How to format your references using the Social Sciences citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Social Sciences. 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

DeFelice, L.J. Going against the Flow. Nature 2004, 432, 279.

A journal article with 2 authors

Oreskes, N.; Conway, E.M. Defeating the Merchants of Doubt. Nature 2010, 465, 686–687.

A journal article with 3 authors

Bailor, M.H.; Sun, X.; Al-Hashimi, H.M. Topology Links RNA Secondary Structure with Global Conformation, Dynamics, and Adaptation. Science 2010, 327, 202–206.

A journal article with 4 or more authors

Kim, K.H.; Späh, A.; Pathak, H.; Perakis, F.; Mariedahl, D.; Amann-Winkel, K.; Sellberg, J.A.; Lee, J.H.; Kim, S.; Park, J.; et al. Response to Comment on “Maxima in the Thermodynamic Response and Correlation Functions of Deeply Supercooled Water.” Science 2018, 360.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

Ryan, F. Cognitive Therapy for Addiction; Blackwell Publishing Ltd.: Oxford, UK, 2013; ISBN 9781118316474.

An edited book

Chee, F. Closed-Loop Control of Blood Glucose; Fernando, T., Ed.; Lecture Notes in Control and Information Sciences; Springer: Berlin, Heidelberg, 2007; Vol. 368; ISBN 9783540740308.

A chapter in an edited book

Adinarayanan, V.; Rekha, V.S.; Sooryanarayan, D.G. A Multidimensional View of Leadership from an Indian Perspective. In Ethical Leadership: Indian and European Spiritual Approaches; Chatterji, M., Zsolnai, L., Eds.; Palgrave Macmillan UK: London, 2016; pp. 71–84 ISBN 9781137601933.

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 Social Sciences.

Blog post

O`Callaghan, J. New Horizons At Pluto: What Happens Next? Available online: https://www.iflscience.com/space/new-horizons-pluto-what-happens-next/ (accessed on 30 October 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

Government Accountability Office Issues Related to an Independent FAA; 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

Karlen, D.J. The Biocomplexity of Benthic Communities Associated with a Shallow-Water Hydrothermal System in Papua New Guinea. Doctoral dissertation, University of South Florida: Tampa, FL, 2010.

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

Pols, M. Apples of Contention. New York Times 2016, BR11.

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	Social Sciences
Abbreviation	Soc. Sci. (Basel)
ISSN (online)	2076-0760
Scope