How to format your references using the Journal of Biological Engineering citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Journal of Biological Engineering. 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	Find the style here: output styles overview
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. Clery D. Space physics. LISA Pathfinder tests spacetime sensor. Science. 2015;350:894–5.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Morel FMM, Price NM. The biogeochemical cycles of trace metals in the oceans. Science. 2003;300:944–7.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Han JS, Szak ST, Boeke JD. Transcriptional disruption by the L1 retrotransposon and implications for mammalian transcriptomes. Nature. 2004;429:268–74.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Grigera TS, Martín-Mayor V, Parisi G, Verrocchio P. Phonon interpretation of the “boson peak” in supercooled liquids. Nature. 2003;422:289–92.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Schmidt RH, Rodrick GE. Food Safety Handbook. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 2005.

An edited book

1. Salsa S. A Primer on PDEs: Models, Methods, Simulations. Vegni FMG, Zaretti A, Zunino P, editors. Milano: Springer; 2013.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Torzilli G, Donadon M, Cimino M. Diagnosis and Staging: Intraoperative Ultrasound. In: Torzilli G, editor. Ultrasound-Guided Liver Surgery: An Atlas. Milano: Springer; 2014. p. 43–53.

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 Journal of Biological Engineering.

Blog post

1. Hale T. Divers Encounter Enormous Ocean Sunfish [Internet]. IFLScience. IFLScience; 2015 [cited 2018 Oct 30]. Available from: https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/watch-divers-swim-along-massive-ocean-sunfish/

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. Immigration Benefits System: Significant Risks in USCIS’s Efforts to Develop its Adjudication and Case Management System. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 2017 Mar. Report No.: GAO-17-486T.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Gikiri MM. Effects of attitude, norms, and perceived behavior control on intentions to become a teen father [Doctoral dissertation]. [Minneapolis, MN]: Capella University; 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. Shear MD. ‘Dreamer’ Plan Creator Suing Trump to Save It. New York Times. 2017 Sep 8;A17.

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	Journal of Biological Engineering
Abbreviation	J. Biol. Eng.
ISSN (online)	1754-1611
Scope	Cell Biology Molecular Biology Biomedical Engineering Environmental Engineering