How to format your references using the Value in Health citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Value in Health. 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
1.
Richard TL. Challenges in scaling up biofuels infrastructure. Science. 2010;329(5993):793-796.
A journal article with 2 authors
1.
Colton RJ, Russell JN Jr. Counterterrorism. Making the world a safer place. Science. 2003;299(5611):1324-1325.
A journal article with 3 authors
1.
Gupta R, He Z, Luan S. Functional relationship of cytochrome c(6) and plastocyanin in Arabidopsis. Nature. 2002;417(6888):567-571.
A journal article with 7 or more authors
1.
Johnson DS, Mortazavi A, Myers RM, Wold B. Genome-wide mapping of in vivo protein-DNA interactions. Science. 2007;316(5830):1497-1502.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book
1.
Pinoli JC. Mathematical Foundations of Image Processing and Analysis 1. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 2014.
An edited book
1.
Oosterom P van, Zlatanova S, Fendel EM, eds. Geo-Information for Disaster Management. Springer; 2005.
A chapter in an edited book
1.
Pranke P, Onsten T. Umbilical Cord Blood Transfusion and Its Therapeutic Potentialities. In: Bhattacharya N, Stubblefield P, eds. Regenerative Medicine Using Pregnancy-Specific Biological Substances. Springer; 2011:45-56.

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 Value in Health.

Blog post
1.
Andrew E. Scientists Develop Mantis Shrimp-Inspired Sensors That Can Detect Cancer. IFLScience. Published September 22, 2014. Accessed October 30, 2018. https://www.iflscience.com/technology/scientists-develop-mantis-shrimp-inspired-sensors-can-detect-cancer/

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. U.S. Science and Engineering Base: A Synthesis of Concerns About Budget and Policy Development. U.S. Government Printing Office; 1987.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation
1.
D’Ambrosio JL. Perspectives on the Geomorphic Evolution and Ecology of Modified Channels and Two-Stage Ditches in the Agriculturally-Dominated Midwestern United States. Doctoral dissertation. Ohio State University; 2013.

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.
Greenhouse L. Justices Reject Suit on Federal Money for Faith-Based Office. New York Times. June 26, 2007:A18.

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 titleValue in Health
AbbreviationValue Health
ISSN (print)1098-3015
ScopeHealth Policy
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

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