How to format your references using the Natural Product Research citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Natural Product 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

Baker M. 2010. RNA interference: From tools to therapies. Nature. 464(7292):1225.

A journal article with 2 authors

Balafoutas L, Sutter M. 2012. Affirmative action policies promote women and do not harm efficiency in the laboratory. Science. 335(6068):579–582.

A journal article with 3 authors

Dong H, Wen B, Melnik R. 2014. Relative importance of grain boundaries and size effects in thermal conductivity of nanocrystalline materials. Sci Rep. 4:7037.

A journal article with 12 or more authors

Merbach MA, Merbach DJ, Maschwitz U, Booth WE, Fiala B, Zizka G. 2002. Mass march of termites into the deadly trap. Nature. 415(6867):36–37.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Gywat O, Krenner HJ, Berezovsky J. 2009. Spins in Optically Active Quantum Dots. Weinheim, Germany: Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.

An edited book

Powell S, Shim JP, editors. 2009. Wireless Technology: Applications, Management, and Security. Boston, MA: Springer US.

A chapter in an edited book

Anderson JV, Horvath DP, Chao WS, Foley ME. 2010. Bud Dormancy in Perennial Plants: A Mechanism for Survival. In: Lubzens E, Cerda J, Clark M, editors. Dormancy and Resistance in Harsh Environments. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; p. 69–90.

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 Natural Product Research.

Blog post

Andrew E. 2014. Inside A Body Farm. 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. 1999. Customs Service Modernization: Actions Initiated to Correct ACE Management and Technical Weaknesses. 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

Barrett C. 2010. Racial congruence and its effects on social integration and school involvement: A multi-level model [Doctoral dissertation]. College Park, MD: University of Maryland, College Park.

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

Kenigsberg B. 2017. A Watershed Moment of Cinematic Terror. New York Times.:C9.

In-text citations

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

This sentence cites one reference (Baker 2010).
This sentence cites two references (Baker 2010; Balafoutas and Sutter 2012).

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

Two authors: (Balafoutas and Sutter 2012)
Three or more authors: (Merbach et al. 2002)

About the journal

Full journal title	Natural Product Research
ISSN (print)	1478-6419
ISSN (online)	1478-6427
Scope	Plant Science Biochemistry Analytical Chemistry Organic Chemistry