How to format your references using the Progress in Natural Science citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Progress in Natural Science. 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

Rust J. Fossil record of mass moth migration. Nature. 2000 Jun 1;405(6786):530–1.

A journal article with 2 authors

Rader DJ, Daugherty A. Translating molecular discoveries into new therapies for atherosclerosis. Nature. 2008 Feb 21;451(7181):904–13.

A journal article with 3 authors

Mungall JE, Ames DE, Hanley JJ. Geochemical evidence from the Sudbury structure for crustal redistribution by large bolide impacts. Nature. 2004 Jun 3;429(6991):546–8.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

Fahnestock M, Abdalati W, Joughin I, Brozena J, Gogineni P. High geothermal heat flow, Basal melt, and the origin of rapid ice flow in central Greenland. Science. 2001 Dec 14;294(5550):2338–42.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Onstott S. AutoCAD® and AutoCAD LT® Essentials. Indianapolis, Indiana: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 2017.

An edited book

Tsao JW, editor. Traumatic Brain Injury: A Clinician’s Guide to Diagnosis, Management, and Rehabilitation. New York, NY: Springer; 2012. XIV, 339 p. 63 illus., 20 illus. in color.

A chapter in an edited book

Juma C, Gordon K. Transgenic Crops and Food Security. In: Ricroch A, Chopra S, Fleischer SJ, editors. Plant Biotechnology: Experience and Future Prospects. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2014. p. 45–58.

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 Progress in Natural Science.

Blog post

Andrews R. IFLScience. IFLScience; 2016. UN Declares That Internet Restrictions Violate Human Rights.

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. NCAA Student Athlete Pell Grants. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1995 Jan. Report No.: OSI-95-13R.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Sweeney DL. Learning in human -dolphin interactions at zoological facilities [Doctoral dissertation]. [La Jolla, CA]: University of California San Diego; 2009.

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

Kelly C. Hyperion Using World’s Largest Mainsail. New York Times. 1998 Sep 20;814.

In-text citations

References should be cited in the text by sequential numbers in parentheses:

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	Progress in Natural Science
ISSN (print)	1002-0071
Scope