.

Blog post

Fang J. Rare, Hairy Nautilus Spotted For The First Time in 30 Years. IFLScience (2015) https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/rare-hairy-nautilus-spotted-first-time-30-years/ [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. Transportation Infrastructure: Federal Highway Administration FY 1992 Budget Request and Highway Program Reauthorization Proposal. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. (1991).

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Besson PS. Affective Organizational Commitment: A Comparative View of the Experience of 5-7 Year Managerial Employees Who Participated in an Employee Identity Network. [Doctoral dissertation]. Washington, DC: George Washington University. (2015).

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

Greenhouse L. Court Hears Arguments Linking Right to Sue and Spending on Religion. New York Times (2007)A14.

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 Surgery
Abbreviation	Front. Surg.
ISSN (online)	2296-875X
Scope