How to format your references using the Molecular Brain citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Molecular Brain. 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. Bagenal F. Planetary science. A new spin on Saturn’s rotation. Science. 2007;316:380–1.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Panian J, Wiltschko D. Ramp initiation in a thrust wedge. Nature. 2004;427:624–7.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Ostojic S, Somfai E, Nienhuis B. Scale invariance and universality of force networks in static granular matter. Nature. 2006;439:828–30.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Li X, Li T-Q, Andreasen N, Wiberg MK, Westman E, Wahlund L-O. Ratio of Aβ42/P-tau181p in CSF is associated with aberrant default mode network in AD. Sci Rep. 2013;3:1339.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Hu JC. Asset Securitization. 2 Clementi Loop, #02-01, Singapore 129809: John Wiley & Sons (Asia) Pte. Ltd.; 2011.

An edited book

1. Winterhager E, editor. Gap Junctions in Development and Disease. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2005.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Strøm G. The Reader Creates a Personal Meaning: A Comparative Study of Scenarios and Human-centred Stories. In: McEwan T, Gulliksen J, Benyon D, editors. People and Computers XIX — The Bigger Picture: Proceedings of HCI 2005. London: Springer; 2006. p. 53–68.

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 Molecular Brain.

Blog post

1. Taub B. Watch A Man Freefall 25,000 Feet With No Parachute [Internet]. IFLScience. IFLScience; 2016 [cited 2018 Oct 30]. Available from: https://www.iflscience.com/editors-blog/watch-man-freefall-25000-feet-with-no-parachute/

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. ADP Budget: Department of the Army’s Information Technology Systems Obligations. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1989 May. Report No.: IMTEC-89-47FS.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Davis M. Opprobrious Identities: The Enslaving Effect of Black Respectability on Queer Black Men [Doctoral dissertation]. [Edwardsville, IL]: Southern Illinois 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

1. Santora M. Crash Kills 3 College Students on Medical Mission in Honduras. New York Times. 2016 Jan 15;A23.

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	Molecular Brain
Abbreviation	Mol. Brain
ISSN (online)	1756-6606
Scope	Molecular Biology Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience