How to format your references using the Health Technology Assessment citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Health Technology Assessment. 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.
EndNoteFind the style here: output styles overview
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
1
Ni X. China’s research & development spend. Nature 2015;520:S8-9.
A journal article with 2 authors
1
Sinervo B, Clobert J. Morphs, dispersal behavior, genetic similarity, and the evolution of cooperation. Science 2003;300:1949–51.
A journal article with 3 authors
1
Cram DS, Song B, Trounson AO. Genotyping of Rhesus SCNT pluripotent stem cell lines. Nature 2007;450:E12-4.
A journal article with 7 or more authors
1
Takase K, Sakimoto Y, Kimura F, Mitsushima D. Developmental trajectory of contextual learning and 24-h acetylcholine release in the hippocampus. Sci Rep 2014;4:3738.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book
1
Quinquis A. Digital Signal Processing using MATLAB®. London, UK: ISTE; 2008.
An edited book
1
Valavanis KP, editor. Advances in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: State of the Art and the Road to Autonomy. vol. 33. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands; 2007.
A chapter in an edited book
1
Ghosh S, Joshi A, Tripathi S. Empirical Evaluation of Multimodal Input Interactions. In: Yamamoto S, editor. Human Interface and the Management of Information. Information and Interaction Design: 15th International Conference, HCI International 2013, Las Vegas, NV, USA, July 21-26, 2013, Proceedings, Part I. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2013. p. 37–47.

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 Technology Assessment.

Blog post
1
O`Callaghan J. Weird Pulsating Aurorae May Be Caused By Low-Energy Electrons. IFLScience. IFLScience; 2015. URL: https://www.iflscience.com/space/weird-pulsating-aurorae-may-be-caused-low-energy-electrons/ (Accessed 30 October 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
1
Government Accountability Office. Airspace Use: Status of Proposals To Expand Special Use Airspace in North Carolina. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1988.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation
1
Hsueh T. ENV9, a novel gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is responsible for the pleiotropic phenotype of env9Δ and encodes a membrane protein that is localized to lipid droplets. Doctoral dissertation, Long Beach, CA: California State University, Long Beach; 2012; 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
Sisario B. Lady Gaga Will Replace Beyoncé at Coachella. New York Times 2017:C3.

In-text citations

References should be cited in the text by sequential numbers in superscript:

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 titleHealth Technology Assessment
AbbreviationHealth Technol. Assess.
ISSN (print)1366-5278
ISSN (online)2046-4924
ScopeHealth Policy

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