How to format your references using the Gerontology citation style

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

Mueller KL. Innate immunity. Recognizing the first responders. Introduction. Science. 2010 Jan;327(5963):283.

A journal article with 2 authors

Byers J, Dunn S. Bateman in nature: predation on offspring reduces the potential for sexual selection. Science. 2012 Nov;338(6108):802–4.

A journal article with 3 authors

Buchner DA, Trudeau M, Meisler MH. SCNM1, a putative RNA splicing factor that modifies disease severity in mice. Science. 2003 Aug;301(5635):967–9.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

Zheng W, Wang X, Tian D, Jiang S, Andersen ME, He G, et al. Water pollutant fingerprinting tracks recent industrial transfer from coastal to inland China: a case study. Sci Rep. 2013 Jan;3:1031.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Thomas CG. Greece. Oxford: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd; 2014.

An edited book

Spath D, Fähnrich K-P, editors. Advances in Services Innovations. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2007.

A chapter in an edited book

Fridkin V, Ducharme S. Ultrathin Ferroelectric Films. In: Ducharme S, editor. Ferroelectricity at the Nanoscale: Basics and Applications. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2014; pp 29–65.

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 Gerontology.

Blog post

Davis J. Predatory Cockroach From The Age Of The Dinosaurs Discovered Trapped In Amber [Internet]. IFLScience. 2015 May [cited 2018 Oct 30]. Available from: https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/predatory-cockroach-discovered-trapped-amber/

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. Air Traffic Control: FAA Enhanced the Controller-in-Charge Program, but More Comprehensive Evaluation is Needed. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 2001.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Grijalva JA. Exploring cultural finance: A phenomenological approach to comparative cultural perceptions of money in Mexico. 2010

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

Borden S. A Photo Finish Too Close to Call, Even by Camera. New York Times. 2012 Jun;A1.

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	Gerontology
Abbreviation	Gerontology
ISSN (print)	0304-324X
ISSN (online)	1423-0003
Scope	Ageing Geriatrics and Gerontology