How to format your references using the Journal of Complexity citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Journal of Complexity. 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]

J. Qiu, Obituary: Qian Xuesen (1911-2009), Nature 462 (2009) 735.

A journal article with 2 authors

[1]

M. Zaccolo, T. Pozzan, Discrete microdomains with high concentration of cAMP in stimulated rat neonatal cardiac myocytes, Science 295 (2002) 1711–1715.

A journal article with 3 authors

[1]

Y.S. Bonneh, A. Cooperman, D. Sagi, Motion-induced blindness in normal observers, Nature 411 (2001) 798–801.

A journal article with 4 or more authors

[1]

E. Knill, R. Laflamme, R. Martinez, C.H. Tseng, An algorithmic benchmark for quantum information processing, Nature 404 (2000) 368–370.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

[1]

A. Blundell, R. Harrison, B. Turney, The Essential Guide to Becoming a Doctor, Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, UK, 2010.

An edited book

[1]

T. Dohi, T. Nakagawa, eds., Stochastic Reliability and Maintenance Modeling: Essays in Honor of Professor Shunji Osaki on his 70th Birthday, Springer, London, 2013.

A chapter in an edited book

[1]

G. Kaltsas, A.S. Zannas, G.P. Chrousos, Hypothalamic–Pituitary–Adrenal Axis and Cardiovascular Disease, in: P. Hjemdahl, A. Steptoe, A. Rosengren (Eds.), Stress and Cardiovascular Disease, Springer, London, 2012: pp. 71–87.

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 Journal of Complexity.

Blog post

[1]

T. Hale, Puppy Swallows Tube Of Glue Creating A Perfect Mold Of Its Stomach, IFLScience (2016). https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/puppy-swallows-tube-of-glue-creating-a-perfect-mold-of-its-stomach/ (accessed October 30, 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, Airport Noise: FAA’s Enforcement of Noise Rules at National Airport, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1988.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

[1]

C.R. Olson, Population genetic structure of two abyssal grenadiers of the north Atlantic and northeastern Pacific oceans, Doctoral dissertation, California State University, Long Beach, 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

[1]

B. Sisario, H. Spencer, S. Ember, Magazine Loses Suit Charging Defamation, New York Times (2016) B1.

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	Journal of Complexity
Abbreviation	J. Complex.
ISSN (print)	0885-064X
Scope	Algebra and Number Theory Applied Mathematics Control and Optimization Numerical Analysis Statistics and Probability