How to format your references using the Plant Methods citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Plant Methods. 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. Hochstrasser M. Molecular biology. New proteases in a ubiquitin stew. Science. 2002;298:549–52.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Zubkov MV, Tarran GA. High bacterivory by the smallest phytoplankton in the North Atlantic Ocean. Nature. 2008;455:224–6.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Mashchenko S, Couchman HMP, Wadsley J. The removal of cusps from galaxy centres by stellar feedback in the early Universe. Nature. 2006;442:539–42.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Frey U, Brodbeck T, Majumdar A, Taylor DR, Town GI, Silverman M, et al. Risk of severe asthma episodes predicted from fluctuation analysis of airway function. Nature. 2005;438:667–70.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Smith EM. Advances in Thermal Design of Heat Exchangers. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd; 2006.

An edited book

1. Rasmussen LM, Iltis A, Cherry MJ, editors. At the Foundations of Bioethics and Biopolitics: Critical Essays on the Thought of H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr. 1st ed. 2015. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2015.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Castellà-Roca J, Domingo-Ferrer J, Sebé F. A Smart Card-Based Mental Poker System. In: Domingo-Ferrer J, Posegga J, Schreckling D, editors. Smart Card Research and Advanced Applications: 7th IFIP WG 88/112 International Conference, CARDIS 2006, Tarragona, Spain, April 19-21, 2006 Proceedings. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2006. p. 48–61.

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 Plant Methods.

Blog post

1. Hamilton K. Weasel Takes A Wild Ride On A Woodpecker’s Back [Internet]. IFLScience. IFLScience; 2015 [cited 2018 Oct 30]. Available from: https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/weasel-takes-wild-ride-woodpecker-s-back/

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. Airport Financing: Projects Eligible for Federal Support That May Go Unfunded. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1998 Apr. Report No.: RCED-98-165R.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Zhu H. Outcomes of China Free Antiretroviral Treatment Program, 2003–2010 [Doctoral dissertation]. [Chapel Hill, NC]: University of North Carolina; 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. Conte L. Scouting Report. New York Times. 2011 Mar 24;E5.

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	Plant Methods
Abbreviation	Plant Methods
ISSN (online)	1746-4811
Scope	Plant Science Biotechnology Genetics