How to format your references using the Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews (MMBR). 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

Mace R. 2009. Anthropology. On becoming modern. Science 324:1280–1281.

A journal article with 2 authors

Palmer SM, Driscoll CT. 2002. Acidic deposition: decline in mobilization of toxic aluminium. Nature 417:242–243.

A journal article with 3 authors

Richards-Dinger K, Stein RS, Toda S. 2010. Decay of aftershock density with distance does not indicate triggering by dynamic stress. Nature 467:583–586.

A journal article with 4 or more authors

Baliki MN, Chang PC, Baria AT, Centeno MV, Apkarian AV. 2014. Resting-sate functional reorganization of the rat limbic system following neuropathic injury. Sci Rep 4:6186.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Deschamps J-P, Bioul GJA, Sutter GD. 2005. Synthesis of Arithmetic Circuits. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ.

An edited book

2013. Behavior and Social Computing: International Workshop on Behavior and Social Informatics, BSI 2013, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, April 14-17, 2013 and International Workshop on Behavior and Social Informatics and Computing, BSIC 2013, Beijing, China, August 3-9, 2013, Revised Selected Papers. Springer International Publishing, Cham.

A chapter in an edited book

Adamson G. 2016. ‘The Most Horrible of Evils’: Social Responses to Drought and Famine in the Bombay Presidency, 1782–1857, p. 79–104. In Bankoff, G, Christensen, J (eds.), Natural Hazards and Peoples in the Indian Ocean World: Bordering on Danger. Palgrave Macmillan US, New York, NY.

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 Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews.

Blog post

Davis J. 2017. There Are Only 30 Critically Endangered Vaquita Left In The World. IFLScience. IFLScience. https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/there-are-only-30-critically-endangered-vaquita-left-in-the-world/. Retrieved 30 October 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

Government Accountability Office. 1997. Student Financial Aid: Federal Aid Awarded to Students Taking Remedial Courses. HEHS-97-142. 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

Cetin B. 2012. Leaching of metals from high carbon fly ash mixed soils. Doctoral dissertation. University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, MD.

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

Rothenberg B. 2017. Knickers In a Twist Over a Hint Of Color. New York Times.

In-text citations

References should be cited in the text by sequential numbers in parentheses:

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	Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews
Abbreviation	Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev.
ISSN (print)	1092-2172
ISSN (online)	1098-5557
Scope	Molecular Biology General Immunology and Microbiology