How to format your references using the Systematic Reviews citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Systematic Reviews. 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. Chyba CF. Atmospheric science. Countering the early faint Sun. Science. 2010;328:1238–9.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Adamala K, Szostak JW. Nonenzymatic template-directed RNA synthesis inside model protocells. Science. 2013;342:1098–100.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Maeda H, Norum DVL, Gallagher TF. Microwave manipulation of an atomic electron in a classical orbit. Science. 2005;307:1757–60.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Volkmann N, Amann KJ, Stoilova-McPhie S, Egile C, Winter DC, Hazelwood L, et al. Structure of Arp2/3 complex in its activated state and in actin filament branch junctions. Science. 2001;293:2456–9.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Al-Shuhail AA, Al-Dossary SA, Mousa WA. Seismic Data Interpretation using Digital Image Processing. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd; 2017.

An edited book

1. Telman DAJ, editor. Hans Kelsen in America - Selective Affinities and the Mysteries of Academic Influence. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2016.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Li J, Huang W. The EMMS Principle in Virtual Process Engineering. In: Huang W, editor. Towards Mesoscience: The Principle of Compromise in Competition. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2014. p. 45–9.

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 Systematic Reviews.

Blog post

1. Andrew E. Stunning New Cassini Image Shows Crescent Saturn And Titan [Internet]. IFLScience. IFLScience; 2014 [cited 2018 Oct 30]. Available from: https://www.iflscience.com/space/stunning-new-cassini-image-shows-crescent-saturn-and-titan/

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. Aviation Safety: Information on the Safety Effects of Modifying the Age Standard for Commercial Pilots. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 2009 Oct. Report No.: GAO-10-107R.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Oates PE. Leadership transactions impacting transformation [Doctoral dissertation]. [Phoenix, AZ]: University of Phoenix; 2009.

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. Protess B. From the London Whale to Wells Fargo, a Bank Regulator Looks Back. New York Times. 2017 May 5;B5.

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	Systematic Reviews
Abbreviation	Syst. Rev.
ISSN (online)	2046-4053
Scope	Medicine (miscellaneous)

Research and Writing Guides