How to format your references using the Bulletin of the World Health Organization citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 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

Kampinga HH. Molecular biology: It takes two to untangle. Nature. 2015 Aug 13;524(7564):169–70.

A journal article with 2 authors

Moura AC de A, Lee PC. Capuchin stone tool use in Caatinga dry forest. Science. 2004 Dec 10;306(5703):1909.

A journal article with 3 authors

Mitrovica JX, Gomez N, Clark PU. The sea-level fingerprint of West Antarctic collapse. Science. 2009 Feb 6;323(5915):753.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

Liu FS, Zheng JX, Huang MJ, He LP, Ao WQ, Pan F, et al. Enhanced thermoelectric performance of Cu2CdSnSe4 by Mn doping: experimental and first principles studies. Sci Rep. 2014 Jul 22;4:5774.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Ishiyama JT. Comparative Politics. Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell; 2011.

An edited book

Amara SG, editor. Reviews of Physiology, Biochemistry and Pharmacology. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2007. IV, 161 p. 14 illus., 9 illus. in color. (Reviews of Physiology, Biochemistry and Pharmacology; vol. 158).

A chapter in an edited book

Brewer HB. High-Density Lipoprotein Metabolism. In: Grundy SM, editor. Atlas of Atherosclerosis and Metabolic Syndrome. New York, NY: Springer; 2011. p. 93–111.

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 Bulletin of the World Health Organization.

Blog post

Davis J. IFLScience. IFLScience; 2015 [cited 2018 Oct 30]. North Korea Claim to Have Cured AIDS, MERS, Ebola and SARS. Available from: https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/north-korea-claim-have-cured-aids-mers-ebola-and-sars/

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. Computer Buys: Air Force Logistics Modernization Program Should Comply With Brooks Act. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1986 May. Report No.: IMTEC-86-16.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Mier LM. Monitoring Electron Transfer Reactions using Ultrafast UV-Visible and Infrared Spectroscopy [Doctoral dissertation]. [Columbus, OH]: Ohio State University; 2012.

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

Meyer JA, Meyer LR. All Prosecution Is Local. New York Times. 2007 Mar 4;CT15.

In-text citations

References should be cited in the text by sequential numbers in parentheses:

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	Bulletin of the World Health Organization
Abbreviation	Bull. World Health Organ.
ISSN (print)	0042-9686
ISSN (online)	1564-0604
Scope	Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health