How to format your references using the Seminars in Pediatric Surgery citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Seminars in Pediatric Surgery. 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

Levitin C. Russian PM supports science. Nature. 2000;405(6785):384.

A journal article with 2 authors

Youle RJ, van der Bliek AM. Mitochondrial fission, fusion, and stress. Science. 2012;337(6098):1062-1065.

A journal article with 3 authors

Mashchenko S, Couchman HMP, Wadsley J. The removal of cusps from galaxy centres by stellar feedback in the early Universe. Nature. 2006;442(7102):539-542.

A journal article with 7 or more authors

Xiang X, Shi Y, Yang J, et al. Rapid recovery of soil bacterial communities after wildfire in a Chinese boreal forest. Sci Rep. 2014;4:3829.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Larose DT. Data Mining Methods and Models. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 2005.

An edited book

Seki T, Sawamoto K, Parent JM, Alvarez-Buylla A, eds. Neurogenesis in the Adult Brain II: Clinical Implications. Springer Japan; 2011.

A chapter in an edited book

Stone L. Educationalization in a USA Present: A Historicist Rendering. In: Smeyers P, Depaepe M, eds. Educational Research: The Educationalization of Social Problems. Springer Netherlands; 2008:61-78.

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 Seminars in Pediatric Surgery.

Blog post

Andrew E. We Can Turn CO2 In The Air Into New Materials – But Don’t Expect That To Stop Climate Change. IFLScience. August 26, 2015. Accessed October 30, 2018. https://www.iflscience.com/environment/we-can-turn-co2-air-new-materials-don-t-expect-stop-climate-change/

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. U.S. Statistics on International Technology Transfer: Need for Additional Measures. U.S. Government Printing Office; 1978.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

Perez RW. Stepping Stone or Stumbling Block? The Impact of Prior Military Service on Hiring Managers’ Perceptions of Warmth, Competence, and Hirability. Doctoral dissertation. Southern Illinois University; 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

(nyt) SK. World Briefing | Europe: Russia: Head Of Exile Church In First Visit. New York Times. May 15, 2004:A10.

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	Seminars in Pediatric Surgery
Abbreviation	Semin. Pediatr. Surg.
ISSN (print)	1055-8586
Scope	Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health Surgery