How to format your references using the The Oncologist citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for The Oncologist. 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	Download the output style file
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

Ainsworth C. Immunology: A many layered thing. Nature 2012;492:S52-4.

A journal article with 2 authors

Keeling MJ, Gilligan CA. Metapopulation dynamics of bubonic plague. Nature 2000;407:903–906.

A journal article with 3 authors

Ishikawa H, Ma Z, Barber GN. STING regulates intracellular DNA-mediated, type I interferon-dependent innate immunity. Nature 2009;461:788–792.

A journal article with 4 or more authors

Devries GA, Brunnbauer M, Hu Y et al. Divalent metal nanoparticles. Science 2007;315:358–361.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Good PI. A Manager’s Guide to the Design and Conduct of Clinical Trials. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2006.

An edited book

Kiefer H. Clinical Management of Hip Arthroplasty: Practical Guide for the Use of Ceramic Implants. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer, 2015: 1-IX, 22 p.

A chapter in an edited book

Kathiresan R, Koger CH, Reddy KN. ALLELOPATHY FOR WEED CONTROL IN AQUATIC AND WETLAND SYSTEMS. In: INDERJIT, Mukerji KG, eds. Allelochemicals: Biological Control of Plant Pathogens and Diseases. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands, 2006: 103–122.

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 The Oncologist.

Blog post

Andrew E. Fat And Sugar-Heavy Diet Harms Your Brain – And Makes You Keep On Eating. IFLScience. 2015.Available at https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/fat-and-sugar-heavy-diet-harms-your-brain-and-makes-you-keep-eating/. Accessed October 30, 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. Aviation Safety: Additional Actions Needed for Three Safety Programs. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1992.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Dillon KS. Social support to families of children with special needs: A grant. 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

Williams J. Outside The Bars. New York Times. 2016;:BR4.

In-text citations

References should be cited in the text by sequential numbers in superscript:

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	The Oncologist
Abbreviation	Oncologist
ISSN (print)	1083-7159
ISSN (online)	1549-490X
Scope	Cancer Research Oncology