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How to format your references using the Seminars in Spine Surgery citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Seminars in Spine Surgery. 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
1.
Helliwell JR. Biochemistry. How to solve protein structures with an X-ray laser. Science. 2013;339(6116):146-147.
A journal article with 2 authors
1.
Sun F, He S. Extending the scanning angle of a phased array antenna by using a null-space medium. Sci Rep. 2014;4:6832.
A journal article with 3 authors
1.
Zorzi M, Priftis K, Umiltà C. Brain damage: neglect disrupts the mental number line. Nature. 2002;417(6885):138-139.
A journal article with 7 or more authors
1.
Patton GC, Olsson CA, Skirbekk V, et al. Publisher Correction: Adolescence and the next generation. Nature. 2018;559(7712):E1.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book
1.
Center for Chemical Process Safety. Guidelines for Technical Planning for On-Site Emergencies. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 1995.
An edited book
1.
Delmonte M. The Definitive Guide to Plone. Second Edition. (Moro D, Narduzzo A, Reale F, McKay A, eds.). Apress; 2009.
A chapter in an edited book
1.
Rotte A, Bhandaru M. Overview of Immune System. In: Bhandaru M, ed. Immunotherapy of Melanoma. Springer International Publishing; 2016:113-142.

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 Seminars in Spine Surgery.

Blog post
1.
Andrews R. Worldwide Cyberattack Stopped After Sole Researcher Accidentally Discovers Kill Switch. IFLScience.

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. Tax Systems Modernization: Comments on IRS’ Fiscal Year 1994 Budget Request. U.S. Government Printing Office; 1993.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation
1.
Pathak A. The Role of the Protein Phosphatase 1 Inhibitor-1 In Regulation of Murine Cardiac Physiology and Progression of Cardiomyopathy. Doctoral dissertation. University of Cincinnati; 2006.

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.
Greenhouse L. Abortion Opponents Win Dispute. New York Times. March 1, 2006:A14.

In-text citations

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

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 titleSeminars in Spine Surgery
AbbreviationSemin. Spine Surg.
ISSN (print)1040-7383
ScopeOrthopedics and Sports Medicine
Surgery

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