How to format your references using the Molecular Cancer Research citation style

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

Hentze MW. Protein synthesis. Believe it or not-translation in the nucleus. Science. 2001;293:1058–9.

A journal article with 2 authors

Zimmerberg J, Chernomordik LV. Neuroscience. Synaptic membranes bend to the will of a neurotoxin. Science. 2005;310:1626–7.

A journal article with 3 authors

Brown CD, Johnson DS, Sidow A. Functional architecture and evolution of transcriptional elements that drive gene coexpression. Science. 2007;317:1557–60.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

Polo S, Sigismund S, Faretta M, Guidi M, Capua MR, Bossi G, et al. A single motif responsible for ubiquitin recognition and monoubiquitination in endocytic proteins. Nature. 2002;416:451–5.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Neuber A, Nuttall T. Diagnostic Techniques in Veterinary Dermatology. Oxford, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd; 2017.

An edited book

Annetta L, Bronack SC, editors. Serious Educational Game Assessment: Practical Methods and Models for Educational Games, Simulations and Virtual Worlds. Rotterdam: SensePublishers; 2011.

A chapter in an edited book

Roberge J. Critique and the Deliberate Professional: Framing the New and Enhanced Role of Intermediaries in Digital Culture. In: Trede F, McEwen C, editors. Educating the Deliberate Professional: Preparing for future practices. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2016. page 47–58.

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 Research.

Blog post

Andrew E. Fish Oil Or Snake Oil? Most Capsules Don’t Contain What They Promise [Internet]. IFLScience. IFLScience; 2015 [cited 2018 Oct 30]. Available from: https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/fish-oil-or-snake-oil-most-capsules-don-t-contain-what-they-promise/

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. Social Security Needs To Better Plan, Develop, and Implement Its Major ADP Systems Redesign Projects. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1981 Feb. Report No.: HRD-81-47.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Tyler EP. Tectonic geomorphology of quaternary river terraces at Santa Cruz Creek, Santa Maria Basin, Santa Barbara County, California [Doctoral dissertation]. [Long Beach, CA]: California State University, Long Beach; 2013.

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

Hartocollis A. Mental Issues Put 34,500 on New York No-Guns List. New York Times. 2014;A1.

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	Molecular Cancer Research
Abbreviation	Mol. Cancer Res.
ISSN (print)	1541-7786
ISSN (online)	1557-3125
Scope	Cancer Research Molecular Biology Oncology