How to format your references using the Frontiers in Zoology citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Frontiers in Zoology. 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

1. Bohannon J. The Gonzo Scientist. Gourmet food, served by dogs. Science. 2009;323:1006.

A journal article with 2 authors

1. Grumbine RE, Pandit MK. Ecology. Threats from India’s Himalaya dams. Science. 2013;339:36–7.

A journal article with 3 authors

1. Alitalo K, Tammela T, Petrova TV. Lymphangiogenesis in development and human disease. Nature. 2005;438:946–53.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

1. Sharghi-Namini S, Tan E, Ong L-LS, Ge R, Asada HH. Dll4-containing exosomes induce capillary sprout retraction in a 3D microenvironment. Sci Rep. 2014;4:4031.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

1. Tadros TF. Colloids in Agrochemicals. Weinheim, Germany: Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA; 2009.

An edited book

1. Nielsen B, Weise C, editors. Testing Software and Systems: 24th IFIP WG 6.1 International Conference, ICTSS 2012, Aalborg, Denmark, November 19-21, 2012. Proceedings. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2012.

A chapter in an edited book

1. Thomas K, Sicam J. Installing Ubuntu. In: Sicam J, editor. Beginning Ubuntu Linux. Berkeley, CA: Apress; 2008. p. 43–74.

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 Frontiers in Zoology.

Blog post

1. Andrew E. Are Quantum Dot TVs – And Their Toxic Ingredients – Actually Better For The Environment? IFLScience. IFLScience; 2015.

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. Propriety of Additional Reimbursement for Shipment of Household Effects. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1973 Jun. Report No.: B-178505.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

1. Collins JW. An Examination of Chronic Absenteeism as Related to Performance on End-of-Year Missouri State Assessments [Doctoral dissertation]. [ St. Charles, MO]: Lindenwood University; 2015.

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. Yeginsu C, Magra I. Chaotic Scramble as Fire Worries Force the Evacuation of 5 High Rises in London. New York Times. 2017 Jun 23;A8.

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	Frontiers in Zoology
Abbreviation	Front. Zool.
ISSN (online)	1742-9994
Scope	Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics