How to format your references using the Molecular Simulation citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Molecular Simulation. 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
[1]
Martienssen R. Molecular biology. Small RNA makes its move. Science. 2010;328:834–835.
A journal article with 2 authors
[1]
Maruyama D, Zochowski M. Competition and cooperation between active intra-network and passive extra-network transport processes. Sci Rep. 2014;4:5269.
A journal article with 3 authors
[1]
Lillo F, Farmer JD, Mantegna RN. Econophysics: Master curve for price-impact function. Nature. 2003;421:129–130.
A journal article with 4 or more authors
[1]
Tan J, Wang G, Liu ZY, et al. Correlation between atomic structure evolution and strength in a bulk metallic glass at cryogenic temperature. Sci Rep. 2014;4:3897.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book
[1]
Kazovsky LG, Cheng N, Shaw W-T, et al. Broadband Optical Access Networks. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 2011.
An edited book
[1]
Luo Q, editor. Advancing Computing, Communication, Control and Management. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2010.
A chapter in an edited book
[1]
Dickman CR. Fences or Ferals? Benefits and Costs of Conservation Fencing in Australia. In: Somers MJ, Hayward M, editors. Fencing for Conservation: Restriction of Evolutionary Potential or a Riposte to Threatening Processes? New York, NY: Springer; 2012. p. 43–63.

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 Simulation.

Blog post
[1]
Carpineti A. Astronomers Spot Mysterious System 1600 Light-Years Away [Internet]. IFLScience. IFLScience; 2015 [cited 2018 Oct 30]. Available from: https://www.iflscience.com/space/missing-link-between-solar-systems-and-planetary-systems-found/.

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. Internet Infrastructure: Challenges in Developing a Public/Private Recovery Plan. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 2006. Report No.: GAO-06-863T. .

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation
[1]
Lewis DS. Global Educational Ecosystem: Case study of a partnership with K–12 schools, community organizations, and business [Doctoral dissertation]. [Malibu, CA]: Pepperdine University; 2010.

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]
Cowen T. Rebalancing the Population Scales. New York Times. 2014 Nov 8;BU5.

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 titleMolecular Simulation
AbbreviationMol. Simul.
ISSN (print)0892-7022
ISSN (online)1029-0435
ScopeGeneral Chemical Engineering
General Chemistry
Information Systems
General Materials Science
Modelling and Simulation
Condensed Matter Physics

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