How to format your references using the Physics Letters A citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Physics Letters A. 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

[1]

R. Wollman, Development. Counting the ways to decode dynamic signals, Science. 343 (2014) 1326–1327.

A journal article with 2 authors

[1]

K.N. Houk, P.H.-Y. Cheong, Computational prediction of small-molecule catalysts, Nature. 455 (2008) 309–313.

A journal article with 3 authors

[1]

P. Kalab, K. Weis, R. Heald, Visualization of a Ran-GTP gradient in interphase and mitotic Xenopus egg extracts, Science. 295 (2002) 2452–2456.

A journal article with 4 or more authors

[1]

C. Gazin, N. Wajapeyee, S. Gobeil, C.-M. Virbasius, M.R. Green, An elaborate pathway required for Ras-mediated epigenetic silencing, Nature. 449 (2007) 1073–1077.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

[1]

J. Molimard, Experimental Mechanics of Solids and Structures, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ, 2016.

An edited book

[1]

M.A.R. Ferreira, Multiscale Modeling: A Bayesian Perspective, Springer, New York, NY, 2007.

A chapter in an edited book

[1]

A.D. Ellinger, R.G. Hamlin, R.S. Beattie, Y.-L. Wang, O. McVicar, Managerial Coaching as a Workplace Learning Strategy, in: R.F. Poell, M. van Woerkom (Eds.), Supporting Workplace Learning: Towards Evidence-Based Practice, Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht, 2011: pp. 71–87.

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 Physics Letters A.

Blog post

[1]

J. Davis, Natural Selection Observed In Penguins For The First Time, IFLScience. (2016).

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, School Finance: State and Federal Efforts to Target Poor Students, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1998.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

[1]

D.M. Roberts, Resilience in Physically Maltreated Adolescents: Interpersonally Related Protective Factors and Gender Differences, Doctoral dissertation, George Washington University, 2017.

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]

J. Wagner, Custom Cleats for the Polished Player, New York Times. (2016) 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	Physics Letters A
Abbreviation	Phys. Lett. A
ISSN (print)	0375-9601
Scope	General Physics and Astronomy

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