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. Helm D. Climate policy: The Kyoto approach has failed. Nature. 2012;491:663–5.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Wood BJ, Halliday AN. Cooling of the Earth and core formation after the giant impact. Nature. 2005;437:1345–8.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Schneider DM, Nelson A, Mooney R. A synaptic and circuit basis for corollary discharge in the auditory cortex. Nature. 2014;513:189–94.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Houghton RA, Skole DL, Nobre CA, Hackler JL, Lawrence KT, Chomentowski WH. Annual fluxes of carbon from deforestation and regrowth in the Brazilian Amazon. Nature. 2000;403:301–4.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Young S, Bramham J. Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy for ADHD in Adolescents and Adults. Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell; 2012.

An edited book

1. Molinari E. Psicologia clinica del dolore. Castelnuovo G, editor. Milano: Springer; 2010.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Neuman T. Positional and Restraint Asphyxia. In: Ross DL, Chan TC, editors. Sudden Deaths in Custody. Totowa, NJ: Humana Press; 2006. p. 39–57.

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. Luntz S. Rats Will Choose Friendship Over Food [Internet]. IFLScience. IFLScience; 2015 [cited 2018 Oct 30]. Available from: https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/rats-chose-friendship-over-food/

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. Highway Public-Private Partnerships: Securing Potential Benefits and Protecting the Public Interest Could Result from More Rigorous Up-front Analysis. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 2008 Jul. Report No.: GAO-08-1052T.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Necaise KW. Effects of soybean-derived phytoestrogens on reproductive tract development in neonatal male and female pigs: Animal model for the human infant [Doctoral dissertation]. [Mississippi State, MS]: Mississippi State University; 2012.

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. Wagner J. Mets Cap Busy Day of Moves by Acquiring a Closer. New York Times. 2017 Jul 29;D2.

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)