How to format your references using the Studies in Science Education citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Studies in Science Education. 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

Leek, P. J. (2013). Applied physics. Storing quantum information in Schrödinger’s cats. Science (New York, N.Y.), 342(6158), 568–569.

A journal article with 2 authors

Prado, M. T. P., & Cepeda-Jiménez, C. M. (2015). Materials science: Strength ceiling smashed for light metals. Nature, 528(7583), 486–487.

A journal article with 3 authors

Fuchs, B., Sornette, D., & Thurner, S. (2014). Fractal multi-level organisation of human groups in a virtual world. Scientific Reports, 4, 6526.

A journal article with 21 or more authors

Niwa, H., Ogawa, K., Shimosato, D., & Adachi, K. (2009). A parallel circuit of LIF signalling pathways maintains pluripotency of mouse ES cells. Nature, 460(7251), 118–122.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Malpass, D. B. (2010). Introduction to Industrial Polyethylene. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

An edited book

Delgado, J. M. P. Q., & Barbosa de Lima, A. G. (Eds.). (2016). Drying and Energy Technologies (Vol. 63). Springer International Publishing.

A chapter in an edited book

Claus, R., Schmutz, M., Greve, G., & Bullinger, L. (2014). DNA Methylation Abnormalities in Hematopoietic Disorders: Biological Significance and Methodological Approaches. In M. Lübbert & P. A. Jones (Eds.), Epigenetic Therapy of Cancer: Preclinical Models and Treatment Approaches (pp. 107–120). Springer.

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 Studies in Science Education.

Blog post

Fang, J. (2015, February 9). Humans Continue To Evolve, Despite Lower Mortality and Fertility Rates. IFLScience; 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

Government Accountability Office. (1998). Environmental Protection: EPA’s Science and Technology Funds (RCED-99-12). U.S. Government Printing Office.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Kim, H. (2008). Prediction and Elimination of Galling in Forming Galvanized Advanced High Strength Steels (AHSS) [Doctoral dissertation]. Ohio State 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

Billard, M. (2010, June 17). Tango On the Beach. New York Times, E5.

In-text citations

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

This sentence cites one reference (Leek, 2013).
This sentence cites two references (Leek, 2013; Prado & Cepeda-Jiménez, 2015).

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

Two authors: (Prado & Cepeda-Jiménez, 2015)
Three or more authors: (Niwa et al., 2009)

About the journal

Full journal title	Studies in Science Education
Abbreviation	Stud. Sci. Educ.
ISSN (print)	0305-7267
ISSN (online)	1940-8412
Scope	Education