How to format your references using the Current Molecular Biology Reports citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Current Molecular Biology Reports. 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	Find the style here: output styles overview
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

1. Ma E. Materials science. Watching the nanograins roll. Science. 2004;305:623–4.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Skubi KL, Yoon TP. Organic chemistry: Shape control in reactions with light. Nature. 2014;515:45–6.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Braunschweig H, Radacki K, Schneider A. Oxoboryl complexes: boron-oxygen triple bonds stabilized in the coordination sphere of platinum. Science. 2010;328:345–7.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Schmied FJ, Teichert C, Kappel L, Hirn U, Bauer W, Schennach R. What holds paper together: nanometre scale exploration of bonding between paper fibres. Sci Rep. 2013;3:2432.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Allsopp W. Advanced Penetration Testing. Indianapolis, Indiana: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 2017.

An edited book

1. Pyr’yev Y. Nonsmooth Dynamics of Contacting Thermoelastic Bodies. Awrejcewicz J, editor. New York, NY: Springer; 2009.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Hersh RG, Caligor E, Yeomans FE. Transference-Focused Psychotherapy (TFP) Principles in Inpatient Psychiatry. In: Caligor E, Yeomans FE, editors. Fundamentals of Transference-Focused Psychotherapy: Applications in Psychiatric and Medical Settings. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2016. p. 121–56.

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 Current Molecular Biology Reports.

Blog post

1. Andrew E. Probiotic Bacteria May Help Reduce Anxiety And Boost Memory Performance [Internet]. IFLScience. IFLScience; 2015 [cited 2018 Oct 30]. https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/probiotic-bacteria-may-help-reduce-anxiety-and-boost-memory-performance/. 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

1. Government Accountability Office. Medicare: Callers Can Access 1-800-MEDICARE Services, but Responsibility within CMS for Limited English Proficiency Plan Unclear. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 2008 Dec. Report No.: GAO-09-104.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Fails JA. Mobile collaboration for young children: Reading and creating stories [Doctoral dissertation]. [College Park, MD]: University of Maryland, College Park; 2009.

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. Ruiz RR, Schmidt MS. Sessions Steers Clear of Trump’s ‘Joke’ on the Use of Force by the Police. New York Times. 2017 Aug 2;A10.

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	Current Molecular Biology Reports
Abbreviation	Curr. Mol. Biol. Rep.
ISSN (online)	2198-6428
Scope