How to format your references using the Virchows Archiv citation style

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

Aldhous P (2001) Millennium Dome sees signs of a Wellcome break. Nature 412:258

A journal article with 2 authors

Kereszt A, Kondorosi E (2011) Plant science. Unlocking the door to invasion. Science 331:865–866

A journal article with 3 authors

Tiberti MM, Basili R, Vannoli P (2014) Ups and downs in western Crete (Hellenic subduction zone). Sci Rep 4:5677

A journal article with 5 or more authors

Zhang C, Wu B, Beglopoulos V, et al (2009) Presenilins are essential for regulating neurotransmitter release. Nature 460:632–636

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Martinsen U (2017) Kostenrechnung in der Bauwirtschaft. Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim, Germany

An edited book

Crescenzi R, Percoco M (2013) Geography, Institutions and Regional Economic Performance. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

A chapter in an edited book

Hens T, Rieger MO (2010) Multiple-Periods Model. In: Rieger MO (ed) Financial Economics: A Concise Introduction to Classical and Behavioral Finance. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, pp 221–263

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 Virchows Archiv.

Blog post

Fang J (2015) Stalagmites Record 3,000 Years of Climate Changes in Europe. In: IFLScience. https://www.iflscience.com/environment/stalagmites-record-3000-years-climate-changes-europe/. 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 (1996) Railroad Safety: DOT Faces Challenges in Improving Grade Crossing Safety, Track Inspection Standards, and Passenger Car Safety. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Stahlhut CW (2012) Aerodynamic design optimization of proprotors for convertible-rotor concepts. Doctoral dissertation, University of Maryland, College Park

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

Kelly DA (2006) How to Get the Best Rate (and Avoid Fees). New York Times TR6

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	Virchows Archiv
Abbreviation	Virchows Arch.
ISSN (print)	0945-6317
ISSN (online)	1432-2307
Scope	Cell Biology Molecular Biology General Medicine Pathology and Forensic Medicine