How to format your references using the AORN Journal citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for AORN Journal. 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 reference managers.
BibTeX	BibTeX styles 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

Rotblat J. Mark Oliphant (1901-2000). Nature. 2000;407(6803):468.

A journal article with 2 authors

Udvardi MK, Scheible WR. Plant science. GRAS genes and the symbiotic green revolution. Science. 2005;308(5729):1749-1750.

A journal article with 3 authors

Begun DR, Richmond BG, Strait DS. Comment on “Origin of human bipedalism as an adaptation for locomotion on flexible branches.” Science. 2007;318(5853):1066; author reply 1066.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

Koch GW, Sillett SC, Jennings GM, Davis SD. The limits to tree height. Nature. 2004;428(6985):851-854.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Lam J. Enterprise Risk Management. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 2014.

An edited book

Di Natale M. Understanding and Using the Controller Area Network Communication Protocol: Theory and Practice. (Zeng H, Giusto P, Ghosal A, eds.). Springer; 2012.

A chapter in an edited book

Smith D, Friesen J. Interacting with Device Hardware and Media. In: Friesen J, ed. Android Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach. Apress; 2011:201-255.

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 AORN Journal.

Blog post

Hale T. 3D-Printed Pasta Folds Like Origami When Dropped In Water. IFLScience. May 30, 2017. Accessed October 30, 2018. https://www.iflscience.com/editors-blog/3dprinted-pasta-folds-like-origami-when-dropped-in-water/

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. Information Technology: U.S. Postal Service Needs to Strengthen System Acquisition and Management Capabilities to Improve Its Intelligent Mail Full Service Program. U.S. Government Printing Office; 2009.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Templeton TH. The Impact of Emergent Information and Communication Technology on Peacebuilding. Doctoral dissertation. George Washington University; 2017.

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

Shpigel B. Taking Twisted Turns. New York Times. September 10, 2016:SP7.

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 title	AORN Journal
Abbreviation	AORN J.
ISSN (print)	0001-2092
Scope	Medical–Surgical