How to format your references using the Virology citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Virology. 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
Rastan, S., 2015. Mary F. Lyon (1925-2014). Nature 518, 36.
A journal article with 2 authors
Simonson, A.B., Lake, J.A., 2002. The transorientation hypothesis for codon recognition during protein synthesis. Nature 416, 281–285.
A journal article with 3 authors
Supèr, H., Spekreijse, H., Lamme, V.A., 2001. A neural correlate of working memory in the monkey primary visual cortex. Science 293, 120–124.
A journal article with 4 or more authors
Garrido, J.J., Giraud, P., Carlier, E., Fernandes, F., Moussif, A., Fache, M.-P., Debanne, D., Dargent, B., 2003. A targeting motif involved in sodium channel clustering at the axonal initial segment. Science 300, 2091–2094.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book
Kwok, S., 2011. Organic Matter in the Universe. Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim, Germany.
An edited book
Herrling, P.L., Matter, A., Rudin, M. (Eds.), 2005. Imaging in Drug Discovery and Early Clinical Trials, Progress in Drug Research. Birkhäuser, Basel.
A chapter in an edited book
Alsos, G.A., Clausen, T.H., Isaksen, E.J., 2016. Innovation Among Public-Sector Organisations: Push and Pull Factors, in: Leitão, J., Alves, H. (Eds.), Entrepreneurial and Innovative Practices in Public Institutions: A Quality of Life Approach, Applying Quality of Life Research. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp. 81–98.

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 Virology.

Blog post
Fang, J., 2015. Where In The Ocean Did Iconic Spiral Ammonites Live? [WWW Document]. IFLScience. URL https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/where-ocean-did-iconic-spiral-ammonites-live/ (accessed 10.30.18).

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, 1989. [Comments on Montana’s Entitlement to Restoration of Rehabilitation Funds] (No. B-232010). 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
Prima, M.B., 2012. Waiting for Lefty: Adversity and the American Dream (Doctoral dissertation). California State University, Long Beach, Long Beach, CA.

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
Hubbard, B., 2016. Smiling as Syria Burns, Assad Remains Secure in Power and Impunity. New York Times A10.

In-text citations

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

This sentence cites one reference (Rastan, 2015).
This sentence cites two references (Rastan, 2015; Simonson and Lake, 2002).

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

  • Two authors: (Simonson and Lake, 2002)
  • Three or more authors: (Garrido et al., 2003)

About the journal

Full journal titleVirology
AbbreviationVirology
ISSN (print)0042-6822
ScopeVirology

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