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

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

Soled S. CATALYSIS. Silica-supported catalysts get a new breath of life. Science. 2015 Dec 4;350(6265):1171–2.

A journal article with 2 authors

Agarwal N, Bishai WR. Microbiology. Subversion from the sidelines. Science. 2010 Jan 22;327(5964):417–8.

A journal article with 3 authors

El-Ali J, Sorger PK, Jensen KF. Cells on chips. Nature. 2006 Jul 27;442(7101):403–11.

A journal article with 4 or more authors

Avery AA, Prakash CS, McHughen A, Trewavas AR, DeGregori TR. What kind of farming works best? Science. 2005 Mar 4;307(5714):1410–1; author reply 140-1.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Villalta T. The Large-Cap Portfolio. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 2012.

An edited book

Töpler J, Lehmann J, editors. Hydrogen and Fuel Cell: Technologies and Market Perspectives. 1st ed. 2016. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2016. XII, 281 p. 139 illus., 121 illus. in color.

A chapter in an edited book

Rawski M, Tomaszewicz P, Borowik G, Łuba T. 5 Logic Synthesis Method of Digital Circuits Designed for Implementation with Embedded Memory Blocks of FPGAs. In: Adamski M, Barkalov A, Węgrzyn M, editors. Design of Digital Systems and Devices. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2011. p. 121–44. (Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering).

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 the Medical Library Association.

Blog post

Davis J. Mysterious Beached Whale Baffles Researchers [Internet]. IFLScience. IFLScience; 2016 [cited 2018 Oct 30]. Available from: https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/rare-beaked-whale-found-unusual-teeth-which-baffles-researchers/

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. Organizational Structure and Information Systems Used To Manage the Army’s Depot-Level Maintenance Programs. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1977 Sep. Report No.: 103401.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Zhu H. Outcomes of China Free Antiretroviral Treatment Program, 2003–2010 [Doctoral dissertation]. [Chapel Hill, NC]: University of North Carolina; 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

Saslow L. Proposed Island School Budgets: A Story of Trade-Offs. New York Times. 2009 May 17;LI5.

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 the Medical Library Association
Abbreviation	J. Med. Libr. Assoc.
ISSN (print)	1536-5050
ISSN (online)	1558-9439
Scope	Health Informatics Library and Information Sciences