How to format your references using the Microbiology citation style

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

Berger LR. The mosaic nature of Australopithecus sediba. Introduction. Science 2013;340:163–165.

A journal article with 2 authors

Heinz J, Idsardi W. Psychology. Sentence and word complexity. Science 2011;333:295–297.

A journal article with 3 authors

Heywood KJ, Naveira Garabato AC, Stevens DP. High mixing rates in the abyssal Southern Ocean. Nature 2002;415:1011–1014.

A journal article with 6 or more authors

Martin A, Troadec C, Boualem A, Rajab M, Fernandez R, et al. A transposon-induced epigenetic change leads to sex determination in melon. Nature 2009;461:1135–1138.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Cliteur P. The Secular Outlook. Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell; 2010.

An edited book

Arabnia HR, Tran Q-N (eds). Software Tools and Algorithms for Biological Systems. New York, NY: Springer; 2011.

A chapter in an edited book

Davison SG, Sulston KW. Anderson-Newns-Grimley Model. In: Sulston KW (editor). Green-Function Theory of Chemisorption. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands; 2006. pp. 45–74.

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.

Blog post

Andrew E. Check Out This Live stream Of Deep Underwater Exploration Around Hawaii. IFLScience. https://www.iflscience.com/technology/check-out-livestream-deep-underwater-exploration-around-hawaii/ (2015, accessed 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. International Education Assistance: USAID Has Implemented Primary Grade Reading Programs but Has Not Yet Measured Progress toward Its Strategic Goal. GAO-15-479; Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 7 May 2015.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Owen AK. Preventive health behaviors: A look at the correlation between regular physical activity and routine cervical cancer screening. Doctoral Dissertation; California State University, Long Beach; 2012.

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

Greenhouse L. SUPREME COURT TO HEAR DISPUTE ON REDISTRICTING. New York Times, 13 December 2005, p. A1.

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	Microbiology
Abbreviation	Microbiology
ISSN (print)	1350-0872
ISSN (online)	1465-2080
Scope	Microbiology