How to format your references using the Journal of Medical Genetics citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Journal of Medical Genetics. 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

Brody H. Haemophilia. Nature 2014;515:S157.

A journal article with 2 authors

Thompson H, Tucker AS. Dual origin of the epithelium of the mammalian middle ear. Science 2013;339:1453–6.

A journal article with 3 authors

Dai X, Chen A, Bai Z. Integrative investigation on breast cancer in ER, PR and HER2-defined subgroups using mRNA and miRNA expression profiling. Sci Rep 2014;4:6566.

A journal article with 4 or more authors

Doiron B, Chacron MJ, Maler L, Longtin A, Bastian J. Inhibitory feedback required for network oscillatory responses to communication but not prey stimuli. Nature 2003;421:539–43.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Shafer DA. Hazardous Materials Characterization. Hoboken, NJ: : John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2005.

An edited book

Bursi OS, Wagg D, editors. Modern Testing Techniques for Structural Systems: Dynamics and Control. Vienna: : Springer 2008.

A chapter in an edited book

Sanchez-Infantes D, Stephens JM. Role of Adipose Tissue in the Pathogenesis and Treatment of Metabolic Syndrome. In: Orešič M, Vidal-Puig A, eds. A Systems Biology Approach to Study Metabolic Syndrome. Cham: : Springer International Publishing 2014. 63–83.

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 Medical Genetics.

Blog post

Carpineti A. Cosmologists Devise New Approach To Avoid Dealing With Quantum Gravity. IFLScience. 2017.https://www.iflscience.com/space/cosmologists-devise-new-approach-to-avoid-dealing-with-quantum-gravity/ (accessed 30 Oct2018).

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. Attack Warning: NORAD’s Communications System Segment Replacement Program Should Be Reassessed. 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

Robertson E. Transitional services for emancipated foster youth: A grant proposal. 2014.

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

Quain JR. A Turning Point For Plug-In Hybrids. New York Times. 2017;:B4.

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 Medical Genetics
Abbreviation	J. Med. Genet.
ISSN (print)	0022-2593
ISSN (online)	1468-6244
Scope	Genetics Genetics(clinical)

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