How to format your references using the Molecular Cancer citation style

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

1. Smaglik P. Recruiters and industry. Microsoft’s European perspective. Nature. 2005;434:938.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Berndt JD, Moon RT. Cell biology. Making a point with Wnt signals. Science. 2013;339:1388–9.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Dewar JM, Budzowska M, Walter JC. The mechanism of DNA replication termination in vertebrates. Nature. 2015;525:345–50.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Faxén K, Gilderson G, Adelroth P, Brzezinski P. A mechanistic principle for proton pumping by cytochrome c oxidase. Nature. 2005;437:286–9.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Huddleston R. Android® Fully Loaded. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Publishing, Inc.; 2010.

An edited book

1. Ibrahimbegovic A, Kozar I, editors. Extreme Man-Made and Natural Hazards in Dynamics of Structures. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands; 2007.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Lang A, Dittmann J, Kiltz S, Hoppe T. Future Perspectives: The Car and Its IP-Address – A Potential Safety and Security Risk Assessment. In: Saglietti F, Oster N, editors. Computer Safety, Reliability, and Security: 26th International Conference, SAFECOMP 2007, Nuremberg, Germany, September 18-21, 2007 Proceedings. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2007. p. 40–53.

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 Molecular Cancer.

Blog post

1. Hamilton K. Health Check: What Controls Our Sex Drive? When And Why Do We Feel Like Sex? [Internet]. IFLScience. IFLScience; 2016 [cited 2018 Oct 30]. Available from: https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/health-check-what-controls-our-sex-drive-when-and-why-do-we-feel-like-sex/

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. Recommendation Regarding Backpay Claim by Teacher of Overseas Dependents Schools. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1982 Jul. Report No.: B-156439(JAB).

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Green B. Bullying of Individuals with Disabilities on a College Campus: A Qualitative Study [Doctoral dissertation]. [Washington, DC]: George Washington University; 2014.

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. Wells L. My Life in Pictures. New York Times. 2005 Oct 16;656.

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 Cancer
Abbreviation	Mol. Cancer
ISSN (online)	1476-4598
Scope	Cancer Research Molecular Medicine Oncology