How to format your references using the Thorax citation style

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

Killian TC. Ultracold neutral plasmas. Science. 2007;316:705–8.

A journal article with 2 authors

Phillips GN, Evans KA. Role of CO2 in the formation of gold deposits. Nature. 2004;429:860–3.

A journal article with 3 authors

Watson EB, Thomas JB, Cherniak DJ. 40Ar retention in the terrestrial planets. Nature. 2007;449:299–304.

A journal article with 4 or more authors

Chen HW, Lanzetta KM, Pascarelle S, et al. Unusual spectral energy distribution of a galaxy previously reported to be at redshift 6.68. Nature. 2000;408:562–4.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Blair TH. Energy Production Systems Engineering. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2016.

An edited book

Buyya R, Pathan M, Vakali A, editors. Content Delivery Networks. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer 2008.

A chapter in an edited book

Fontani M, Orna MV, Costa M. Chemists in the Period of the Institute for Higher Practical Studies and Specialization (1859–1924). In: Orna MV, Costa M, eds. Chemistry and Chemists in Florence: From the Last of the Medici Family to the European Magnetic Resonance Center. Cham: Springer International Publishing 2016:25–84.

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 Thorax.

Blog post

Andrew E. Hilarious Responses To Nobel Prize Winner Tim Hunt’s Sexist Comments. IFLScience. 2015. (accessed 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. Aviation Security: TSA Does Not Have Valid Evidence Supporting Most of the Revised Behavioral Indicators Used in Its Behavior Detection Activities. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office 2017.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Peterson C. Psycho-socio-cultural risk factors for breech presentation. 2008.

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. Supreme Court Allows Disabled Georgia Inmate to Proceed With Suit Against State. New York Times. 2006;A27.

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	Thorax
Abbreviation	Thorax
ISSN (print)	0040-6376
ISSN (online)	1468-3296
Scope	Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine