How to format your references using the Microbial Genomics citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Microbial Genomics. 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

Catania KC. Olfaction: underwater ‘sniffing’ by semi-aquatic mammals. Nature 2006;444:1024–1025.

A journal article with 2 authors

Lea AM, Ryan MJ. SEXUAL SELECTION. Irrationality in mate choice revealed by túngara frogs. Science 2015;349:964–966.

A journal article with 3 authors

Balazs AC, Emrick T, Russell TP. Nanoparticle polymer composites: where two small worlds meet. Science 2006;314:1107–1110.

A journal article with 6 or more authors

Choi JH, Banks AS, Kamenecka TM, Busby SA, Chalmers MJ, et al. Antidiabetic actions of a non-agonist PPARγ ligand blocking Cdk5-mediated phosphorylation. Nature 2011;477:477–481.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Corten R. Computational Approaches to Studying the Co-evolution of Networks and Behavior in Social Dilemmas. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd; 2014.

An edited book

Blazy S, Chechik M (eds). Verified Software. Theories, Tools, and Experiments: 8th International Conference, VSTTE 2016, Toronto, ON, Canada, July 17–18, 2016, Revised Selected Papers. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2016.

A chapter in an edited book

Larsen EH, Hoffmann EK. Volume Regulation in Epithelia. In: Hamilton KL, Devor DC (editors). Ion Channels and Transporters of Epithelia in Health and Disease. New York, NY: Springer; 2016. pp. 131–185.

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 Genomics.

Blog post

Taub B. Could Ketamine Be Used To Treat Depression? IFLScience.

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. TVA’s Computer Needs Are Valid and ADP Management Is Improving. AFMD-82-24; Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 9 June 1982.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Roache RS. Missouri Public School Teachers’ Perception of Tenure. Doctoral Dissertation; Lindenwood University; 2015.

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

Chapman MM. This Time, Fiat Chrysler Workers Approve Contract. New York Times, 23 October 2015, p. B3.

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 Genomics
Abbreviation	Microb. Genom.
ISSN (online)	2057-5858
Scope