How to format your references using the Systems citation style

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

Comerio, M.C. Earthquake Anniversary. Can Buildings Be Made Earthquake-Safe? Science 2006, 312, 204–206.

A journal article with 2 authors

Rodriguez, I.B.; Ho, T.-Y. Diel Nitrogen Fixation Pattern of Trichodesmium: The Interactive Control of Light and Ni. Sci. Rep. 2014, 4, 4445.

A journal article with 3 authors

Rabitz, H.A.; Hsieh, M.M.; Rosenthal, C.M. Quantum Optimally Controlled Transition Landscapes. Science 2004, 303, 1998–2001.

A journal article with 4 or more authors

Tanaka, H.; Arakawa, H.; Yamaguchi, T.; Shiraishi, K.; Fukuda, S.; Matsui, K.; Takei, Y.; Nakamura, Y. A Ribonucleotide Reductase Gene Involved in a P53-Dependent Cell-Cycle Checkpoint for DNA Damage. Nature 2000, 404, 42–49.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Wing, C. How Your House Works; John Wiley & Sons, Inc.: Hoboken, NJ, 2012; ISBN 9781118286074.

An edited book

Krasińska, M. European Bison: The Nature Monograph; Krasiński, Z.A., Ed.; 2nd ed. 2013.; Springer: Berlin, Heidelberg, 2013; ISBN 9783642365546.

A chapter in an edited book

Olbers, D.; Willebrand, J.; Eden, C. Approximations Relating to Density Changes and Geometric Conditions. In Ocean Dynamics; Willebrand, J., Eden, C., Eds.; Springer: Berlin, Heidelberg, 2012; pp. 117–136 ISBN 9783642234491.

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 Systems.

Blog post

Hale, T. Watch A Bald Eagle Snatch A Baby Osprey From Its Nest (accessed on 30 October 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 [Comments on EPA Authority to Exempt Clean-Fuel Vehicles from Transportation Control Measures]; U.S. Government Printing Office: Washington, DC, 1994;

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Lambert, M. Generational Differences in the Workplace: The Perspectives of Three Generations on Career Mobility. Doctoral dissertation, George Washington University: Washington, DC, 2015.

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

Hubbard, B. A Clown and a Correspondent Join the Global Elite. New York Times 2017, A10.

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	Systems
ISSN (online)	2079-8954
Scope