How to format your references using the Waves in Random and Complex Media citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Waves in Random and Complex Media. 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]
Williams R. Biomarkers: warning signs. Nature. 2011;475:S5-7.
A journal article with 2 authors
[1]
van Ginneken VJ, van den Thillart GE. Eel fat stores are enough to reach the Sargasso. Nature. 2000;403:156–157.
A journal article with 3 authors
[1]
Fitch JP, Raber E, Imbro DR. Technology challenges in responding to biological or chemical attacks in the civilian sector. Science. 2003;302:1350–1354.
A journal article with 4 or more authors
[1]
Lin H, Van Wagner E, Freeman BD, et al. Plasticization-enhanced hydrogen purification using polymeric membranes. Science. 2006;311:639–642.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book
[1]
Levy D. Practical Diabetes Care. Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell; 2011.
An edited book
[1]
Tonchia S. Performance Measurement: Linking Balanced Scorecard to Business Intelligence. Quagini L, editor. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2010.
A chapter in an edited book
[1]
Charles KE, Egan V. Sensational and Extreme Interests in Adolescents. In: Kocsis RN, editor. Serial Murder and the Psychology of Violent Crimes. Totowa, NJ: Humana Press; 2008. p. 63–83.

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 Waves in Random and Complex Media.

Blog post
[1]
Fang J. Scientists Discover Strange New Brain Cell Shape [Internet]. IFLScience. IFLScience; 2014 [cited 2018 Oct 30]. Available from: https://www.iflscience.com/brain/scientists-discover-strange-new-brain-cell-shape/.

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. Transportation Security Administration: Actions and Plans to Build a Results-Oriented Culture. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 2003. Report No.: GAO-03-190. .

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation
[1]
McCarthy BA. Mentoring’s critical components: Four traditional teachers’, four alternate -route teachers’, and four mentors’ perspectives [Doctoral dissertation]. [Minneapolis, MN]: Capella University; 2010.

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]
Billard M. Embracing Change, Quietly. New York Times. 2013 Sep 5;E11.

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 titleWaves in Random and Complex Media
AbbreviationWaves Random Complex Media
ISSN (print)1745-5030
ISSN (online)1745-5049
ScopeGeneral Engineering
General Physics and Astronomy

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