How to format your references using the Molecular Plant Pathology citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Molecular Plant Pathology (MPP). 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:

PaperpileThe citation style is built in and you can choose it in Settings > Citation Style or Paperpile > Citation Style in Google Docs.
EndNoteDownload the output style file
Mendeley, Zotero, Papers, and othersThe style is either built in or you can download a CSL file that is supported by most references management programs.
BibTeXBibTeX 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
Nicklin, C. (2014) Chemistry. Capturing surface processes. Science (New York, N.Y.), 343, 739–740.
A journal article with 2 authors
Ambraseys, N. & Bilham, R. (2011) Corruption kills. Nature, 469, 153–155.
A journal article with 3 authors
Tellis, J.C., Primer, D.N. & Molander, G.A. (2014) Dual catalysis. Single-electron transmetalation in organoboron cross-coupling by photoredox/nickel dual catalysis. Science (New York, N.Y.), 345, 433–436.
A journal article with 7 or more authors
Wienholds, E., Kloosterman, W.P., Miska, E., Alvarez-Saavedra, E., Berezikov, E., Bruijn, E. de, et al. (2005) MicroRNA expression in zebrafish embryonic development. Science (New York, N.Y.), 309, 310–311.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book
Calloway, J. (2009) Becoming a Category of One. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons, Inc.
An edited book
Lin, C.Y.-Y. (2013) National Intellectual Capital and the Financial Crisis in Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. Edvinsson, L., Chen, J., and Beding, T. (Eds.). New York, NY: Springer.
A chapter in an edited book
Senior, K. & Moss, J. (2016) The Use of the Visual to Interpret School Cultures: Producing Knowledge and Knowing When You Are Learning to Teach. In: Moss, J. and Pini, B. (Eds.) Visual Research Methods in Educational Research. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp. 75–99.

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 Plant Pathology.

Blog post
Luntz, S. (2014) Tree Diseases Are Good For The Forest. IFLScience.

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 (2013) VA Education Benefits: Student Characteristics and Outcomes Vary across Schools. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation
Cebada-Ricalde, M.C. (2014) Synthesis and characterization of PANI-coated VGCNFs and evaluation of its use for corrosion inhibition. Doctoral dissertation, Mississippi State, MS, Mississippi State University.

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
Whiteside, K. (2017) In Family’s Footsteps, Minor Takes Big Stage. New York Times, B11.

In-text citations

References should be cited in the text by name and year in parentheses:

This sentence cites one reference (Nicklin, 2014).
This sentence cites two references (Ambraseys and Bilham, 2011; Nicklin, 2014).

Here are examples of in-text citations with multiple authors:

  • Two authors: (Ambraseys and Bilham, 2011)
  • Three or more authors: (Wienholds et al., 2005)

About the journal

Full journal titleMolecular Plant Pathology
AbbreviationMol. Plant Pathol.
ISSN (print)1464-6722
ISSN (online)1364-3703
ScopeAgronomy and Crop Science
Plant Science
Soil Science
Molecular Biology

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