How to format your references using the Journal of Computational Biology citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Journal of Computational Biology (CMB). 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

von Hohenheim T. A Leap of Faith. Nature 2000;407(6807):949.

A journal article with 2 authors

Doyle J and Csete M. Rules of Engagement. Nature 2007;446(7138):860.

A journal article with 3 authors

Moreno M, Rosenau M and Oncken O. 2010 Maule Earthquake Slip Correlates with Pre-Seismic Locking of Andean Subduction Zone. Nature 2010;467(7312):198–202.

A journal article with 4 or more authors

Cuthill IC, Stevens M, Sheppard J, et al. Disruptive Coloration and Background Pattern Matching. Nature 2005;434(7029):72–74.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Gordon ME. Trump University Entrepreneurship 101. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.: Hoboken, NJ; 2009.

An edited book

Altenbach H and Mikhasev GI, (eds). Shell and Membrane Theories in Mechanics and Biology: From Macro- to Nanoscale Structures. Advanced Structured Materials. Springer International Publishing: Cham; 2015.

A chapter in an edited book

Woolf NJ, Priel A and Tuszynski JA. Nanotechnology, Nanostructure, and Nervous System Disorders. In: Nanoneuroscience: Structural and Functional Roles of the Neuronal Cytoskeleton in Health and Disease. (Priel A and Tuszynski JA. eds). Biological and Medical Physics, Biomedical Engineering Springer: Berlin, Heidelberg; 2010; pp. 177–226.

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 Computational Biology.

Blog post

Fang J. Huge DNA Study Assesses Genomes Of Iceland’s Population. IFLScience; 2015. [Last accessed: 10/30/2018].

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. GAO’s Views on SDIO’s Phase I Cost Estimate. U.S. Government Printing Office: Washington, DC; 1989.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Subbarao S. An 8-PSK Super Regenerative Receiver: Design and Simulation. Doctoral dissertation. California State University, Long Beach: Long Beach, CA; 2015.

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

Vecsey G. Days of a Dynasty Are Only a Memory For a Distinct Race. New York Times 2011;SP7.

In-text citations

References should be cited in the text by name and year in parentheses:

This sentence cites one reference (von Hohenheim, 2000).
This sentence cites two references (Doyle and Csete, 2007; von Hohenheim, 2000).

Here are examples of in-text citations with multiple authors:

Two authors: (Doyle and Csete, 2007)
Three or more authors: (Cuthill et al., 2005)

About the journal

Full journal title	Journal of Computational Biology
ISSN (print)	1066-5277
ISSN (online)	1557-8666
Scope