How to format your references using the Futures citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Futures. 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.
EndNoteDownload the output style file
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
O’Shea, J. N. (2005). Applied physics. Enhanced: molecular orbitals tell the story. Science (New York, N.Y.), 310(5747), 453–454.
A journal article with 2 authors
Eaton, D. W., & Frederiksen, A. (2007). Seismic evidence for convection-driven motion of the North American plate. Nature, 446(7134), 428–431.
A journal article with 3 authors
Larson, K. M., Bodin, P., & Gomberg, J. (2003). Using 1-Hz GPS data to measure deformations caused by the Denali fault earthquake. Science (New York, N.Y.), 300(5624), 1421–1424.
A journal article with 8 or more authors
Katayama, Y., Inamura, Y., Mizutani, T., Yamakata, M., Utsumi, W., & Shimomura, O. (2004). Macroscopic separation of dense fluid phase and liquid phase of phosphorus. Science (New York, N.Y.), 306(5697), 848–851.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book
Hopkins, B. R. (2012). Starting and Managing a Nonprofit Organization. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
An edited book
Patra, P. (2008). Low-Power High-Level Synthesis for Nanoscale CMOS Circuits (E. Kougianos, N. Ranganathan, & S. P. Mohanty, Eds.). Springer US.
A chapter in an edited book
Buelga, S., Martínez-Ferrer, B., & Musitu, G. (2016). Family Relationships and Cyberbullying. In R. Navarro, S. Yubero, & E. Larrañaga (Eds.), Cyberbullying Across the Globe: Gender, Family, and Mental Health (pp. 99–114). Springer International Publishing.

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 Futures.

Blog post
Andrew, E. (2013, October 24). Creative Ways to Battle Superbugs. IFLScience; IFLScience.

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. (2004). Information Technology: DOD’s Acquisition Policies and Guidance Need to Incorporate Additional Best Practices and Controls (GAO-04-722). 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
Keels, D. (2014). An Analysis of the Correlation between Teacher Effectiveness and Student Standardized Test Scores [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Phoenix.

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
McKINLEY, J. C., Jr. (2017, June 30). For Manhattan Fare-Beaters, a One-Way Ticket to Court May Be Gone Soon. 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 (O’Shea, 2005).
This sentence cites two references (Eaton & Frederiksen, 2007; O’Shea, 2005).

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

  • Two authors: (Eaton & Frederiksen, 2007)
  • Three authors: (Larson et al., 2003)
  • 6 or more authors: (Katayama et al., 2004)

About the journal

Full journal titleFutures
AbbreviationFutures
ISSN (print)0016-3287
ScopeBusiness and International Management
Development
Sociology and Political Science

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