How to format your references using the Nature Communications citation style

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

Suppes, G. J. Materials design. Simulation as a tool for biopolymers design. Science 346, 1055–1056 (2014).

A journal article with 2 authors

Zachariah, M. A. & Cyster, J. G. Neural crest-derived pericytes promote egress of mature thymocytes at the corticomedullary junction. Science 328, 1129–1135 (2010).

A journal article with 3 authors

Chen, L., Dürr, K. L. & Gouaux, E. X-ray structures of AMPA receptor-cone snail toxin complexes illuminate activation mechanism. Science 345, 1021–1026 (2014).

A journal article with 6 or more authors

Kufer, S. K., Puchner, E. M., Gumpp, H., Liedl, T. & Gaub, H. E. Single-molecule cut-and-paste surface assembly. Science 319, 594–596 (2008).

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Veasey, D. A. et al. Confined Space Entry and Emergency Response. (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ, 2005).

An edited book

Entangled Life: Organism and Environment in the Biological and Social Sciences. vol. 4 (Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht, 2014).

A chapter in an edited book

Goodman, J., Langdon, P. M. & Clarkson, P. J. Providing Strategic User Information for Designers: Methods and Initial Findings. in Designing Accessible Technology (eds. Clarkson, J., Langdon, P. & Robinson, P.) 41–51 (Springer, London, 2006).

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 Nature Communications.

Blog post

Davis, J. Do Toilets Really Flow In Opposite Directions In Different Hemispheres? IFLScience https://www.iflscience.com/physics/truth-about-toilet-swirl-does-it-flow-opposite-directions-different-hemispheres/ (2015).

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. School Finance: Options for Improving Measures of Effort and Equity in Title I. (1996).

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Spisak, G. M. Particulation. (California State University, Long Beach, Long Beach, CA, 2012).

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

Pomfret, J. Isolating China doesn’t work. New York Times 0 (2017).

In-text citations

References should be cited in the text by sequential numbers in superscript:

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	Nature Communications
Abbreviation	Nat. Commun.
ISSN (online)	2041-1723
Scope	General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology General Chemistry General Physics and Astronomy