How to format your references using the International Journal of Molecular Sciences citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 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

Sykes, M.V. Planetary Science. The Planet Debate Continues. Science 2008, 319, 1765.

A journal article with 2 authors

Partida-Martinez, L.P.; Hertweck, C. Pathogenic Fungus Harbours Endosymbiotic Bacteria for Toxin Production. Nature 2005, 437, 884–888.

A journal article with 3 authors

Takahashi, Y.; Sipp, D.; Enomoto, H. Tissue Interactions in Neural Crest Cell Development and Disease. Science 2013, 341, 860–863.

A journal article with 4 or more authors

Stein, E.; Zou, Y.; Poo, M.; Tessier-Lavigne, M. Binding of DCC by Netrin-1 to Mediate Axon Guidance Independent of Adenosine A2B Receptor Activation. Science 2001, 291, 1976–1982.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Bain, B.J.; Wild, B.J.; Stephens, A.D.; Phelan, L.A. Variant Haemoglobins; Wiley-Blackwell: Oxford, UK, 2010; ISBN 9781444328318.

An edited book

Krüger, R. Brand Growth Barriers: Identify, Understand, and Overcome Them; Stumpf, A., Ed.; Management for Professionals; Springer: Berlin, Heidelberg, 2013; ISBN 9783642371073.

A chapter in an edited book

Bider, I.; Perjons, E.; Elias, M. Untangling the Dynamic Structure of an Enterprise by Applying a Fractal Approach to Business Processes. In The Practice of Enterprise Modeling: 5th IFIP WG 8.1 Working Conference, PoEM 2012, Rostock, Germany, November 7-8, 2012. Proceedings; Sandkuhl, K., Seigerroth, U., Stirna, J., Eds.; Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing; Springer: Berlin, Heidelberg, 2012; pp. 61–75 ISBN 9783642345487.

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 International Journal of Molecular Sciences.

Blog post

Fang, J. Is There a Parallel Universe That’s Moving Backwards in Time? Available online: https://www.iflscience.com/physics/there-parallel-universe-thats-moving-backwards-time/ (accessed on 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

Government Accountability Office Title I Program: Stronger Accountability Needed for Performance of Disadvantaged Students; U.S. Government Printing Office: Washington, DC, 2000;

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Ameen, U. Social and Political Climates’ Influence on Muslim American Students’ Intersectional Identity. Doctoral dissertation, California State University, Long Beach: Long Beach, CA, 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

Williams, J. A Civil War Classic Endures. New York Times 2016, BR4.

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	International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Abbreviation	Int. J. Mol. Sci.
ISSN (online)	1422-0067
Scope	Molecular Biology Catalysis Inorganic Chemistry Organic Chemistry Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Spectroscopy Computer Science Applications General Medicine