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. Bardeen C. Electron transfer. Sometimes you can go home again. Science. 2001;293:444–5.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Pack CC, Born RT. Temporal dynamics of a neural solution to the aperture problem in visual area MT of macaque brain. Nature. 2001;409:1040–2.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Goncharov AF, Struzhkin VV, Jacobsen SD. Reduced radiative conductivity of low-spin (Mg,Fe)O in the lower mantle. Science. 2006;312:1205–8.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Roca AL, Bar-Gal GK, Eizirik E, Helgen KM, Maria R, Springer MS, et al. Mesozoic origin for West Indian insectivores. Nature. 2004;429:649–51.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Gramß T, Bornholdt S, Groß M, Mitchell M, Pellizzari T. Non-Standard Computation. Weinheim, FRG: Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA; 2005.

An edited book

1. Gelder K, editor. New Directions in Popular Fiction: Genre, Distribution, Reproduction. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK; 2016.

A chapter in an edited book

1. de Vries MFRK, Korotov K. Transformational Executive Programs: An Owner’s Manual. In: Vries MFRK de, Korotov K, Florent-Treacy E, Rook C, editors. Coach and Couch: The Psychology of Making Better Leaders. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK; 2016. p. 67–85.

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. Carpineti C. Check Out The Totally Incredible Moment A Whale Shark Swam Past Divers. IFLScience. 2017. 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. FAA Staffing: Improvements Needed in Estimating Air Traffic Controller Requirements. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1988.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Daum MA. Busy Fingers, Wordless Thoughts: Entering the Knot of Compulsive Hair Twisting. Doctoral dissertation. Pacifica Graduate Institute; 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

1. (nyt) SK. World Briefing | Europe: Russia: Admiral Convicted In Sub Deaths. New York Times. 2004;:A6.

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

Research and Writing Guides