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

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Frontiers in Zoology. 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	Download the output style file
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

1. Nielsen J. BIOENGINEERING. Yeast cell factories on the horizon. Science. 2015;349:1050–1.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Schlein Y, Jacobson RL. Hunger tolerance and Leishmania in sandflies. Nature. 2001;414:168.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Morgan JLW, Strumillo J, Zimmer J. Crystallographic snapshot of cellulose synthesis and membrane translocation. Nature. 2013;493:181–6.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Murakami S, Nakashima R, Yamashita E, Yamaguchi A. Crystal structure of bacterial multidrug efflux transporter AcrB. Nature. 2002;419:587–93.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Lalanne C. Fatigue Damage. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd; 2014.

An edited book

1. Demetrikopoulos MK, Pecore JL, editors. Interplay of Creativity and Giftedness in Science. Rotterdam: SensePublishers; 2016.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Nevado LS i., Portaankorva-Koivisto P, Pehkonen E, Varas L, Hannula M, Näveri L. Chilean and Finnish Teachers’ Conceptions on Mathematics Teaching. In: Bernack-Schüler C, Erens R, Leuders T, Eichler A, editors. Views and Beliefs in Mathematics Education: Results of the 19th MAVI Conference. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden; 2015. p. 43–53.

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 Zoology.

Blog post

1. Andrew E. Secrets Of The Orchid Mantis Revealed – It Doesn’t Mimic An Orchid After All. IFLScience. IFLScience; 2015.

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

1. Government Accountability Office. Close Air Support: Airborne Controllers in High-Threat Areas May Not Be Needed. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1990 Apr. Report No.: NSIAD-90-116.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Zarate Ramirez F. Pedagogical and performance approach to selected bel canto songs and arias of Bellini and Donizetti [Doctoral dissertation]. [Long Beach, CA]: California State University, Long Beach; 2012.

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

1. Hodgman J. Bonus Advice From Judge John Hodgman. New York Times. 2016 Oct 21;MM20.

In-text citations

References should be cited in the text by sequential numbers in square brackets:

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 Zoology
Abbreviation	Front. Zool.
ISSN (online)	1742-9994
Scope	Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics