How to format your references using the Materials Research Letters citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Materials Research Letters. 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]

Wouters J. Chemistry. Coming soon to a library near you? Science. 2008;322:1196–1198.

A journal article with 2 authors

[1]

Tewksbury JJ, Nabhan GP. Seed dispersal. Directed deterrence by capsaicin in chilies. Nature. 2001;412:403–404.

A journal article with 3 authors

[1]

Flytzani-Stephanopoulos M, Sakbodin M, Wang Z. Regenerative adsorption and removal of H2S from hot fuel gas streams by rare earth oxides. Science. 2006;312:1508–1510.

A journal article with 4 or more authors

[1]

Bell DR, Jorgensen P, Christophel EM, et al. Malaria risk: estimation of the malaria burden. Nature. 2005;437:E3-4; discussion E4-5.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

[1]

Summerhayes SD. CDM Regulations 2015 Procedures Manual. Chichester, UK: John Wiley &;#38; Sons, Ltd; 2016.

An edited book

[1]

Li L. Group Search Optimization for Applications in Structural Design. Liu F, editor. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2011.

A chapter in an edited book

[1]

Zazkis R, Sinclair N, Liljedahl P. Linear Measurement: How Long is a Stick? In: Sinclair N, Liljedahl P, editors. Lesson Play in Mathematics Education: A Tool for Research and Professional Development. New York, NY: Springer; 2013. p. 33–52.

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 Materials Research Letters.

Blog post

[1]

Andrew E. “Diamond” Planets May Be More Abundant Than Predicted [Internet]. IFLScience. IFLScience; 2014 [cited 2018 Oct 30]. Available from: https://www.iflscience.com/space/diamond-planets-may-be-more-abundant-predicted/.

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. National Airspace System: Questions Concerning FAA’s Wide Area Augmentation System. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1997. Report No.: RCED-97-219R. .

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

[1]

Melhorn SJ. The microstructure of food intake under conditions of high-fat diet, social stress and social subordination [Doctoral dissertation]. [Cincinnati, OH]: University of Cincinnati; 2009.

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]

Billard M. Pick a Pocket, Any Pocket. New York Times. 2010 May 27;E6.

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	Materials Research Letters
Abbreviation	Mater. Res. Lett.
ISSN (online)	2166-3831
Scope

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