How to format your references using the Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization. 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.
EndNoteFind the style here: output styles overview
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
Engelman A (2007) AIDS/HIV. A reversal of fortune in HIV-1 integration. Science 316:1855–1857
A journal article with 2 authors
Keller GB, Hahnloser RHR (2009) Neural processing of auditory feedback during vocal practice in a songbird. Nature 457:187–190
A journal article with 3 authors
Polley DB, Kvasnák E, Frostig RD (2004) Naturalistic experience transforms sensory maps in the adult cortex of caged animals. Nature 429:67–71
A journal article with 5 or more authors
Qiu X, Kumbalasiri T, Carlson SM, et al (2005) Induction of photosensitivity by heterologous expression of melanopsin. Nature 433:745–749

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book
Degner R, Leibl S (2005) pH messen. Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim, FRG
An edited book
Gill TL (2016) Functional Analysis and the Feynman Operator Calculus. Springer International Publishing, Cham
A chapter in an edited book
Rose DH, Lapinski S (2011) What Can Technology Learn from the Brain? In: Gray T, Silver-Pacuilla H (eds) Breakthrough Teaching and Learning: How Educational and Assistive Technologies are Driving Innovation. Springer, New York, NY, pp 53–70

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 Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization.

Blog post
Andrew E (2016) Explainer: What Is Microgravity? In: IFLScience. https://www.iflscience.com/space/explainer-what-microgravity/. Accessed 30 Oct 2018

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 (1983) Federal Agencies Could Save Time and Money With Better Computer Software Alternatives. 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
Bennett AL (2019) An Empirical Longitudinal Analysis of Agile Methodologies and Firm Financial Performance. Doctoral dissertation, George Washington University

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
Kounios J (2017) Eureka? Yes, Eureka! New York Times SR6

In-text citations

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

This sentence cites one reference (Engelman 2007).
This sentence cites two references (Engelman 2007; Keller and Hahnloser 2009).

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

  • Two authors: (Keller and Hahnloser 2009)
  • Three or more authors: (Qiu et al. 2005)

About the journal

Full journal titleStructural and Multidisciplinary Optimization
AbbreviationStruct. Multidiscipl. Optim.
ISSN (print)1615-147X
ISSN (online)1615-1488
ScopeComputer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design
Computer Science Applications
Software
Control and Systems Engineering
Control and Optimization

Other styles