How to format your references using the Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases. 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. Lu HP. Biochemistry. Enzymes in coherent motion. Science. 2012;335:300–1.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Wickens M, Kwak JE. Molecular biology. A tail tale for U. Science. 2008;319:1344–5.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Lowman M, D’Avanzo C, Brewer C. Ecology. A national ecological network for research and education. Science. 2009;323:1172–3.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Wei T, Tu W, Zhao B, Lan Y, Bao J, Dai Z. Electrochemical monitoring of an important biomarker and target protein: VEGFR2 in cell lysates. Sci Rep. 2014;4:3982.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Paul CR. Transmission Lines in Digital Systems for EMC Practitioners. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 2011.

An edited book

1. Hjemdahl P, Steptoe A, Rosengren A, editors. Stress and Cardiovascular Disease. London: Springer; 2012.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Yu C-L, Jove R, Turkson J. Historical Development of STAT3 Inhibitors and Early Results in Clinical Trials. In: Ward AC, editor. STAT Inhibitors in Cancer. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2016. p. 69–94.

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 Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases.

Blog post

1. Andrew E. Compound In Curry Spice Boosts Stem Cell Growth In Rat Brains. IFLScience. IFLScience; 2014.

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. Americans With Disabilities Act: Challenges Faced by Transit Agencies in Complying With the Act’s Requirements. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1994 Mar. Report No.: RCED-94-58.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Koonin LM. Acceptability of pharmacies serving as primary dispensers of antiviral drugs during an influenza pandemic: Perspectives of pharmacy executives [Doctoral dissertation]. [Chapel Hill, NC]: University of North Carolina; 2013.

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. Cooper M, Walsh MW. Interest Adds Up to a $1.3 Billion Bill for States. New York Times. 2011 Jan 15;A1.

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	Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases
Abbreviation	Orphanet J. Rare Dis.
ISSN (online)	1750-1172
Scope	General Medicine Genetics(clinical) Pharmacology (medical)