Skip to Main Content

MCB 133L: Physiology and Cell Biology Laboratory: Citation styles

Helpful links for the MCB 133L bibliography library exercise.

Citing Articles

Basic elements of journal article citations:

  1. Author name(s)
  2. Publication year
  3. Article title
  4. Journal title
  5. Volume number
  6. Issue number (omitted for many citation styles in the sciences)
  7. Page numbers (for articles published both in print and online) or article number (for online-only articles)
  8. For articles published online: URL or DOI (omitted for some citation styles)

Try this example:

Lishko, P., and Y. Kirichok. 2015. Ion channels: signaling the differences between cilia. eLife. 4:e12760. doi: 10.7554/eLife.12760.

Click on the "Find an article using a DOI" link above, copy and paste the DOI into the "Resolve a DOI" box, and click "Go." (Don't include "doi:" or the period at the end of the citation.) Were you able to access this article?

Citation Styles

There are hundreds of different citation styles. Here is the same citation formatted in five different scientific citation styles. Note the differences in the order, format and punctuation of the elements of the citation; also note that styles vary in whether they include the issue number or the DOI, and whether or not they abbreviate the journal name:

The journal Nature:
Brar, G. A. & Weissman, J. S. Ribosome profiling reveals the what, when, where and how of protein synthesis. Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 16, 651-664 (2015).
Guide to Nature citation style: https://www.nature.com/nature/for-authors/formatting-guide

The journal Science:
G. A. Brar, J. S. Weissman, Ribosome profiling reveals the what, when, where and how of protein synthesis. Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 16, 651-664 (2015).
Guide to Science citation style: https://www.sciencemag.org/authors/instructions-preparing-initial-manuscript

Council of Science Editors, 8th edition:
Brar GA, Weissman JS. 2015. Ribosome profiling reveals the what, when, where and how of protein synthesis. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 16(11):651-64.
Guide to the Council of Science Editors citation style: https://www.scientificstyleandformat.org/Tools/SSF-Citation-Quick-Guide.html

The journal BioScience:
Brar GA, Weissman JS. 2015. Ribosome profiling reveals the what, when, where and how of protein synthesis. Nature Reviews. Molecular Cell Biology 16: 651-664.
Guide to BioScience citation style: https://static.primary.prod.gcms.the-infra.com/static/site/bioscience/document/2015-bioscience-style-guide.doc

The Journal of Cell Biology:
Brar, G.A., and J.S. Weissman. 2015. Ribosome profiling reveals the what, when, where and how of protein synthesis. Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 16:651-664. doi: 10.1038/nrm4069.
Guide to Journal of Cell Biology citation style: https://rupress.org/jcb/pages/reference-guidelines

The journal Cell:
Brar, G.A., and Weissman, J.S. (2015). Ribosome profiling reveals the what, when, where and how of protein synthesis. Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 16, 651–664.
Guide to Cell citation style: https://www.cell.com/cell/authors#format