How to format your references using the PLOS Biology citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for PLOS 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

Wehrwein P. Stem cells: Repeat to fade. Nature. 2012;492: S12-3.

A journal article with 2 authors

Li G, Zhang J. Ultra-broadband and efficient surface plasmon polariton launching through metallic nanoslits of subwavelength period. Sci Rep. 2014;4: 5914.

A journal article with 3 authors

Kah LC, Lyons TW, Frank TD. Low marine sulphate and protracted oxygenation of the Proterozoic biosphere. Nature. 2004;431: 834–838.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

Dorgan KM, Jumars PA, Johnson B, Boudreau BP, Landis E. Burrowing mechanics: burrow extension by crack propagation. Nature. 2005;433: 475.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Reschetilowski W. Technisch-Chemisches Praktikum. D-69451 Weinheim, Germany: Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH; 2002.

An edited book

Jacquet J-M, Picco GP, editors. Coordination Models and Languages: 7th International Conference, COORDINATION 2005, Namur, Belgium, April 20-23, 2005. Proceedings. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2005.

A chapter in an edited book

Bessas A, Kontogiannis S, Zaroliagis C. Incentive-Compatible Robust Line Planning. In: Ahuja RK, Möhring RH, Zaroliagis CD, editors. Robust and Online Large-Scale Optimization: Models and Techniques for Transportation Systems. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2009. pp. 85–118.

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 PLOS Biology.

Blog post

Luntz S. Sleep In To Stay Healthy. In: IFLScience [Internet]. IFLScience; 2 Sep 2015 [cited 30 Oct 2018]. Available: https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/sleep-stay-healthy/

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

Government Accountability Office. Aviation Safety: Commuter Airports Should Participate in the Airport Certification Program. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1987 Nov. Report No.: RCED-88-41.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Caprile JA. The geochemical influence of trace element concentrations from marine sedimentary bedrock on freshwater streams in the western Transverse Mountain Ranges. Doctoral dissertation, California State University, Long Beach. 2016.

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

St. John Kelly E. The Mysterious Tattoo Hoax. New York Times. 5 Jul 1998: 148.

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	PLOS Biology
Abbreviation	PLoS Biol.
ISSN (print)	1544-9173
ISSN (online)	1545-7885
Scope	General Agricultural and Biological Sciences General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology General Immunology and Microbiology General Neuroscience