How to format your references using the Taxon citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Taxon. 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.
EndNoteDownload the output style file
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
Caplan, A. 2011. Genome-sequencing anniversary. What will drive genomics over the next 10 years? Science 331: 691.
A journal article with 2 authors
Lotti, M., & Nicotera, P. 2002. Toxicology: a risky business. Nature 416: 481.
A journal article with 3 authors
Harbaugh, W.T., Mayr, U., & Burghart, D.R. 2007. Neural responses to taxation and voluntary giving reveal motives for charitable donations. Science 316: 1622–1625.
A journal article with 4 or more authors
Valladas, H., Clottes, J., Geneste, J.M., Garcia, M.A., Arnold, M., Cachier, H., & Tisnérat-Laborde, N. 2001. Palaeolithic paintings. Evolution of prehistoric cave art. Nature 413: 479.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book
Port, M., & Samuels, M. 2009. The Think Big Manifesto. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
An edited book
Kreutz, M.R., & Sala, C. (eds.). 2012. Synaptic Plasticity: Dynamics, Development and Disease. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol. 970. Vienna: Springer.
A chapter in an edited book
Hillel, A., & Robinson, L. 2006. Diagnostic Electromyography for Unilateral Vocal Fold Dysmotility. Pp. 63–73 in: L. Sulica & A. Blitzer (eds.), Vocal Fold Paralysis. Berlin, Heidelberg: 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 Taxon.

Blog post
Davis, J. 2016, December 14. Viruses May Have Evolved To Infect Men More Severely Than Women. https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/viruses-may-have-evolved-to-infect-men-more-severely-than-women/ (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. 1975. Further Actions Needed To Centralize Procurement of Automatic Data Processing Equipment To Comply With Objectives of Public Law 89-306. No. LCD-74-115. Washington, DC: 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
Forget, M.A. 2012. Tumor Angiogenesis is all Tied up in Tie2-Expressing Macrophages. Doctoral dissertation. Columbus, OH: 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
Greenhouse, L., & Kirkpatrick, D.D. 2007, June 26. Justices Loosen Ad Restrictions In Campaign Law. New York Times, p. A1.

In-text citations

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

This sentence cites one reference (Caplan, 2011).
This sentence cites two references (Lotti & Nicotera, 2002; Caplan, 2011).

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

  • Two authors: (Lotti & Nicotera, 2002)
  • Three or more authors: (Valladas & al., 2001)

About the journal

Full journal titleTaxon
AbbreviationTaxon
ISSN (print)0040-0262
ISSN (online)1996-8175
ScopeEcology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Plant Science

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