How to format your references using the Policy Studies citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Policy Studies. 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:

PaperpileThe citation style is built in and you can choose it in Settings > Citation Style or Paperpile > Citation Style in Google Docs.
EndNoteDownload the output style file
Mendeley, Zotero, Papers, and othersThe style is either built in or you can download a CSL file that is supported by most references management programs.
BibTeXBibTeX 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
Seife, C. 2000. “MATERIALS SCIENCE: Long-Wavelength Lasers Sniff Out New Uses.” Science (New York, N.Y.) 290 (5493): 916–917.
A journal article with 2 authors
Mühlenbruch, Brigitte, and Maren A. Jochimsen. 2013. “Research Policy: Only Wholesale Reform Will Bring Equality.” Nature 495 (7439): 40–42.
A journal article with 3 authors
Widom, Cathy Spatz, Sally J. Czaja, and Kimberly A. DuMont. 2015. “Intergenerational Transmission of Child Abuse and Neglect: Real or Detection Bias?” Science (New York, N.Y.) 347 (6229): 1480–1485.
A journal article with 11 or more authors
Zoorob, M. E., M. D. Charlton, G. J. Parker, J. J. Baumberg, and M. C. Netti. 2000. “Complete Photonic Bandgaps in 12-Fold Symmetric Quasicrystals.” Nature 404 (6779): 740–743.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book
Ghaye, Tony. 2008. Developing the Reflective Healthcare Team. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
An edited book
Strauss, H. William, Giuliano Mariani, Duccio Volterrani, and Steven M. Larson, eds. 2013. Nuclear Oncology: Pathophysiology and Clinical Applications. New York, NY: Springer.
A chapter in an edited book
Flannery, John A., and Karen M. Smith. 2011. “Bay Educational Center.” In Eco-Urban Design, edited by Karen M. Smith, 34–41. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands.

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 Policy Studies.

Blog post
O`Callaghan, Jonathan. 2017. “Mars Lander Crashed Because It Thought It Was Underground.” IFLScience. IFLScience. https://www.iflscience.com/space/mars-lander-crashed-because-it-thought-it-was-underground/.

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. 2004. Information Technology Management: Governmentwide Strategic Planning, Performance Measurement, and Investment Management Can Be Further Improved. GAO-04-49. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation
Valdovinos, Giuliana. 2012. “Entre Familia (among Family): A Parent Training and Social Support Program for Latino Families. A Grant Proposal.” Doctoral dissertation, Long Beach, CA: California State University, Long Beach.

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
Sisario, Ben. 2017. “SoundCloud, Former Star In Streaming, Lays Off 173.” New York Times, July 6.

In-text citations

References should be cited in the text by name and year in parentheses:

This sentence cites one reference (Seife 2000).
This sentence cites two references (Seife 2000; Mühlenbruch and Jochimsen 2013).

Here are examples of in-text citations with multiple authors:

  • Two authors: (Mühlenbruch and Jochimsen 2013)
  • Three authors: (Widom, Czaja, and DuMont 2015)
  • 4 or more authors: (Zoorob et al. 2000)

About the journal

Full journal titlePolicy Studies
ISSN (print)0144-2872
ISSN (online)1470-1006
ScopePolitical Science and International Relations

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