How to format your references using the Open Network Biology citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Open Network Biology. 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	Find the style here: output styles overview
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

1. Powell K. Stipend survival. Nature. 2004;428:102–3.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Fazleabas AT, Kim JJ. Development. What makes an embryo stick? Science. 2003;299:355–6.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Poolman B, Geertsma ER, Slotboom D-J. Biochemistry. A missing link in membrane protein evolution. Science. 2007;315:1229–31.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Auboeuf D, Hönig A, Berget SM, O’Malley BW. Coordinate regulation of transcription and splicing by steroid receptor coregulators. Science. 2002;298:416–9.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Khouw MC, Guthner MW. The Options Edge + Free Trial. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc; 2016.

An edited book

1. Seli E, Agarwal A, editors. Fertility Preservation: Emerging Technologies and Clinical Applications. New York, NY: Springer; 2012.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Almeida JB, Frade MJ, Pinto JS, Melo de Sousa S. First-Order Logic. In: Frade MJ, Pinto JS, Melo de Sousa S, editors. Rigorous Software Development: An Introduction to Program Verification. London: Springer; 2011. p. 81–128.

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 Open Network Biology.

Blog post

1. Andrew E. A Christmas Comet To Be Seen From Dark Skies. IFLScience. 2014. https://www.iflscience.com/space/christmas-comet-be-seen-dark-skies1/. Accessed 30 Oct 2018.

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. Transportation Security Administration: Actions and Plans to Build a Results-Oriented Culture. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 2003.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Chaves JS. Novel approach for the creation of thin films and interconnects using single walled carbon nanotubes inkjet technology and bacteria. Doctoral dissertation. California State University, Long Beach; 2009.

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. Blecher G. Bound to a Place, Despite Life’s Thorns. New York Times. 2013;:D6.

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 title	Open Network Biology
ISSN (print)	2046-7826
Scope