How to format your references using the QJM: An International Journal of Medicine citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for QJM: An International Journal of Medicine. 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

Schiermeier Q. Europe told to unite on spy satellites. Nature. 2003 Mar 27;422(6930):361.

A journal article with 2 authors

Vinnikov KY, Grody NC. Global warming trend of mean tropospheric temperature observed by satellites. Science. 2003 Oct 10;302(5643):269–72.

A journal article with 3 authors

Dubal DP, Holze R, Gomez-Romero P. Development of hybrid materials based on sponge supported reduced graphene oxide and transition metal hydroxides for hybrid energy storage devices. Sci Rep. 2014 Dec 8;4:7349.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

Wang C, Ma L, Liao L, Bai S, Long R, Zuo M, et al. A unique platinum-graphene hybrid structure for high activity and durability in oxygen reduction reaction. Sci Rep. 2013;3:2580.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Storhas W. Bioverfahrensentwicklung. Weinheim, Germany: Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA; 2013.

An edited book

Abbott LK, Murphy DV, editors. Soil Biological Fertility: A Key to Sustainable Land Use in Agriculture. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands; 2007. XI, 264 p.

A chapter in an edited book

Hersh RG, Caligor E, Yeomans FE. Transference-Focused Psychotherapy (TFP) Principles in Work with the Families of Patients with Severe Personality Disorders. In: Caligor E, Yeomans FE, editors. Fundamentals of Transference-Focused Psychotherapy: Applications in Psychiatric and Medical Settings. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2016. p. 91–120.

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 QJM: An International Journal of Medicine.

Blog post

Davis J. IFLScience. IFLScience; 2015 [cited 2018 Oct 30]. Scientists Have Discovered “Clocks” Inside Your Cells That Could Determine When You Get Cancer. Available from: https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/scientists-discover-molecular-clocks-determine-rate-mutations-human-cells/

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. FTS2001: Transition Challenges Jeopardize Program Goals. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 2001 Mar. Report No.: GAO-01-289.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Kao CH. Community mental health care for Chinese Americans: A grant proposal [Doctoral dissertation]. [Long Beach, CA]: California State University, Long Beach; 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

Crow K. New Bus Shelters on the Way, Customized for Your Corner. New York Times. 2001 May 20;146.

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	QJM: An International Journal of Medicine
Abbreviation	QJM
ISSN (print)	1460-2393
ISSN (online)	1460-2725
Scope	General Medicine