How to format your references using the Social Networks citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Social Networks. 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
Collins, F., 2010. Scientists need a shorter path to research freedom. Nature 467, 635.
A journal article with 2 authors
Hench, L.L., Polak, J.M., 2002. Third-generation biomedical materials. Science 295, 1014–1017.
A journal article with 3 authors
Boisvert, C.A., Mark-Kurik, E., Ahlberg, P.E., 2008. The pectoral fin of Panderichthys and the origin of digits. Nature 456, 636–638.
A journal article with 4 or more authors
Saiz-Lopez, A., Mahajan, A.S., Salmon, R.A., Bauguitte, S.J.-B., Jones, A.E., Roscoe, H.K., Plane, J.M.C., 2007. Boundary layer halogens in coastal Antarctica. Science 317, 348–351.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book
Silk, R.D., Lintott, J.W., 2011. Managing Foundations and Charitable Trusts. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ.
An edited book
Dutt, A.K., Noble, A.G., Costa, F.J., Thakur, R.R., Thakur, S.K. (Eds.), 2016. Spatial Diversity and Dynamics in Resources and Urban Development: Volume II: Urban Development, 1st ed. 2016. ed. Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht.
A chapter in an edited book
Emigh, R.J., Riley, D., Ahmed, P., 2016. Regionalism, Nationalism, and the Italian Censuses, in: Riley, D., Ahmed, P. (Eds.), Changes in Censuses from Imperialist to Welfare States: How Societies and States Count. Palgrave Macmillan US, New York, NY, pp. 83–113.

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 Social Networks.

Blog post
Andrew, E., 2015. Shrinking Of Antarctic Ice Shelves Is Accelerating [WWW Document]. IFLScience. URL https://www.iflscience.com/environment/shrinking-antarctic-ice-shelves-accelerating/ (accessed 10.30.18).

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, 2011. Spectrum Management: NTIA Planning and Processes Need Strengthening to Promote the Efficient Use of Spectrum by Federal Agencies (No. GAO-11-352). U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation
Fernandes, J.M., 2017. Physical and chemical properties of Jupiter’s north and south polar vortex revealed through mid-infrared imaging (Doctoral dissertation). California State University, Long Beach, Long Beach, CA.

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, B., 2017. Another Failed Festival Puts Industry on Edge. New York Times B1.

In-text citations

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

This sentence cites one reference (Collins, 2010).
This sentence cites two references (Collins, 2010; Hench and Polak, 2002).

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

  • Two authors: (Hench and Polak, 2002)
  • Three or more authors: (Saiz-Lopez et al., 2007)

About the journal

Full journal titleSocial Networks
AbbreviationSoc. Networks
ISSN (print)0378-8733
ScopeGeneral Psychology
General Social Sciences
Sociology and Political Science
Anthropology

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