How to format your references using the Health Research Policy and Systems citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Health Research Policy and Systems. 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. Goodman S. Bricks and mortar. Nature. 2004;427:660.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Chandonia J-M, Brenner SE. The impact of structural genomics: expectations and outcomes. Science. 2006;311:347–51.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Miller KM, Rog O, Cooper JP. Semi-conservative DNA replication through telomeres requires Taz1. Nature. 2006;440:824–8.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Berkovitch F, Nicolet Y, Wan JT, Jarrett JT, Drennan CL. Crystal structure of biotin synthase, an S-adenosylmethionine-dependent radical enzyme. Science. 2004;303:76–9.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Moore RG, Garland A. Cognitive Therapy for Chronic and Persistent Depression. West Sussex, England: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd; 2008.

An edited book

1. López-Basaguren A, Escajedo San Epifanio L, editors. The Ways of Federalism in Western Countries and the Horizons of Territorial Autonomy in Spain: Volume 2. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2013.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Pittock J, Hussey K, Stone A. Groundwater Management Under Global Change: Sustaining Biodiversity, Energy and Food Supplies. In: Jakeman AJ, Barreteau O, Hunt RJ, Rinaudo J-D, Ross A, editors. Integrated Groundwater Management: Concepts, Approaches and Challenges. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2016. p. 75–96.

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 Health Research Policy and Systems.

Blog post

1. Andrew E. New Crystal Can Absorb Huge Amounts Of Oxygen And Store It For Later [Internet]. IFLScience. IFLScience; 2014 [cited 2018 Oct 30]. Available from: https://www.iflscience.com/chemistry/new-material-absorbs-oxygen-stores-it-later/

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. Telecommunications: Current Broadband Measures Have Limitations and New Measures Are Promising but Need Improvement. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 2009 Oct. Report No.: GAO-10-49.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Valadez I. A psycho-education peer support group for homeless youth: A grant proposal [Doctoral dissertation]. [Long Beach, CA]: California State University, Long Beach; 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

1. Crow K. Frequent Fliers: Takeout Menus Can’t Compete With Politics. New York Times. 2001 Sep 9;144.

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	Health Research Policy and Systems
Abbreviation	Health Res. Policy Syst.
ISSN (online)	1478-4505
Scope	Health Policy