How to format your references using the Source Code for Biology and Medicine citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Source Code for Biology and 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

1. Grayson M. Cannabis. Nature. 2015;525:S1.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Ringe D, Petsko GA. Biochemistry. How enzymes work. Science. 2008;320:1428–9.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Chabre M, Cone R, Saibil H. Biophysics: is rhodopsin dimeric in native retinal rods? Nature. 2003;426:30–1; discussion 31.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Scheerer P, Park JH, Hildebrand PW, Kim YJ, Krauss N, Choe H-W, et al. Crystal structure of opsin in its G-protein-interacting conformation. Nature. 2008;455:497–502.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Epperlein PW. Semiconductor Laser Engineering, Reliability and Diagnostics. Oxford, UK: John Wiley & Sons Ltd; 2013.

An edited book

1. Tan Y, Shi Y, Tan KC, editors. Advances in Swarm Intelligence: First International Conference, ICSI 2010, Beijing, China, June 12-15, 2010, Proceedings, Part II. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2010.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Rim K. Paradigm Shift and Challenges for Korean Industry: Case Study of Samsung. In: Mahlich JC, Pascha W, editors. Innovation and Technology in Korea: Challenges of a Newly Advanced Economy. Heidelberg: Physica-Verlag HD; 2007. p. 59–70.

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 Source Code for Biology and Medicine.

Blog post

1. Carpineti A. A Moderate Solar Storm Is Hitting Earth As We Speak. IFLScience. IFLScience; 2016.

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. Motor Vehicle Safety: NHTSA’s Ability to Detect and Recall Defective Replacement Crash Parts Is Limited. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 2001 Jan. Report No.: GAO-01-225.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Fischer BC. Toward Understanding Resonant Volcanic Seismic Signals: Modelling Bubbly Flow in Magma [Doctoral dissertation]. [ Lafayette, LA]: University of Louisiana; 2017.

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. Kelly C. Over the Years, It Feels Right at Home. New York Times. 2008 May 18;LI4.

In-text citations

References should be cited in the text by sequential numbers in square brackets:

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	Source Code for Biology and Medicine
Abbreviation	Source Code Biol. Med.
ISSN (online)	1751-0473
Scope	Computer Science Applications Information Systems Information Systems and Management Health Informatics