How to format your references using the Microbial Cell citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Microbial Cell (MIC). 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. Swing K (2011). Day of reckoning for Ecuador’s biodiversity. Nature. 469(7330): 267. 21248795.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Brunnschweiler CN, and Bulte EH (2008). Economics. Linking natural resources to slow growth and more conflict. Science. 320(5876): 616–617. 18451286.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Roughgarden J, Oishi M, and Akçay E (2006). Reproductive social behavior: cooperative games to replace sexual selection. Science. 311(5763): 965–969. 16484485.

A journal article with 30 or more authors

1. Johnson WE, Onorato DP, Roelke ME, Land ED, Cunningham M, Belden RC, McBride R, Jansen D, Lotz M, Shindle D, Howard J, Wildt DE, Penfold LM, Hostetler JA, Oli MK, and O’Brien SJ (2010). Genetic restoration of the Florida panther. Science. 329(5999): 1641–1645. 20929847.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Ezra D, Collie B, and Smith MX (2009). The Retirement Plan Solution. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ.

An edited book

1. Ritsner MS (2013). Polypharmacy in Psychiatry Practice, Volume I: Multiple Medication Use Strategies. Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Singh L (2011). Stories Gogo Never Told. In: Francis DA, editor Acting on HIV: Using Drama to Create Possibilities for Change. SensePublishers, Rotterdam; pp 43–53.

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 Microbial Cell.

Blog post

1. Andrew E (2015). Robotics Researchers Create Mechanical Tentacles Capable Of Picking Up An Ant Without Crushing It. IFLScience. Available at https://www.iflscience.com/technology/octopus-robot-uses-tentacles-pick-ant-without-crushing-it/ [Accessed 10/30/2018].

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 (1987). Railroad Regulation: Competitive Access and Its Effects on Selected Railroads and Shippers. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Goldstein TW (2010). Writing in red: The East German Writers Union and the role of literary intellectuals in the German Democratic Republic, 1971-90. Doctoral dissertation, University of North Carolina.

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. Paulson M (2017). To Say Hello To Dolly, Say Bye to $1,009. New York Times C1.

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	Microbial Cell
Abbreviation	Microb. Cell
ISSN (online)	2311-2638
Scope