How to format your references using the Journal of the Medical Library Association citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Journal of the Medical Library Association. 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

Corden JL. Transcription. Seven ups the code. Science. 2007 Dec 14;318(5857):1735–6.

A journal article with 2 authors

Nishimura M, Somerville S. Plant biology. Resisting attack. Science. 2002 Mar 15;295(5562):2032–3.

A journal article with 3 authors

Berkhout J, Teusink B, Bruggeman FJ. Gene network requirements for regulation of metabolic gene expression to a desired state. Sci Rep. 2013;3:1417.

A journal article with 4 or more authors

Allison TJ, Winter CC, Fournié JJ, Bonneville M, Garboczi DN. Structure of a human gammadelta T-cell antigen receptor. Nature. 2001 Jun 14;411(6839):820–4.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Svrcek WY, Mahoney DP, Young BR. A Real-Time Approach to Process Control. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd; 2007.

An edited book

Joshi SN, Dixit US, editors. Lasers Based Manufacturing: 5th International and 26th All India Manufacturing Technology, Design and Research Conference, AIMTDR 2014. New Delhi: Springer India; 2015. XV, 464 p. 275 illus. (Topics in Mining, Metallurgy and Materials Engineering).

A chapter in an edited book

Ermolieva T, Ermoliev Y, Fischer G, Jonas M, Makowski M. Cost Effective and Environmentally Safe Emission Trading Under Uncertainty. In: Marti K, Ermoliev Y, Makowski M, editors. Coping with Uncertainty: Robust Solutions. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2010. p. 79–99. (Lecture Notes in Economics and Mathematical Systems).

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 the Medical Library Association.

Blog post

Andrew E. New process converts algae to crude oil in less than an hour [Internet]. IFLScience. IFLScience; 2013 [cited 2018 Oct 30]. Available from: https://www.iflscience.com/chemistry/new-process-converts-algae-crude-oil-less-hour/

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. Electronic Disability Claims Processing: SSA Needs to Address Risks Associated with Its Accelerated Systems Development Strategy. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 2004 Mar. Report No.: GAO-04-466.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Humphreys BP. The Role of Developmental Screening Practices in Early Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorders: An Analysis of All-Payer Claims Data in New Hampshire [Doctoral dissertation]. [Chapel Hill, NC]: University of North Carolina; 2013.

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

Wagner J. DeGrom Bounces Back in Style, but Cespedes Exits With Soreness. New York Times. 2017 Jun 13;B10.

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 the Medical Library Association
Abbreviation	J. Med. Libr. Assoc.
ISSN (print)	1536-5050
ISSN (online)	1558-9439
Scope	Health Informatics Library and Information Sciences