How to format your references using the Nature Reviews Neuroscience citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 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

Willyard, C. Tiny steps towards an HIV vaccine. Nature 466, S8 (2010).

A journal article with 2 authors

Kim-Muller, J. Y. & Accili, D. Cell biology. Selective insulin sensitizers. Science 331, 1529–1531 (2011).

A journal article with 3 authors

Palm, N. W., Rosenstein, R. K. & Medzhitov, R. Allergic host defences. Nature 484, 465–472 (2012).

A journal article with 6 or more authors

Niu, F., Silver, P. G., Nadeau, R. M. & McEvilly, T. V. Migration of seismic scatterers associated with the 1993 Parkfield aseismic transient event. Nature 426, 544–548 (2003).

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Stauffer, H. B. Contemporary Bayesian and Frequentist Statistical Research Methods for Natural Resource Scientists. (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ, 2007).

An edited book

Handbook of Manufacturing Engineering and Technology. (Springer, London, 2015).

A chapter in an edited book

Kwok-bun, C. & Wai-wan, C. Social Strain and the Adaptive Behavior of Hong Kong Return Migrants. in Living Intersections: Transnational Migrant Identifications in Asia (eds. Plüss, C. & Chan, K.-B.) 73–99 (Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht, 2012).

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 Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

Blog post

Hale, T. The Leonid Meteor Shower Peaks TONIGHT - Here’s How To Watch. IFLScience https://www.iflscience.com/space/speedy-leonid-meteor-shower-will-hit-skies-week/ (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

Government Accountability Office. Commercial Aviation: Legacy Airlines Must Further Reduce Costs to Restore Profitability. (2004).

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Stefania, S. From Italian American Icon to Working Class Hero: Perspectives on Pietro di Donato’s ‘Christ in Concrete’. (California State University, Long Beach, Long Beach, CA, 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

Walsh, M. W. Tighter Rules Are Issued On Municipal Bond Deals. New York Times B1 (2012).

In-text citations

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

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	Nature Reviews Neuroscience
Abbreviation	Nat. Rev. Neurosci.
ISSN (print)	1471-003X
ISSN (online)	1471-0048
Scope	General Neuroscience