How to format your references using the Journal of Geophysical Research citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Journal of Geophysical Research. 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.
EndNoteDownload the output style file
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
Pielke, R., Jr. (2011). John Marburger (1941-2011). Nature, 476(7360), 284.
A journal article with 2 authors
Strausfeld, N. J., & Hirth, F. (2013). Deep homology of arthropod central complex and vertebrate basal ganglia. Science (New York, N.Y.), 340(6129), 157–161.
A journal article with 3 authors
Lightowlers, R. N., Taylor, R. W., & Turnbull, D. M. (2015). Mutations causing mitochondrial disease: What is new and what challenges remain? Science (New York, N.Y.), 349(6255), 1494–1499.
A journal article with 8 or more authors
Smith, J. A., Seltzer, G. O., Farber, D. L., Rodbell, D. T., & Finkel, R. C. (2005). Early local last glacial maximum in the tropical Andes. Science (New York, N.Y.), 308(5722), 678–681.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book
Center for Chemical Process Safety. (2010). Guidelines for Acquisition Evaluation and Post Merger Integration. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
An edited book
Rattan, S. I. S., & Hayflick, L. (Eds.). (2016). Cellular Ageing and Replicative Senescence. Cham: Springer International Publishing.
A chapter in an edited book
Taylor, L. D. (2010). Description of Data Used from the Ongoing BLS Consumer Expenditure Surveys. In H. S. Houthakker (Ed.), Consumer Demand in the United States: Prices, Income, and Consumption Behavior (pp. 79–88). New York, NY: Springer.

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 Geophysical Research.

Blog post
Davis, J. (2017, May 23). Scientists Engineer Bacteria To Replicate Color Photographs. Retrieved October 30, 2018, from https://www.iflscience.com/editors-blog/scientists-engineer-bacteria-to-replicate-color-photographs/

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. (2010). Highway Trust Fund: Nearly All States Received More Funding Than They Contributed in Highway Taxes Since 2005 (No. GAO-10-780). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation
Mosher, L. (2008). The relationship between Christian literature and executive leader performance (Doctoral dissertation). University of Phoenix, Phoenix, AZ.

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
(nyt), S. K. (2004, May 21). World Briefing | Europe: Russia: Miners’ Hunger Strike. New York Times, p. A12.

In-text citations

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

This sentence cites one reference (Pielke, 2011).
This sentence cites two references (Pielke, 2011; Strausfeld & Hirth, 2013).

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

  • Two authors: (Strausfeld & Hirth, 2013)
  • Three or more authors: (Smith et al., 2005)

About the journal

Full journal titleJournal of Geophysical Research
AbbreviationJ. Geophys. Res.
ISSN (print)0148-0227
ISSN (online)2156-2202
ScopeAquatic Science
Forestry
Soil Science
Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous)
Atmospheric Science
Earth-Surface Processes
Geochemistry and Petrology
Geophysics
Oceanography
Palaeontology
Space and Planetary Science
Ecology
Water Science and Technology

Other styles