How to format your references using the Research in Microbiology citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Research in Microbiology. 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]

Anderson P. Consequences. Perhaps the biotech sector should have employed more philosophers. Nature 2000;405:281.

A journal article with 2 authors

[1]

Byers J, Dunn S. Bateman in nature: predation on offspring reduces the potential for sexual selection. Science 2012;338:802–4.

A journal article with 3 authors

[1]

Schoemaker HE, Mink D, Wubbolts MG. Dispelling the myths--biocatalysis in industrial synthesis. Science 2003;299:1694–7.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

[1]

Vendruscolo M, Paci E, Dobson CM, Karplus M. Three key residues form a critical contact network in a protein folding transition state. Nature 2001;409:641–5.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

[1]

Kappe CO, Stadler A, Dallinger D. Microwaves in Organic and Medicinal Chemistry. Weinheim, Germany: Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA; 2012.

An edited book

[1]

Stocchi V, Feo PD, Hood DA, editors. Role of Physical Exercise in Preventing Disease and Improving the Quality of Life. Milano: Springer; 2007.

A chapter in an edited book

[1]

Koehl M, Le Moal M, Abrous DN. Stress Disorders. In: Seki T, Sawamoto K, Parent JM, Alvarez-Buylla A, editors. Neurogenesis in the Adult Brain II: Clinical Implications, Tokyo: Springer Japan; 2011, p. 53–97.

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 Research in Microbiology.

Blog post

[1]

Andrew E. Adorable Baby Pygmy Hippo Born At Melbourne Zoo. 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. Public Education: Commercial Activities in Schools. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 2000.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

[1]

Marlatt ES. Effects of accelerated instruction on achievement gains of underprepared Catholic high school freshmen. Doctoral dissertation. University of Phoenix, 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

[1]

Marx L. Amanda Pekoe and Christopher Lueck. New York Times 2011:ST13.

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	Research in Microbiology
Abbreviation	Res. Microbiol.
ISSN (print)	0923-2508
Scope	Molecular Biology Microbiology General Medicine