How to format your references using the Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing. 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

[1]

W. Loveland, Chemistry. Superheavy carbonyls, Science 345 (2014) 1451–1452.

A journal article with 2 authors

[1]

F.R. O’Keefe, L.M. Chiappe, Viviparity and K-selected life history in a Mesozoic marine plesiosaur (Reptilia, Sauropterygia), Science 333 (2011) 870–873.

A journal article with 3 authors

[1]

D. Sakellariou, G. Le Goff, J.-F. Jacquinot, High-resolution, high-sensitivity NMR of nanolitre anisotropic samples by coil spinning, Nature 447 (2007) 694–697.

A journal article with 4 or more authors

[1]

I. Tews, F. Findeisen, I. Sinning, A. Schultz, J.E. Schultz, J.U. Linder, The structure of a pH-sensing mycobacterial adenylyl cyclase holoenzyme, Science 308 (2005) 1020–1023.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

[1]

E. Botsai, C. Kaneshiro, P. Cuccia, H. Pajo, The Architect’s Guide to Preventing Water Infiltration, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ, 2010.

An edited book

[1]

D. Matanovic, Sand Control in Well Construction and Operation, Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2012.

A chapter in an edited book

[1]

M. Wagner, S. Misaghi, H.L. Ploegh, Immunoevasive Strategies: Host and Virus, in: P. Palese (Ed.), Modulation of Host Gene Expression and Innate Immunity by Viruses, Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht, 2005: pp. 65–94.

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 Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing.

Blog post

[1]

S. Luntz, Stress Harms Infants’ Learning Flexibility, IFLScience (2015).

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, Motorcycle Safety: Increasing Federal Funding Flexibility and Identifying Research Priorities Would Help Support States’ Safety Efforts, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 2012.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

[1]

E.S. Damiano, The effects of psychological stress on physical health over time, Doctoral dissertation, California State University, Long Beach, 2010.

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]

M. Cooper, Met Opera Numbers Inch Up, New York Times (2017) C2.

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	Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing
Abbreviation	Mech. Syst. Signal Process.
ISSN (print)	0888-3270
Scope	Computer Science Applications Signal Processing Aerospace Engineering Civil and Structural Engineering Control and Systems Engineering Mechanical Engineering