citation biology research paper

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University libraries, research guides, a guide to biology research.

• Journal articles
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• Cite sources properly

Why do I need to cite my sources?

When should i cite a source, how do i cite a source, quick tools for auto-formatting your citations:, understand the generic format of a citation:.

Imagine research as a conversation -- scholars are trading ideas back and forth and building on the findings of earlier work. Citing your sources is an important part of contributing to this conversation -- it allows readers to understand how your work fits into the overall conversation.

Citing your sources in a standard style also helps readers tell at a glance what type of source you used (book vs. journal article, etc), and it helps readers find and reference the sources you used.

What is Plagiarism?

The  DU Honor Code  defines plagiarism as "including any representation of another's work or ideas as one's own in academic and educational submissions."

At DU, plagiarism is seen as a form of academic misconduct and can result in severe consequences. These explanations of the most common  types of plagiarism  from Bowdoin College can help you learn to detect plagiarism in your own and other's work.

The text above is a direct quote from the Northern Arizona University e-Learning Center's  Academic Integrity @ NAU tutorial. The e-Learning Center was paraphrasing Princeton University's guidelines.

What is Plagiarism Detection Software?

DU uses a plagiarism detection software called VeriCite . When a student turns in a paper through Canvas, VeriCite checks the internet and many databases to see if anything has been copied from another person’s work.

Common Citation Styles:

• The ACS Style Guide (American Chemical Society) This link takes you directly to Chapter 14, which explains how to format references in ACS Style. Click on the link for the Table of Contents to read the entire Style Guide, which describes how to write, review, submit, and edit scholarly & scientific manuscripts.
• CSE (Council of Science Editors) Style An overview by the Writing Center at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. The library has multiple print copies of the 8th edition of the CSE manual: "Scientific Style and Format: The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers" (2014).

Online Style Guides:

• Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab)
• Citing Information (UNC Libraries)
• The Writer's Handbook (UW Madison Writing Center)

Want to use a program that not only creates your bibliography automatically, but can also store and organize citations and PDFs?

• Check out ReadCube Papers -- DU provides all students, faculty, and staff with free accounts.
• Check out Zotero -- a great free option from the makers of the Firefox browser.

Just need to format a few citations right now? Try these quick tools:

• ZoteroBib Create a quick bibliography by pasting in a page URL or article information such as the DOI.
• Google Scholar Citation Generator Look up an citation in Google Scholar, then look for the quote icon below the citation. This link provides examples of the citation in MLA, APA, and Chicago styles.
• CItation Generator Build citations in APA, Chicago, or MLA style.

Whichever program you choose, remember to proofread the citations it generates for you!

If you understand the general anatomy of a citation, it's easier to create your own citations -- plus, you can tell at a glance what kind of source was cited. Here's the anatomy of two sources formatted in the CSE (Council of Science Editors) style:

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Biology Guide: APA Citation 7th Edition

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APA Citation 7th Edition

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Keep our quick guide handy to answer your basic formatting questions and provide examples of commonly cited references. Also included are select pages from a sample paper.

This sample paper will show you how to format your paper in APA style, including the placement of the running head, margin size, font, and font size. The paper will also provide examples of in-text and reference list citations.

This Word document is set up with a running head, page numbers, and hanging indents on the reference page. You may use this to help you structure your paper according to APA formatting guidelines.

Good example of many different APA citations, courtesy of Chabot College.

Courtesy of High Point University - a good summary.

In-text Citations

When you reference another source use an  in-text citation  in the body of your paper. 

How to incorporate in-text citations in your APA-style paper. Below are examples of how to cite different types of sources using in-text citations:

Summarizing or Paraphrasing:

According to Shavers (2007), the challenges in studying socioeconomic status and health disparities include data collection difficulties and classification issues with women, children, and employment status.

(Shavers, 2007)

Direct Quotes:

Brown (2019) stated, "Direct quote" (p. 1021).

According to Brown (2019), "Direct quote" (p. 1021).

Block Quote (More than 40 Words):

Shavers (2007) study found the following:

While research studies have established that socioeconomic status influences disease incidence, severity and access to healthcare, there has been relatively less study of the specific manner in which low SES influences receipt of quality care and consequent morbidity and mortality among patients with similar disease characteristics, particularly among those who have gained access to the healthcare system. (p. 1021)

Number of Authors:

1 Author: (Abrams, 2018)

2 Authors: (Wegener & Petty, 1994)

3 or More Authors: (Harris et al., 2018)

Group Authors:

First citation: (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2019)

Subsequent citations: (CDC, 2019)

Remember to use these examples as a guide for your in-text citations, ensuring they match the specific details of the sources you're citing in your paper.

Top of Form

Journal Article- APA 7th Edition - Reference

Journal article .

• Author(s).  Note: List each author's last name and initial as Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. Use an ampersand (&) before the final author's name.  Read more from the APA Style website if there are 21 or more authors.
• Title of the article.  Note: For works that are part of a greater whole (e.g. articles, chapter), use sentence case. Only the first word of the title and subtitle and proper nouns are capitalized.
• Title of the Journal ,  Note: Italicize and capitalize each word in the journal.
• Volume  Note: Italicize the journal volume. If there is no issue, include a comma before the page range.
• (Issue),  Note: If there is an issue number in addition to a volume number, include it in parentheses.
• Page range.
• DOI (Digital Object Identifier)  

Ashing‐Giwa, K. T., Padilla, G., Tejero, J., Kraemer, J., Wright, K., Coscarelli, A., Clayton, S., Williams, I., & Hills, D. (2004). Understanding the breast cancer experience of women: A qualitative study of African American, Asian American, Latina, and Caucasian cancer survivors. Psycho‐Oncology, 13(6), 408-428. https://doi.org/10.1002/pon.750

Hanging Indent

Create a hanging indent.

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A Hanging indent, also known as a second line indent, sets off the first line of a paragraph by positioning it at the margin, and then indenting each subsequent line of the paragraph.

Windows Mac Web

Select the text where you want to add a hanging indent.

Under  Special , select  Hanging .

You can adjust the depth of the indent using the  By  field.

Select  OK .

To add a drop cap to your paragraph, see  Insert a drop cap .

To indent the first line of a paragraph, see  Indent the first line of a paragraph .

Hanging Indent Video

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The Principles of Biomedical Scientific Writing: Citation

Zahra bahadoran.

1 Nutrition and Endocrine Research Center, Research Institute for Endocrine Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Parvin Mirmiran

2 Department of Clinical Nutrition and Human Dietetics, Faculty of Nutrition Sciences and Food Technology, National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Khosrow Kashfi

3 Department of Molecular, Cellular and Biomedical Sciences, Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education, City University of New York School of Medicine, New York, United States

Asghar Ghasemi

4 Endocrine Physiology Research Center, Research Institute for Endocrine Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Citation, the act of properly referring to others’ ideas, thoughts, or concepts, is a common and critical practice in scientific writing. Citations are used to give credit to own work, to support an argument, to acknowledge others’ work, to distinguish other authors’ ideas from one’s work, and to direct readers to sources of information. A good citation adds to the scientific prestige of the paper and makes it more valuable to the reader. The citation has three basic elements: quoting from others, an in-text reference to the source, and bibliographic details of the source. Beyond technical skills, the citation needs an in-depth knowledge of the field and should follow basic rules, including the selection of relevant and valid sources, stating information/facts from others’ work, and referring to others’ work accurately and ethically. Several systems and styles are used to cite scientific sources; however, the most commonly used systems in medical sciences are ‘author-date’ systems (e.g., Harvard system) and numerical systems (e.g., Vancouver system). Here, we discuss how to make an accurate, complete, and ethical citation, and provide simple and practical guides to organize references in a scientific medical paper.

According to Merriam Webster dictionary, the word citation is defined as “an act of quoting,” where quote means “to speak or write from another usually with credit acknowledgment.” In scientific communication, the citation is commonly considered a technical practice to refer to the source in the text to represent that the information is derived from an external source ( 1 , 2 ). The citation is more than just referencing; it provides more value than acknowledging the source of literature being reviewed and making a reference list ( 2 ). Citation helps the authors put their work in connection with previous ones, to tell the story artfully, to acknowledge others’ work, and to contextualize study findings ( 2 - 4 ). A well-referenced paper supports the novelty and value of the work and improves its visibility ( 5 ).

Regardless of its importance, the citation may be the least noticed aspect of a scientific manuscript ( 6 ). Citation errors, including misquotation and errors in the bibliography, are common in the medical literature. The prevalence of misquotations in different journals ranges from 10% to 20% ( 7 ), and about 50% to 70% of references of published papers contain at least one error ( 8 , 9 ). Inaccurate quotations are displeasing for the cited author, misleading for the reader, and initiate circulation of false facts ( 7 , 10 ). The consequences of bibliography errors include difficulty in reference retrieval, limitation for the reader to read more widely, failure to credit the cited author(s), and inaccuracies in citation indexes.

Following our previous guides on how to write Introduction ( 11 ), Material and Methods ( 12 ), Results ( 13 ), Discussion ( 14 ), Title ( 15 ), and Abstract and keyword ( 16 ) of a hypothesis-testing paper, here, we provide a practical guide on importance and function of the citation of a scientific medical paper. We discuss how to select sources for the citation, quote information from others’ work, refer to the sources, and make an accurate reference list for a scientific biomedical paper.

2. Functions of Citation

The citation is used to give credit to an author’s work, acknowledge other’s work, distinguish an author’s ideas from others, direct readers to original sources of information, and avoid plagiarism ( 2 - 4 , 17 ). Citation help readers to understand the work, to justify the conclusions, to judge the novelty and scope of the manuscripts ( 18 ), and critically evaluate what contribution the study makes ( 4 , 19 ). Using proper citation is the only way to use the work of others and not commit plagiarism ( 20 ). To avoid plagiarism, authors need to accurately refer to the most relevant publications and cite facts and conclusions ( 1 , 20 ). Functions of the citation in different sections of an original paper are shown in Box 1; note that the result section does not have any citation.

3. Components of the Citation

The citation has three components: (1) quotation, i.e., providing either a summary, a paraphrase or a direct quotation from others’ works, (2) in-text references, i.e., brief addressing to the source, and (3) bibliographic details, i.e., name of the authors, source of publication, date of publication.

3.1. Quotation

Quotations from other sources can be provided by direct quoting, paraphrasing, or providing a summary ( 3 ). In direct quoting, others statements (more than six consecutive words) are exactly copied, put in the quotation marks, and immediately followed by an in-text citation to the original source; every word and punctuation mark should be exactly the same as the original version ( 17 , 20 , 22 ). Direct quoting is used when original words express an idea distinctively or more concisely than your summary, as well as to present well-known statements or to provide historical context for a particular theory or construct ( 8 , 23 ). Direct quoting is not used for reporting findings of a published work, variable names, and operational definitions. Box 2 provides some practical tips for the appropriate use of direct quotations.

In paraphrasing, authors express others’ writing in their own words ( 23 ), followed by a reference to the original source. In cases of paraphrasing another’s work or idea, authors should check their statement to be accurate and fair ( 17 , 20 ). Use of synonyms and rephrasing are typical ways to change the original statements ( 9 ); however, if the paraphrase is too close to the source text in wording, syntax, and structure, it may be considered ‘patch-writing’, which is “the act of making small changes and substitutions to the copied source material” ( 24 ). Note that paraphrasing and summarizing are complex and critical academic skills and depend on one’s knowledge of the content ( 25 ).

In providing a summary, a brief statement of the main points of a work (paper, book or chapter) is presented ( 23 ) using a neutral, affiliating, or distancing approach; in affiliating and distancing approaches, not only existing knowledge is summarized but also authors present their stance/viewpoint ( 2 ). The authors need to present their approaches accurately and persuasively by using appropriate verbs ( 2 ). For a neutral summary, use of verbs ‘comment’, ‘explain’, ‘indicate’, ‘note’, ‘describe’, ‘observe’, remark’, ‘state’, and ‘find’ is recommended ( 2 ). These referring verbs can be used either in the present or the past tense; using the present tense indicates that the source is recent and still valid, whereas the past indicates that the source is older and may be out of date ( 3 ). To find further appropriate verbs and vocabularies to cite the literature being reviewed, readers can refer to other works ( 2 , 26 ).

3.2. In-Text References

In-text references (brief address to the source in text) are presented by three major systems: ‘citation-sequence’, ‘citation-name’, and ‘name-year’. In the ‘citation-sequence’ system, numbers are used to refer to the reference list ( 27 , 28 ), which is numbered sequentially according to the appearance in the text. In the ‘citation-name’ system, the numbering system is used to refer to the reference list, which is numbered in alphabetical order by authors’ names; it means numbers are used in the text regardless of the order in which they appear ( 28 ). The ‘name-year’ system consists of the surname of the author and the year of publication, and the reference list is alphabetically ordered first by author and then by year ( 28 ). If ‘name-year’ system is used, in case of referring to two references with the same first author, chronological hierarchy order is followed (e.g., Annesley, 2010; Annesley, 2011), and in case of the same first author and same publication year, the references need to be differentiated by alphabetical letters after the year of publication (e.g., Annesley, 2010a; Annesley, 2010b) ( 19 ). If the name of author/editor cannot be identified, use the title of the work and the year of publication instead; if the date is not identified, use the phrase ‘no date’ after author’s name and where both author and date are unknown, use the title followed by ‘no date’ ( 23 ).

Citation management software programs (e.g., EndNote, Reference Manager, RefWorks, ProCite, and Refbase) easily connect in-text references to the reference list. These programs can format in-text references and bibliographic details in a different style (discussed in section 4) and can change them from one style to another.

The general rule to refer to a reference in the text is to place the reference immediately after the idea or fact introduced. In other words, an in-text referring might appear in the middle of a sentence and not always at the end ( 6 , 19 ). Unless a sentence ends with a fact (in which case the citation follows), the authors should not pool all the references at the end of a sentence ( 29 ). In case of citing multiple facts in a sentence, it should be clarified which reference is corresponding to which fact ( 19 ). Wherever more than one reference is used to support a fact, the authors should refer to the references in chronological order (the oldest reference is listed as the first in-text reference) ( 19 ). For direct quoting or citing a specific idea or piece of information, the page number of the quote should be included in the in-text reference ( 23 , 30 ). For an in-text citation that refers to secondary sources (second-hand references), name the original source and then use the term ‘cited by’ followed by the reference for the work in which it is quoted (e.g., Schweer, cited by Harrison, 1992, p. 774) ( 31 ).

3.3. Bibliographic Details (Reference List)

Every in-text reference should have a corresponding entry in the reference list ( 28 ); the exceptions are ‘personal communications’ ( 28 ), and ‘unpublished data’ ( 6 ) that are referenced within the text, but do not appear in the reference list. According to the British Standards Institution, a reference is “a set of data describing a document, sufficiently precise and detailed to identify it and enable it to be located” ( 32 ). The essential elements and order of the most common forms of references, including journal articles, books, reports, and websites, are given in supplementary Box 1.

The bibliographic details provided in the reference list should be accurate and complete to ensure that readers will be able to locate the material as easily as possible ( 32 ). The accuracy of the reference list increases the credibility of the author, the journal, and the research itself ( 33 ). To increase the accuracy of the bibliographic details, ICMJE (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors) recommends that “References should be verified using either an electronic bibliographic source, such as PubMed, or print copies from original sources” ( 34 ). Errors in the reference list usually arise by copying bibliographic details from previous papers; thus, authors should not copy from reference lists or databases, and the only reliable source is the original paper published in the journal ( 8 ). In case of using second-hand information, bibliographic detail of a source, where the information is found, should be included in the reference list.

4. Referencing Systems and Styles

Broadly, three types of referencing systems are employed in the academic world ( 3 ). These are, (i) consecutive-numbering system (well-known as Vancouver), (ii) author name-publication year system (well-known as Harvard) ( 19 ); (iii) footnote/endnote system, where sources are listed at the bottom of the page or at the end of the paper and the numbers in superscript run consecutively throughout the paper ( 3 ). The first two systems are commonly used in medicine, whereas the third system is most often used in the humanities. Other less common reference styles that have been established and used within different fields of science and disciplines include Modern Language Association (MLA) ( 35 ), the American Psychological Association (APA) ( 36 ), the Chicago Manual of Style (CMS), and the American Medical Association (AMA) Style ( 29 ).

The first format for bibliographic references in medical science was adopted officially by the Vancouver Group and the National Library of Medicine (NLM), in 1979 ( 37 ). The Vancouver Group was a small group of editors of medical journals who met informally in 1978 in Vancouver, British Columbia, to establish guidelines for the format of manuscripts submitted to their journals ( 37 ); the group expanded into the ICMJE and developed ‘the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals,’ which is updated regularly ( 38 ) ( http://www.icmje.org ). The reference style is famed as the Vancouver style because of its origin, and it has become a broadly accepted bibliographic format ( 8 ). According to the Vancouver style (the author-number system), references are numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text; references in text, tables, and legends should be identified by Arabic numerals in parentheses ( 38 ). The Vancouver style is used by PubMed and MEDLINE.

The Harvard system, so-called as the ‘parenthetical author-date method’, is another popular referencing system ( 31 ). The origin of the system is obscure; however, the first evidence of the system goes back to 1881, when Edward Laurens Mark, professor of anatomy and director of Harvard’s zoological laboratory, published a landmark cytological paper and used parenthetic author-year citation ( 39 ). As Chernin narrated ( 39 ), from an editorial note in the British Medical Journal in 1945, the expression ‘Harvard system’ was not introduced by the Harvard University, but an English visitor to the library of Harvard University was impressed by the system of bibliographical reference and named it as the ‘Harvard system’ upon their return to England. The Royal Society defined the Harvard referencing system in 1965 as “a system in which names and dates are given in the body of the text and the references alphabetically at the end of the paper” ( 31 ).

Although most biomedical journals have adopted the Vancouver style, some still prefer the Harvard system, because they like to know just what author(s) is/are being cited as they read the text ( 40 ). However, the Harvard system is criticized due to potential difficulties that it may create for the readers. For example, if they are interested in an item in the reference list, they need to look it up within the main text. This system may also disrupt the text when a large number of references need to be cited within a paragraph ( 40 ).

Although medical journals specify Vancouver or Harvard systems, some journals have made minor modifications ( 41 ). For example, they have modified the referencing systems, both in-text references, and bibliographies, they have changed punctuation marks, used bold, and italics enhancements, alphabetical or sequential ordering of references, or have made combinations of variations that create a unique reference style that is as large in number as the number of journals currently published ( 41 , 42 ). Authors should carefully follow the format used by the target journal that is usually given in the Information/Instructions for Authors.

5. Other Considerations

5.1. dealing with scientific sources.

The most important challenge of the citation process in a scientific work is ‘which sources must be selected for citation’ and ‘How do the authors deal with the literature being reviewed to cite others accurately and ethically?’ Existence of a large number of publications on the topic makes selection difficult; however, authors should artfully select them to cover all citation purposes and add to the manuscript scientific prestige ( 43 ). Among available sources, the most relevant, valid, methodologically sound, and those with a landmark contribution to the topic should be selected ( 9 , 17 ). If there are a significant number of prior studies on the topic, the most comprehensive and the most recent works should be selected because they presumably discuss and reference the older studies ( 44 ).

The most valid and available sources for citing are published peer-reviewed original journal articles; primary sources (research articles written by those who conducted the research) are preferred ( 21 ). Secondary sources (review papers) can be used when primary sources are unavailable, or a summary for elaborating research problem is more effective; however, they should not be taken as definitive word or fact on the topic ( 9 ). Citation of review articles rather than the original papers should be limited ( 45 , 46 ) since it fails to provide credit or acknowledge the effort of the authors of original research papers. In addition, it may lead to misinterpretation or oversimplification of original research findings ( 45 ). The use of high-quality systematic review is acceptable; otherwise, it should be acknowledged in the text as a review paper to prevent misleading the casual reader about the originality of the work ( 9 ).

Less valid sources (i.e., theses, conference proceeding papers, unpublished data, abstracts, and personal communications) are not recommended ( 19 ) unless they contain essential information not available from public sources ( 47 ). These less valid references can only be used for supporting the results of preliminary studies or citing parallel results in another study population ( 17 ). In case of referring to ‘unpublished sources’ or ‘personal communications,’ the written permission of the author is required to ensure the accuracy of the data and prior approval from the authors ( 6 , 17 ).

Sources that may not be found in public domain, e.g., submitted but unaccepted journal articles, meeting abstracts, and posters should not be used ( 6 , 17 ). Standard textbooks are not cited except for describing a theoretical or methodologic principle or a statistical procedure. As stated by ICMJE, authors are responsible for checking that the references cited not be retracted articles ( 34 ).

5.2. Statement Needs to be Supported by a Reference

As a general rule, findings/statements of other’s work need to be supported by references ( 9 ). Statements like ‘the literature suggest that…’ or ‘there is general agreement that…’ should be followed by addressing one or more references ( 9 ); it is, however, not appropriate and usually essential to support a statement with more than 3 or 4 references ( 9 ). In contrast, common knowledge in a field, defined as facts, dates, events, or information that are expected to be known by someone studying or working in a particular field (e.g., long-established facts or theories), or facts that can be found publicly (e.g., date of the second world war) and are likely to be known by many people (e.g., capital cities of the countries) do not generally have to be referenced ( 23 ).

5.3. Accuracy and Ethics of the Citation

Accurate citation is a crucial issue, enabling readers to follow the flow of ideas and statements in a scientific field and ensure the integrity of the science being communicated ( 19 , 48 ). Citing the sources without retrieving and reading their full-texts and understanding their entirety ( 19 ), giving multiple similar references to support a single statement, or using a single source to support multiple statements are among examples of inaccurate citations ( 48 ). Since an abstract is a brief summary of the work, its content may not accurately present details reported in the text, and therefore, it is a poor practice to cite references after skimming results of the abstract rather considering the whole text ( 9 ).

To avoid inaccurate quoting, the authors should review the entire original article to check the facts. They should be careful in case of paraphrasing or summarizing in order to make sure that the intent or meaning of the original author is not altered ( 49 ). To reduce the risk of misinterpretation of information, the use of secondary sources should be avoided ( 49 ). According to NLM, “The medical literature is full of references that have been cited from other references, serving only to perpetuate erroneous information”, thus, they emphasizes that the authors should never reference documents that they have not read ( 27 ).

Spurious citation, biased citation, and over self-citation are also common problems of citation (Box 3). Self-citation, defined as citing one’s own work in a scientific paper, is a common practice and is an essential part of scientific communication, which represents the continuous and cumulative nature of the research process ( 50 ). When a researcher works on a specific topic for years, 25% self-citation is not uncommon ( 46 ). However, either irrelevant self-citation or over self-citation are considered unethical practices, which affect the precision of the paper ( 50 , 51 ). The spurious citation occurs where sources are not needed but are included anyway, e.g., over-citation or redundant citation (i.e., where the extra sources do not add any value beyond the first source), or citing an obscure, historical reference to give an impression of erudition ( 4 ).

6. Common Errors and Problems of Citation

Citation errors reflect badly on the authors and the publishing journal and may reflect underlying flaws in other areas of the published research ( 33 ). Citation content errors (e.g., inaccurate quoting from others) and both major and minor errors in referencing (both in-text references and bibliographic details) can occur during the citation process ( 4 , 7 , 33 ). Inaccurate quotations or misquotations are perpetual citation errors that lead to circulate a false ‘accepted fact’, which are very hard to correct ( 10 ). A list of common citation errors is provided in Box 3.

Major errors in references, which are responsible for up to 21% of citation errors in the medical field ( 53 ), prevent the source being retrievable ( 4 ). With minor errors (i.e., punctuation and spelling mistakes in bibliography, i.e., name of authors, title, journal, volume, year, and page numbers), references can still be found ( 4 , 9 ). Potential pitfalls of citation-management software programs may also cause some citation errors ( 54 ). Several duplicate copies of a reference in the software may be inserted due to importing the same reference on a number of different occasions (maybe with different patterns); this may lead to the appearance of duplication in the reference list ( 6 , 48 ). In the case of anonymous papers (prepared by a committee or a group of authors), some mistakes may occur ( 54 ). Another common mistake relates to the journal-title; the journal-title may be imported in the abbreviated form, while both full title and conventional abbreviation need to be entered into the journal section of the reference manager ( 54 ). To sum up, the author is responsible for final checking the accuracy of the bibliographic details ( 19 ) and should correct reference manager databases before the reference is exported to the final bibliography.

7. Conclusion

Making good and accurate citations adds to the manuscript’s scientific prestige and signifies that authors have an in-depth knowledge of the literature and writing skills. An original research paper usually has 25 - 40 references and the authors should be note that citing too few or too many references may reflect poor intellectual attitude and work validity. The most important, most elegant and the most recent sources should be selected for citation.

Authors' Contribution: Study concept and design: Zahra Bahadoran and Asghar Ghasemi; drafting of the manuscript: Zahra Bahadoran, Parvin Mirmiran, and Asghar Ghasemi; critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: Khosrow Kashfi and Parvin Mirmiran.

Conflict of Interests: The authors have no conflict of interest.

Funding/Support: This study was supported by the Research Institute for Endocrine Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences.

Biology Research: Citing Biology Sources

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• Citing Biology Sources

Citation Formats in Biology

The primary citation formats used in Biology are: APA Style and CSE Style .  Print copies of both style guides are available in Ryan Library Reference (see call numbers below).

Help with APA format

• APA Citation Cheat Sheet This page of examples reflects the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th ed. (2010).

The main citation format used in Psychology is APA Style.

Use the links below to learn more:

• APA Sample Paper From the Purdue OWL site
• Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) Excellent resource for a variety of writing questions and issues. Be sure to visit the "APA Formatting and Style Guide" page.

Help with CSE Format

• Scientific Style and Citation Format Quick Guide From the publisher

The main citation format used in Biology is CSE Style, from the Council of Science Editors.  Use the links below to learn more:

• Council of Science Editors Documentation Style From the Writing Center at the University of Wisconsin- Madison
• Journal Abbreviation Resources on the Web CSE format requires the use of correct journal abbreviations; this U. of Illinois site gives a variety of sources for this information.
• UNC's "Citing Information" page Includes separate links with sample references for both "Name-Year" and "Citation Sequence" styles in CSE

EndNote Web

Endnote Web is a web-bas ed tool for managing and citing references in papers and creating bibliographies.  

EndNote allows users to:

• Search online resources
• Collect and organize references
• Format citations and footnotes or a bibliography
• Use n umerous citation styles including APA, MLA, Chicago (Turabian) 

EndNote is available to current members of the PLNU community via your network login.

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Biology Resource Guide: APA-7 Citation Style

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• Excelsior OWL Valuable information and resources to help you create your citations.

Video Tutorials

• APA 7 Video Tutorials Check out these step-by-step videos to help you set up your paper, create your reference list, and in-text citations.
• APA Tutorials and Webinars Check out these videos and webinars from the APA website to help you create your APA 7 citations.

Paper Set-up

• APA Title Page Resource Guide This source will give you all the information you need to create the Title Page for your APA style paper.
• Paper Set-up Checklist Use this checklist to make sure you have everything you need to set up your APA paper.
• Paper Set-up Checklist Printout A printout version of the APA paper checklist.
• Citing Websites in APA 7 Use this handout to help you create citations for websites.
• APA Style Formatting and Citing from D2L Use this document to see a title page example, create the proper headings in your paper, and cite sources from your class D2L page.
• APA "And the Band Played On" Scene Log

The APA Citation Style

This resource guide will focus on the 7th edition of the APA publication style developed by the American Psychological Association, which is used by the Social Sciences and other curricular areas.

Take a look at the links on the left for examples of APA 7 in-text citations, reference pages, and some useful sites and tutorials. 

Resources from APA

• APA Inclusive Language Guide View and download the updated APA guidelines for inclusive language
• APA Citation Guide Use this resource to break down the parts of a reference page citation for three commonly cited formats: journal article, book, and chapter in an edited book.
• Sample Paper This example paper will give you a visual of what your finished paper will look like, from title page to references. It also includes notes to identify key parts of your paper.
• Student Paper Sample Download this word document to see what a finished APA style paper looks like.

Setting up an APA Paper

Before you begin writing your research paper, it is important to have it correctly formatted following APA guidelines. This includes setting up a title page, correcting line spacing, text font, and margins in a paper.

To set up your paper for APA formatting you will complete the following: 

• Make sure the margins in your paper are set to 1 inch
• Use one of the approved APA fonts: 11-point Calibri, 11-point Arial, 10-point Lucida Sans Unicode, 12-point Times New Roman, or 11-point Georgia. 
• Set the spacing in your paper to Double. 
• Create a title page. 

To create a title page for your paper, or to see a visual of any of the above formatting guidelines, check out the library's APA 7 video tutorials.  

The   Document Formatting guides   prepared by HCC Learning Support Center staff are a great tool to help you step-by-step through the process of setting up your document.  We recommend you use these guidelines to set up your paper before you begin writing. 

Document Formatting

• Formatting in Google Docs
• Formatting in MS Word Browser
• Formatting in MS Word on MAC
• Formatting in MS Word on PC

Citations are tricky, and there are lots of questions you may have when creating your citations. This guide covers the basics of APA, but for more detailed questions about specific citations, make sure to check out the resources along the left. The Excelsior OWL citation guide is especially helpful for creating citations for different sources. 

The APA References list

Once you have completed your research and have gathered the information you would like to use to write your paper, your next step should be to create the list of the resources you will use in your paper. This list is called a Reference List  and includes any source (publication, video, lecture, etc.) that you are using information from in your paper. It is very important that you cite sources in your paper because you want to show where you are getting your information from and avoid Plagiarism! 

General formatting tips when creating your references page: 

• The references page will begin on a separate page at the end of your research paper. 
• Each citation will be in alphabetical order based on the authors' last names. If there are not authors, you will alphabetize by the source's title. 
• Double-space all entries. 
• Include a hanging-indent with each citation. To learn how to create a hanging indent, watch the second part of the library's APA Citation Video Tutorials. 
• Include the word References at the top of the page, centered on the page and in bold text. 

For help with creating citations, or how to set up your references page, watch the library's APA Citations Video Tutorials! 

Examples of Common Citations

Use the examples shown below to help you format correct citations for the most popular sources. 

Scholarly article from a database:

Elements : Author's last name, Author's first and middle initials. (Date). Title of article.  Title of Journal, Volume number (issue number, if any), Page numbers. 

Mershon, D.H. (1998, November). Star trek on the brain: Alien minds, human minds.  American Scientist, 86 (6), 585. 

Elements : Author's last name, Author's first and middle initials. (Date published).  Title of webpage . Website Name. URL. 

Price, D. (2018, March 23).  Laziness does not exist . Medium. https://humanparts.medium.com/laziness-does-not-exist-3af27e312d01 

Book by multiple authors (less than 20): 

Elements : Author's last name, Author's first and middle initials. (Year of Publication).  Title of boo k. Publisher. 

Rivano, N. S., Hoson, A., & Stallings, B. (2001).  Regional integration and economic development . Palgrave.

Social Media Post (Instagram): 

Elements : Author's last name, Author's first and middle initials. [@username]. (Year, Month, Day published).  Content of the post up to the first 20 words [description of type of post]. Site name. URL. 

Sulic, L. [@lukasulicworld]. (2019, December 31).  We wish you a happy new year!  [Photograph]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/B6vTyaZHNU9/?igshid=141g9y12b4gfn 

For more examples of how to cite specific formats, or more specific help with citations, visit the Excelsior Online Writing Lab for detailed descriptions! 

In-Text Citations

In-text citations are the second way you will cite your sources in a research paper. Unlike the citations found in the References page, in-text citations are shorter and appear in the body of the text. Any time you use information from a source (whether you paraphrase it or use a direct quotation), you must include an in-text citation. So you will have multiple in-text citations for one source. 

APA in-text citations will appear in parentheses within the paper you are writing, and will appear at the end of the sentence where the source is being cited. You will include only the author's last name, followed by the date of publication. If a source has two authors, list both names separated by an ampersand (&). If there are more than two authors, list only the first author's last name followed by the phrase 'et al'. 

In-text citation examples: 

Source with three or more authors:.

The concept of social class is rapidly becoming obsolete (Calvert et al., 1987). 

Source with one author, using a signal phrase (a signal phrase uses part of the citation in the body of the text):

Calvert (1982) argued that it is impossible to measure social class. 

Source with two authors:

Two techniques that have been associated with reduced stress and increased relaxation in psychotherapy contexts are guided imagery and progressive muscle relaxation (McGuigan & Lehrer, 2007). 

For more examples of creating in-text citations, check out the library's video tutorials or the Excelsior OWL citation page for help! Or explore the resources on this guide for more information! 

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Biology: APA Citation

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• APA Citation

References List

The last page of your essay is called the "References" list. This is where you list the full citation of the sources you used to write your paper.

To create the citations for your sources:

1. Identify the type of source you are citing (book, magazine article, website, etc.) 2. Look up the APA format for that source type 3. Follow the format filling in the appropriate information from your source

This page will give you the citation formats for an APA References List .

Formatting the References list

APA (7th edition) requires specific formatting for your paper and References list.

More Questions? APA Resources

The OWL at Purdue: APA Style   Another source of information about in-text citation and creating a list of references .

• APA research paper template This MS Word document template is pre-formatted according to proper APA standards. Just insert your information and you are ready to go!

In text citaiton

In addition to creating the References list, you are also required to include in text citation.

This is a brief citation within your research paper that is placed after information which is quoted or paraphrased from the sources you. In text citation for APA generally requires three pieces of information:

1. Author's last name 2. Year the source was published 3. The page number the information came from

The intext citation is often included at the end of a quote or paraphase and is formatted like this: (Author's Last Name, Year, p. #). However, the placement of the intext can change depending on  whether or not you introduce the author in your quote or paraphrasing, but the same information for the citation is still required. See examples below. Example 1 (paraphrased) : Eighty percent of children in the US eat grapes ​(Jenkins, 2011, p. 3).

Example 2 (quoted) : Jenkins (2011) states, "In the United States, grapes are consumed by 80% of children" (p. 3). For more information on APA intext citation, click here .

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Research Resources for Biology

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CSE Online Resources

• Scientific Style and Format Citation Quick Guide
• CSE Name Year (NY) Guide
• CSE - Name Year (NY) Examples
• Zotero Citation Manager

Council of Science Editors Citation Style

Council of science editors documentation style.

The Council of Science Editors (CSE) offers three systems of documentation. In all three systems,  a reference list  at the end of the paper provides all the information your reader needs to track down your sources.  In-text references  in your sentences show your reader which sources support the claims and information of that sentence.

A quick overview of CSE styles

The systems differ in the details of how they format in-text references and how they organize the reference list. For more information about each system, click on the appropriate link below:

• In the  citation-name  system, number your sources alphabetically by each author’s last name in the reference list at the end of your paper. In the sentences of your paper, cite these sources using the number from the reference list. This means that the in-text citation 1 refers to the first source in your alphabetical list.

Example from  Charkowski (2012) :Despite this, there has been significant progress in modeling gene regulation in SRE, including mathematical models of virulence 75 and examination of gene expression at the single cell level 87,158,159,166.

• In the  citation-sequence  system, number your sources in the reference list at the end of the paper by the order in which you refer to them in your paper. In the sentences of your paper, cite these sources using the number from the reference list. This means that the in-text citation 1 refers to the first source mentioned in your text.

Example from  Newbury (2013) :These interactions have been implicated in many systems, including small molecules 4, peptides 5, proteins 6, peptoids 7, and nucleic acids 8.

• In the  name-year  system, list (but do not number) your sources alphabetically in the reference list at the end of your paper. In the sentences of your paper, cite these sources by giving the author’s last name and year of publication in parentheses.

Example from  Wattiaux (2005) :Milk urea nitrogen can be used as an indicator of the adequacy of protein and the balance between energy and protein in lactating dairy cow diets (Broderick and Clayton 1997; Wattiaux and Karg 2004a) and as a predictor of urinary nitrogen excretion (Kauffman and St Pierre 2001; Kohn et al. 2002; Wattiaux and Karg 2004b).

For a class paper, check to see if your instructor prefers one of these systems. For a journal article, check the journal’s instructions to authors to find out which system to use.

For a full description of these systems and the philosophy behind them, consult  Scientific Style and Format: The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers , the Seventh Edition (2006) of the CSE manual.

(University of Wisconsin - Madison Writing Center, 2022)

For the end reference, list authors in the order in which they appear in the original text. The year of publication follows the author list. Use periods to separate each element, including author(s), date of publication, article and journal title, and volume or issue information. Location (usually the page range for the article) is preceded by a colon.

Author(s). Date. Article title. Journal title. Volume(issue):location.

Journal titles are generally abbreviated according to the List of Title Word Abbreviations maintained by the ISSN International Centre. See Appendix 29.1 in  Scientific Style and Format  for more information.

For the in-text reference, use parentheses and list author(s) by surname followed by year of publication.

(Author(s) Year)

For articles with 2 authors, names are separated by a comma in the end reference but by “and” in the in-text reference.

Mazan MR, Hoffman AM. 2001. Effects of aerosolized albuterol on physiologic responses to exercise in standardbreds. Am J Vet Res. 62(11):1812–1817.

(Mazan and Hoffman 2001)

Citation Sequence/Name

List authors in the order in which they appear in the original text, followed by a period. Periods also follow article and journal title and volume or issue information. Separate the date from volume and issue by a semicolon. The location (usually the page range for the article) is preceded by a colon.

Author(s). Article title. Journal title. Date;volume(issue):location.

Journal titles are generally abbreviated according to the  List of Title Word Abbreviations  maintained by the ISSN International Centre. See  Appendix 29.1  in  Scientific Style and Format  for more information.

For articles with more than 1 author, names are separated by a comma.

Smart N, Fang ZY, Marwick TH. A practical guide to exercise training for heart failure patients. J Card Fail. 2003;9(1):49–58.

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Plagiarism and academic integrity are taken seriously by this university. You, the student, are responsible for making sure you are honestly completing your work. If you have any questions, please review your class syllabus, speak to your professor, or review the university’s guidelines. The UML Library webpage on Academic Integrity has more information.

APA Help from the APA Manual Website

• Sample Papers in APA Style
• Style and Grammar Guidelines, APA Format, 7th Ed.
• APA Manual Home page, 7th Edition

APA Help from Purdue OWL

• Purdue OWL APA Overview
• How to Format In-Text Citations in APA Style
• How to Cite Articles in APA Style
• How to Cite Books in APA Style
• How to Cite Audiovisual Media in APA Style
• General Guide to APA Style
• How to Format a Webpage or Website in APA
• Sample Paper from Purdue OWL Website

APA style is a format for  academic documents  such as  journal articles and books . It was developed by the American Psychological Association (APA)  "to assist reading comprehension in the social and behavioral sciences, for clarity of communication".

There is a  copy of the 7th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association at the Lydon reference desk. The library also owns an ebook of  The Concise APA Handbook, 7th ed.

APA Specified Title Page for Student Papers

The student title page includes:

• paper title • author names (the byline) • author affiliation  • course number and name  • instructor name • page number.

APA rule of thumb for citations:  write your titles as if they were sentences .  For the article title, that means that the first letter of the first word is capitalized and the rest are lower case unless they are proper nouns.  Also, if there is a colon (":") in the title, you capitalize the next word.  The whole title should also end in punctuation such as a period or a question mark.

Article in an online journal:

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number (issue number), pages. https://doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyy

Article in a print journal:

Scruton, R. (1996). The eclipse of listening. The New Criterion, 15 (3), 5–13.

Selected Examples of Changes to APA 7th Edition

Content above adapted from Purdue Owl , Scribbr, and APA Style Manual, 7th ed. Instructional Aids

For complete details on updates to APA style in the 7th edition, see this page.

APA Citation Style for Government Publications

APA Citation Style does not have a separate category for government publications. According to APA, government documents can be considered Books, Technical/Research Reports or Brochures.

Helpful Tips:

• Treat a government document as a book, report, or brochure.
• If a person is named on the title page, use her or him as author.
• If no person is named, use the government agency, department, or branch as a group author.
• Give the name of the group author exactly as it appears on the title page. If the branch or agency is not well known, include its higher department first.
• If the group author is also the publisher, just use the word Author after the location.
• If there is a series or report number, include it after the title.
• The APA manual refers to the GPO (U.S. Gov. Printing Office). Canadian equivalents may be: Queen’s Printer, Ministry of Supply and Services, Canadian Government Publishing, etc.

Group Authors

Group authors are often government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and task forces. Follow these guidelines to format the names of group authors in the reference list.

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Citing Your Sources

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• Background Information
• Biology at BU

CSE (Council of Science Editors) Style

Apa (american psychological association) style, nlm (national library of medicine style), general citation guides.

Proper citation is an essential aspect of scholarship. Citing properly allows your reader or audience to locate the materials you have used. Most importantly, citations give credit to the authors of quoted or consulted information. Failure to acknowledge sources of information properly may constitute plagiarism.  For an explicit definition of plagiarism, see the  Boston University Academic Conduct Code .

For detailed instructions on how to cite within the text of your paper, please consult a style manual listed in this guide. Please also note: some of the resources listed do not cover every possibility you might encounter when trying to cite your sources. For this reason, it is suggested that you consult a style manual to create your bibliography.

Finally, please also see our separate citation guides  for Business students  or  for Science students .

• APA Formatting and Style Guide at Purdue OWL

The official style manual for the National Library of Medicine (NLM), and suggested when citing documents from the associated databases MedLine and PubMed. The online edition supercedes the print edition as the most up to date.

• Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab)

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Live Citation Help 24/7

See also.....

• APA Academic Writer Tutorial: Basics of the APA 7th Edition
• APA Bias-Free Language Guidelines for writing about age, disability, gender, participation in research, racial and ethnic identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and intersectionality.
• APA How to Cite ChatGPT
• APA Instructional Handouts Free Instructional Aids in PDF.
• APA Sample Papers Several sample papers formatted in seventh edition APA style.
• APA Sample Student Paper with notes in MS Word format Use this example as a model for your own work to ensure your paper is properly formatted and cited.
• APA Style 7th Edition: The Changes You Need to Know Lists notable changes in 7th edition.
• APA Style and Grammar Guidelines Includes examples of in-text citations, references, formatting, bias-free language and much more.
• Citing ChatGTP and other AI Tools Citation guidance from the Library at University of Guelph-Humber, Toronto, CA
• Purdue Online Writing Lab APA Style Introduction Resources reflecting the seventh edition of the APA Manual.
• ZoteroBib ZoteroBib is a free AND ad-free citation and bibliography tool. One of the more accurate citation generators but you still need to check and correct citations.

Printable version of APA Documentation Style

• APA 7th Handout

General Guidelines

The authors of the 7th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2020)   advise writers to:

• Cite the work of those individuals whose ideas, theories, or research have directly influenced your work.
• Provide documentation for all facts and figures that are not common knowledge.
• Use the author-date system to cite references. This means that works used in a paper have in-text citations and a corresponding reference list entry at the end of the paper. The in-text citation appears in the body of the paper (including a table, figure, footnote, or appendix) and identifies the cited work by its author and publication date. Each reference list entry provides the author, date, title, and source of the work cited in the paper and enables the reader to both identify and retrieve the work.
• Cite primary sources when possible and secondary sources sparingly.
• Cite both paraphrases and direct quotations. It is preferable to paraphrase sources rather than directly quoting them because paraphrasing allows you to fit material into the context and style of your paper. Include the author, year, and page number for direct quotations, and the author and year for paraphrasing.  
• If you reprint or adapt a table or figure, you may also need to seek permission from the copyright holder and provide a copyright attribution. 
• Avoid over-citation. When paraphrasing a key point in more than one sentence within a paragraph, cite the source in the first sentence in which it is relevant and do not repeat the citation in subsequent sentences as long as the source remains clear and unchanged.  
• Incorporate a short quotation (fewer than 40 words) into the text and enclose it within double quotation marks. For block quotations (40 words or more), start the quotation on a new line and indent the whole block 0.5 in. from the left margin. Please see section 8.26-8.27 for examples on how to cite short and block quotations respectively.
• Throughout your paper, use prescribed fonts (such as sans serif 11-point Calibri or serif 12-point Times New Roman) and bias-free language. See APA’s website for guidance on formatting, bias-free language and more, https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/basic-principles .

For more detailed information, please see  Publication manual of the American Psychological Association : the official guide to APA style . (Seventh edition.). (2020). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, Chapters 8-10. 

This guide provides templates as well as examples for citing different types of sources in APA .  Use the tabs at the top of this guide to find general guidance and examples for:

• In-text citations
• Reference entries
• Paper formatting

APA Style (7th ed.) Introduction Videos

A  one-hour step-by-step tutorial in citation from APA . The annotated handouts are available here.

Introduction to Citation Styles: APA 7 th ,   by CSUDH University Library, is licensed under CC BY. 

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Reference management. Clean and simple.

How to format your references using the Biology citation style

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

• 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.

• Books and book chapters

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

Sometimes references to web sites should appear directly in the text rather than in the bibliography. Refer to the Instructions to authors for Biology .

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".

• Theses and dissertations

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

• 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.

• In-text citations

References should be cited in the text by sequential numbers in square brackets :

• About the journal

• Other styles
• Frontiers in Genomic Endocrinology
• Philippine Political Science Journal
• Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing

Biology Research Articles: Citing Sources

• Peer-reviewed journal articles
• Research Articles
• Review Articles
• Finding articles
• Citing Sources
• Preparing a Presentation

Don't forget to cite your sources for any data, graphics, or illustrations you include in your presentation.

RefWorks Help

Need to pull together your references for a paper or presentation? Click HERE for a detailed guide to using RefWorks.

• Ask a Librarian

Style Guides

Tcnj department of biology research paper style manual.

"This Style Manual is intended to provide formatting instructions, as well as appropriate content and organization, for each part of the research paper and is to be used as the standard throughout the entire four-year Biology Curriculum."

Additional Citation Style Guides

Some style guide options created outside TCNJ and widely used in scholarly publications:

• CSE-Council of Science Editors Documentation (Writer's Handbook, University of Wisconsin) -- This is the citation style required by the TCNJ Dept. of Biology Style Manual, with one exception: The Biology Style Manual stipulates that you use full journal titles, not abbreviations. For tips on finding full journal titles, look at the section titled "Deciphering journal abbreviations."
• Additional options

'Instructions for Authors'

Journal websites usually have a page called something like "Instructions for Authors." Your professor may suggest that you follow the style used by a particular journal. For example:

• genesis: The Journal of Genetics and Development Author Guidelines
• Ecology  Instructions for Authors

Citation Management

RefWorks is a web-based program that allows you to easily collect, manage, and organize bibliographic citations by interfacing with databases. RefWorks also operates directly with MS Word, making it easy to import citations and incorporate them into your writing as properly formatted footnotes or parenthetical citations according to the style of your choice.

• This is a LibGuide adapted by TCNJ librarians for TCNJ users.
• The producers of RefWorks have a series of videos on using their product.

NOTE: The RefWorks providers themselves urge you to examine your citations carefully to make sure they are correctly imported and formatted. To do this, you may need to consult the official style guide for whichever citation style your course requires. 

Zotero is a free and open-source software that also allows you to collect and organize bibliographic citations. Like RefWorks, it also allows you to create citations and bibliographies in a number of styles. Zotero has a couple of specific advantages that set it apart from paid products like RefWorks and EndNote:

• It is free and open source. You will be able to use it for your entire career, no matter what institution you go to.
• Zotero has tools to integrate with G-Suite and GoogleDocs. Because it is open source, it tends to adapt more quickly to new technologies than other programs. 

Although it does have a web version, to work best, Zotero needs to be downloaded onto your computer. To get started, visit Zotero's website here.  Then use these resources to help get your Zotero up and running:

• Zotero Tutorial (YouTube)
• This Guide to Zotero was created by Northwestern University. Some things on it are specific to their students, but if you click around the left-side navigation menu, you can find support for most questions you might have. There is a link to a good "Introduction to Zotero" video in that side navigation. It can also be found by scrolling to the bottom of the page.
• This   Beginner's Guide to Zotero was created by the University of New Mexico. If you look in the left hand navigation menu, you'll see links to specific instructions for using Zotero with GoogleDocs. 
• Ask for help from your librarian! Use my contact info on the upper right of this page. 

Subject Guide

Deciphering journal abbreviations

Some databases and journals will include references in a citation style using abbreviated journal titles the meanings of which may be ambiguous, e.g., Clin Eff Nurs or  Nurs Health Sci .

To confirm the complete, correct journal title and obtain an ISSN (International Standard Serial Number), look up the abbreviation in:

• PubMed 's Journal Database

If you cannot confirm a correct journal title yourself, rather than submit an incorrect title, try:

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APA Style Guide

Citation resources for APA style

• APA 7th Edition Quick Reference Guide How to format reference list entries for journal articles, books, and chapters in a book.
• APA 7th Edition Reference Examples Provides detailed examples for citing common and uncommon sources.
• APA 7th Edition Tutorials and Webinars The Academic Writer Tutorial: Basics of Seventh Edition APA Style covers the basics of the seventh edition APA Style.
• APA 7th Edition Style Bolg Search the APA's blog to find answers to specific questions.
• APA 6th Edition Resources For the transition period between the 6th and 7th editions, APA has archived their 6th edition style blog, FAQs, and other resources.

Formatting style and grammar resources for APA

• Figures All types of visual displays other than tables are considered figures in APA Style. The rules for figures have been revised from the 6th edition.
• Headings Headings identify the content within sections of a paper. The rules for tables have been revised from the 6th edition.

• Other formatting considerations This present information about APA Style as described in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition.

Citing Images

You must cite the source of an image used in a paper, lab report, presentation or seminar. When citing an image in the body of your paper, cite it in one of two ways:

Credit the source at the end of the image caption:

“Reproduced with permission from (a) H.E. Hoekstra and (c) J.L. Feder.”

“Reproduced from Thakur et al. (2008a) with permission (originally published in Nature, http://www.nature.com).”

Credit images found on the Internet as follows:

Figure 2 .  “Water lily [Nymphaeaceae] blooming in Saint Petersburg’s Botanical Gardens, September 2005,” by A. L. Olsen. Retrieved from the NBII (National Biological Information Infrastructure) Digital Image Library website, maintained by the Center for Biological Informatics of the U.S. Geological Survey, http://life.nbii.gov/dml/mediadetail.do?id=2995

How to cite a video in APA format

Sample citation for YouTube video: 

Sample citation for YouTube channel:

JoVE video with no author listed: 

Jove video with author listed:

The date noted should be the date that the video was uploaded.

Acknowledgement

My thanks to Liaison Librarian, Rebecca Hutchinson, for providing so much of the content for this page:  https://subjectguides.uwaterloo.ca/WATPD/home

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APA 6 Style

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When Should I Cite?

Any time your work contains or refers to someone else's ideas, words, images, media, or sounds  you need to include a citation.

1. In-text citations should be inserted at the point of use in your assignment and indicate that the information you just presented came from a source other than your own brain or common knowledge.

2. A Works Cited or References section should be included at the end of your assignment.

3. In Works Cited / References , list all the works you referred to with in-text citations in the body of your assignment.

4. There are many citation styles, each with it's own precise formatting. The most popular at Clark are MLA and APA .

 According to the  APA as of March 2017 , any of the following formats for digital object identifiers (doi) are correct APA style:

• https://doi.org/10.1037/arc0000014
• http://doi.org/10.1037/arc0000014
• doi:10.1037/arc0000014

Guides from Clark College Libraries and other sources:

• Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab) APA Guide A great resource!
• APA 6 Style Blog Official companion to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition. It's run by a group of experts who work with APA Style every day.
• Navigating Copyright for Reproduced Images From the APA Style Blog

APA 6 Handouts

• Clark Libraries APA 6 Quick Guide This is the green, 2-page handout that lists lots of examples for citing sources in APA 6 format.
• APA 6 Title Page & Headers, Using Microsoft Word
• Creating an APA title page and headers for Microsoft Word for Mac
• APA 6 Citation, Reference Page Hints
• APA 6 Citation - Where, How and FAQs
• APA 6 Citation - Tips for In-Text Citations

Formatting Title Page and Headers in APA 6

Here is a short step-by-step video of the directions below.

• Open a Word document
• Click on "Insert"
• Choose "Header"
• Choose first option “Blank"
• Check “Different First Page”
• In upper left corner type:  Running head: YOUR TITLE IN ALL CAPS
• Tab over to right margin
• Click on “Page Number”
• Click on “Current Position”
• Choose first option “Plain Number”
• Highlight your text and page number and make sure that both are Times New Roman, size 12
• Close Header and Footer
• Select double spacing and centered in paragraph area. In the top third of the page type: paper title, your name, and institution name. Example:

My Research Paper  Student A. Body Clark College     

• Highlight your text and make sure it is Times New Roman, size 12
• Now enter (return) down to the end of the page until you reach the second page of your document
• Choose first option “Blank”
• In upper left corner type:  YOUR TITLE IN ALL CAPS  (Note: No running head here!)
• Tab over to right margin.
• You’re done – your title page and headers for your APA paper are set up. To change the information on the template, go to Insert, Header and Edit Header.
• Creating an APA 6 title page and headers for Microsoft Word for Mac Steps for creating an APA title page and APA page headers for Word for Mac (2011-2017).

When in Doubt - ASK!

If you have any questions about citations or plagiarism that are not answered on these pages, be sure to ask for clarification from:

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Cite Sources - APA - Books

Citations for Graphs and Images

If you include a graph, table, chart, or image that is not your own in the body of your text or on a presentation slide, use the following citation underneath it:

Figure 1. Description, if needed. Adapted from "Title of Article or Webpage," by Author(s), Year, Title of Journal or Website , Volume, page number, retrieved from URL. Copyright Year by Copyright Holder.

See here and here for specific examples. Also see pages 150-167 of the APA Manual and this APA Style Blog post .

You should also include a full reference citation at the end of your paper or presentation.

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Using In-text Citation

Citing web pages in text, general guidelines, works by multiple authors.

• Citing Articles
• Citing Books
• Citing Web Pages and Social Media

Include an in-text citation when you refer to, summarize, paraphrase, or quote from another source. For every in-text citation in your paper, there must be a corresponding entry in your reference list.

APA in-text citation style uses the author's last name and the year of publication, for example: (Field, 2005). For direct quotations, include the page number as well, for example: (Field, 2005, p. 14). For sources such as websites and e-books that have no page numbers , use a paragraph number, for example: (Field, 2005, para. 1). More information on direct quotation of sources without pagination is given on the APA Style and Grammar Guidelines web page.

Example paragraph with in-text citation

A few researchers in the linguistics field have developed training programs designed to improve native speakers' ability to understand accented speech (Derwing et al., 2002; Thomas, 2004). Their training techniques are based on the research described above indicating that comprehension improves with exposure to non-native speech.   Derwing et al. (2002) conducted their training with students preparing to be social workers, but note that other professionals who work with non-native speakers could benefit from a similar program.

Derwing, T. M., Rossiter, M. J., & Munro, M. J. (2002). Teaching native speakers to listen to foreign-accented speech.  Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development , 23 (4), 245-259.

Thomas, H. K. (2004).  Training strategies for improving listeners' comprehension of foreign-accented speech  (Doctoral dissertation). University of Colorado, Boulder.

Cite web pages in text as you would any other source, using the author and date if known. Keep in mind that the author may be an organization rather than a person. For sources with no author, use the title in place of an author.

For sources with no date use n.d. (for no date) in place of the year: (Smith, n.d.). For more information on citations for sources with no date or other missing information see the page on missing reference information on the APA Style and Grammar Guidelines web page. 

Below are examples of using in-text citation with web pages.

Web page with author:

In-text citation

Heavy social media use can be linked to depression and other mental disorders in teens (Asmelash, 2019).

Reference entry

Asmelash, L. (2019, August 14). Social media use may harm teens' mental health by disrupting positive activities, study says . CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/13/health/social-media-mental-health-trnd/index.html

Web page with organizational author:

More than 300 million people worldwide are affected by depression (World Health Organization, 2018).

World Health Organization. (2018, March 22).  Depression . https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/depression

Web page with no date:

Establishing regular routines, such as exercise, can help survivors of disasters recover from trauma (American Psychological Association [APA], n.d.).

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Recovering emotionally from disaste r. http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/recovering-disasters.aspx

In-text references should immediately follow the title, word, or phrase to which they are directly relevant, rather than appearing at the end of long clauses or sentences. In-text references should always precede punctuation marks. Below are examples of using in-text citation.

Author's name in parentheses:

One study found that the most important element in comprehending non-native speech is familiarity with the topic (Gass & Varonis, 1984).

Author's name part of narrative:

Gass and Varonis (1984) found that the most important element in comprehending non-native speech is familiarity with the topic.

Group as author: First citation: (American Psychological Association [APA], 2015) Subsequent citation: (APA, 2015)

Multiple works: (separate each work with semi-colons)

Research shows that listening to a particular accent improves comprehension of accented speech in general (Gass & Varonis, 1984; Krech Thomas, 2004).

Direct quote: (include page number and place quotation marks around the direct quote)

One study found that “the listener's familiarity with the topic of discourse greatly facilitates the interpretation of the entire message” (Gass & Varonis, 1984, p. 85).

Gass and Varonis (1984) found that “the listener’s familiarity with the topic of discourse greatly facilitates the interpretation of the entire message” (p. 85).

Note:  For direct quotations of more than 40 words , display the quote as an indented block of text without quotation marks and include the authors’ names, year, and page number in parentheses at the end of the quote. For example:

This suggests that familiarity with nonnative speech in general, although it is clearly not as important a variable as topic familiarity, may indeed have some effect. That is, prior experience with nonnative speech, such as that gained by listening to the reading, facilitates comprehension. (Gass & Varonis, 1984, p. 77)

APA style has specific rules for citing works by multiple authors. Use the following guidelines to determine how to correctly cite works by multiple authors in text. For more information on citing works by multiple authors see the APA Style and Grammar Guidelines page on in-text citation .

Note: When using multiple authors' names as part of your narrative, rather than in parentheses, always spell out the word and. For multiple authors' names within a parenthetic citation, use &.

One author: (Field, 2005)

Two authors: (Gass & Varonis, 1984)

Three or more authors:   (Tremblay et al., 2010)

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Biology Information Literacy Part I: Resources & the Library: Citation Styles

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Citation Styles

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There are many different citation styles that are used for research papers.  There is no standard citation style for biology, however, in this guide we will focus on the Name-Year style from The Council of Science Editors (CSE).  The CSE style is designed for the general sciences, including biology.

Ask your advisor or professor about the citation style they prefer.  Regardless of the style, apply it consistently throughout your paper and make sure to proofread it the same way you would proofread the rest of your paper.

Here are some guides covering the CSE style:

• The Writer's Handbook : CSE Name-Year Documentation From The Writing Center @ The University of Wisconsin - Madison.
• CSE Quick Citation Guide From Penn State University Libraries.

Citation Examples

Citation examples based on the References chapter from the 7th Edition of Scientific Style and Format (CSE 2006).

Citing a Journal Article (Print)

End Reference: Raoult D, Audic S, Robert C, Abergel C, Renesto P, Ogata H, La Scola B, Suzan M, Claverie JM. 2004. The 1.2-megabase genome sequence of Mimivirus. Science . 306(5700):1344–1350.

In-text reference: (Raoult et al. 2004)

Citing a Journal Article (Electronic)

End Reference: Pound P, Bracken MB. 2014. Is animal research sufficiently evidence based to be a cornerstone of biomedical research? BMJ [Internet]. [cited 2015 Jun 25]; 348:g3387. Available from http://www.bmj.com/content/348/bmj.g3387 doi: 10.1136/bmj.g3387

In-text reference: (Pound and Bracken 2014)

Citing a Book

End Reference: Johnson G. 2013. Don't ever whisper: Darlene Keju, Pacific health pioneer, champion for nuclear survivors . [Lexington (KY)]: [Giff Johnson].

In-text reference: (Johnson 2013)

Citing a Chapter of a Book

End Reference: de Silva K. 2009. Ka Mākālei a Kawainui. In: Kailua Historical Society. Kailua: in the wisps of the Malanai breeze . Kailua (Oʻahu): Kailua Historical Society. p. 50-53, 133-137, 161-165, 261-265.

In-text reference: (de Silva 2009)

Citing a Dissertation

End Reference: Perez K 3rd. 2013. Ecological evaluation of coral reef resources at Kahaluʻu bay, Hawaiʻi. [dissertation]. [Honolulu]: University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

In-text reference: (Perez 2013)

[CSE] Council of Science Editors, Style Manual Committee. 2006. Scientific style and format: the CSE manual for authors, editors, and publishers. 7th ed. Reston (VA): Council of Science Editors. Chapter 29, References; p. 490-575.

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Biology: Citations: MLA & APA

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Citations: MLA & APA

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Find resources to help with MLA or APA citations. If you need more help, check out our citation guide or contact the library . 

One of the most frequently used style manuals for citing sources is the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers , which is published by the Modern Language Association.

The most recent edition, the eighth edition, was published in 2016. Copies of this edition are found in the Ready Reference section of the Library. The call number is Ready Reference LB 2369 .G53 2016 . Listed below are examples of sample citations.

Works Cited Page: General Rules

Here are some general rules on how to format your Works Cited page: 

The works cited page appears at the end of your paper

Each cited source must be on the works cited page and each entry on the works cited page must be cited in the text of your paper

Begin the works cited page on a new page

Number each page, continuing the page numbers of the paper

Label the page "Works Cited"; centered at the top

Double-space all the text on the page

Indent one-half inch from the left margin all the lines after the first line (hanging indentation)

Capitalize each word in titles of articles, books, etc, do not capitalize article, prepositions or conjunctions

Italicize titles of larger works and quotation marks for titles of shorter works

Invert the authors' names; give the last name first, then the first name

Alphabetize the entries by the last name of the author of each work

Please note: These are basic guidelines, for more detailed information, consult the MLA Manual. You can view a sample MLA paper at the  OWL at Purdue  website. (Refer to page 12 for an example of a Works Cited page).

MLA 8th Edition: Guiding Principles

In the 7th edition of the Handbook, a separate set of citation instructions were given for each format type.  The problem with this approach is that there is no way to anticipate all format types a student may encounter.

To solve this problem, this new edition of the MLA Handbook provides a "universal set of guidelines" for citing sources across all format types.

These guidelines state that, if given, these major elements should be included in the citation:

1. Author. 2. Title of Source 3. Title of Container 4. Other Contributors 5. Version 6. Number 7. Publisher 8. Publication date 9. Location

Sometimes, elements 3-9 will repeat again, if say, your journal was inside a database.

Putting it all together:

Goldman, Anne. "Questions of Transport: Reading Primo Levi Reading Dante."  The Georgia Review , vol.64, no. 1, 2010, pp.69- 88.  JSTOR , www.jstor.org/stable/41403188 .

Major Changes in the 8th Edition

1. vol. and no. are now spelled out.

Instead of 32.3; it's: vol. 32, no. 3

2. Place of publication is omitted.

3. Page numbers are designated with pp.

4. Date of access is omitted.

5. Medium of publication is omitted.

A Journal Article Retrieved from a Database

A source in two containers -

1. Author: Lorensen, Jutta. ​2. Title of source: "Between Image and Word, Color, and Time: Jacob Lawrence's  The Migration Series ." Container 1

Source: Works Cited: A Quick Guide  

Works Cited entries: Format Examples

The discipline of English, as well as many other disciplines in the humanities, use MLA citation format.  Below are some examples for formatting the Works Cited page.  Look in the drop-down menu for examples of in-text citations.

Some parts of this page were adapted from the Citing Sources (Citation Styles)  L ibGuide created by Britt McGowan, Reference & Instruction Librarian at the University of West Florida. 

The American Psychological Association publishes the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association as its style manual for the social sciences disciplines. It is also used by other disciplines as a handbook for authorship of papers.

The most recent edition, the seventh edition, was published in 2020. This edition can be found in the Ready Reference section of the Library at the Reference Desk on the first floor. The call number is Ready Reference BF 76.7 P83 2020 . Listed below are examples of sample citations. 

APA Formating Rules

Here are some general rules on how to format your paper: 

• Margins: p age margins should be set 1 inch on top, bottom, left and right
• Font:  Times New Roman, 12 font size
• Double Space:  throughout your paper, on standard white paper
• f irst page should include: full title, your name, course name and number, instructor's name, and the date
• c enter and double-space all information
• a running header with consecutive page numbering should appear flush right in the upper right-hand corner of each page, including the title page. This running header will appear one-half inch from the top of the page, and should contain a short version of the title, followed by the page number.

How do I create a citation?

A proper citation must include all of the elements in the example below when they are available. 

Reference Page: General Rules

Here are some general rules on how to format your references page: 

• The reference list appears at the end of your paper
• Each cited source must be on the reference list and each entry on the reference list must be cited in the text
• Begin the reference list on a new page
• Label the page "References"; centered at the top
• Double-space all the text on the page
• Indent one-half inch from the left margin all the lines after the first line (hanging indentation)
• Invert the authors' names; give the last name first, then the initials for the first name
• Alphabetize the entries by the last name of the author of each work. If there is more than one work by the same author, arrange them in order of publication date, from oldest to most recent.
• For two or more authors, separate the names by commas and use "&" instead of "and" for the last name mentioned.
• Write the full title of the journal; maintaining the punctuation and capitalization used in the journal title
• Capitalize all major words in journal titles
• When referring to books, chapters, articles, or Web pages, capitalize only the first letter of the first word of a title and subtitle, the first word after a colon or a dash in the title, and proper nouns. Do not capitalize the first letter of the second word in a hyphenated compound word.

Please note : These are basic guidelines, for more detailed information, consult the APA Manual. You can view a sample APA paper at the  OWL at Purdue  website. (Refer to page 9 for an example of a reference page).

What’s Changed?

The newest version of the publication manual: the 7th edition was officially released in October 2019. Students : you should always check with your professor whether they’re expecting the 7th edition or the 6th edition.

Punctuation and layout

• The manual now states to always use a single space after any body-text punctuation, whether it is at the end of a sentence or not. 
• The term Running head: should no longer be prefixed to the running head on the title page. Now, only the actual title and a page number (typically 1) should be used.
• Heading fonts sizes for levels 3 through 5 have been changed to make them easier to read.
• Allowed fonts: Times New Roman size 12pt, Calibri size 11pt, Arial 11pt, Lucida Sans Unicode 10pt, and Georgia 11pt. 

Bias-free language

• Guidelines are being added to use bias-free language when referring to people or entities. This means using the word “they” or “their” instead of gender pronouns like “he”, “she”, “his” and “her”.
• Descriptive phrases should be preferred instead of nouns to label people.

Source: Elias, Daniel. “ APA Style 7th Edition: What's Changed? ” MyBib , MyBib, 14 Sept. 2019.

The following links provide more information on how to cite using MLA or APA

• APA Formatting and Style Guide (Owl at Purdue)
• APA Quick Reference Guide
• MLA 2009 Formatting and Style Guide (OWL at Purdue)
• The MLA Style Center Writing resources from the Modern Language Association (MLA)
• The Ultimate Guide to MLA Eighth Edition from EasyBib

Citation Help

Use these websites to help you create citations.

• Citation Machine
• Cite This For Me
• KnightCite Citation Machine
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Biology Laboratory Research Paper (BIOL190L)

• APA Citation
• Research Paper
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• Primary / Background Sources
• Biology Websites (.gov & .edu)
• How To Search Databases
• Detecting Bias

Citation Resources

Use the resources below to cite your articles and books for the BIOL190L Research Paper. These style guides and eBooks offered by the CSN Libraries will assist in avoiding plagiarism, help you in learning correct APA style, and provide examples of properly formatted APA papers. 

• CSN APA 7th Edition Style Guide The CSN APA 7th Edition Style Guide will assit you in proper citation and paper format.
• APA 7th Edition Quick Reference Guide APA Quick Reference Guide for the the most recently released version of APA.
• Sample APA Style Paper From OWL @ Purdue
• OWL at Purdue Citation examples, overviews of citation styles, and more
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Biology Referencing Guide (updated Aug 2024)

This is the citationsy guide to biology citations, reference lists, in-text citations, and bibliographies. the complete, comprehensive guide shows you how easy citing any source can be. referencing books, youtube videos, websites, articles, journals, podcasts, images, videos, or music in biology..

How do you cite a book in the Biology referencing style? (2024 Guide)

How to reference a journal article in the biology citation style, how do you cite scientific papers in biology format, how to cite a website in a paper in biology style, how to cite a youtube video biology in 2024, how to cite a podcast using biology referencing style, how to cite a piece of music or a song using biology referencing style.

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Biology: MLA Citations

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Works Cited Generators on the Web

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Why is it Important to Cite Your Sources for Your Research Papers?

Citing sources and creating a Bibliography/Works Cited List:

• ​​​​ Gives credit to the author(s)
• Illustrates your ability to locate & evaluate appropriate sources
• Provides evidence for the arguments and conclusions in your paper
• Prevents plagarism and copyright infringement

What Is Plagiarism?

pla·gia·rism (noun)

The practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own. Synonyms - copying, infringement of copyright, piracy, theft, stealing. Informal - cribbing "accusations of plagiarism." Source: Google Definition

Plagiarism can be intentional or unintentional.

Citation Styles

• MLA Citation Style
• APA Citation Style
• Chicago Citation Style

What is MLA Style?  

MLA (Modern Language Association) style specifies guidelines for formatting papers. MLA style also provides a system for referencing sources through parenthetical citations in essays and Works Cited pages.

• MLA Handbook Plus This link opens in a new window The go-to resource for writers of research papers and anyone citing sources in MLA format. Watch the How to use MLA Handbook video and guide more... less... MLA Handbook Plus includes the full text of the ninth edition of the handbook, the second edition of the MLA Guide to Digital Literacy, and the MLA Guide to Undergraduate Research in Literature, as well as a video course that teaches the principles of MLA documentation style through a series of short videos paired with quizzes, plus a final assessment.

• Success Centers-Chaffey College Need more help? Contact the Success Centers for tutors and workshops on citing your sources.
• MLA Formatting and Style Guide From Owl Purdue University Writing Lab Helps you better understand how to cite sources using MLA Style, including the list of works cited and in-text citations.

What is APA Style?  

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A standardized citation metrics author database annotated for scientific field

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliation Departments of Medicine, Health Research and Policy, Biomedical Data Science, and Statistics and Meta-Research Innovation Center at Stanford (METRICS), Stanford University, Stanford, California, United States of America

Affiliation Research Intelligence, Elsevier B.V., Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Affiliation SciTech Strategies, Inc., Wayne, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Affiliation SciTech Strategies, Inc., Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States of America

• John P. A. Ioannidis, 
• Jeroen Baas, 
• Richard Klavans, 
• Kevin W. Boyack

Published: August 12, 2019

• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000384
• Reader Comments

Citation metrics are widely used and misused. We have created a publicly available database of 100,000 top scientists that provides standardized information on citations, h-index, coauthorship-adjusted hm-index, citations to papers in different authorship positions, and a composite indicator. Separate data are shown for career-long and single-year impact. Metrics with and without self-citations and ratio of citations to citing papers are given. Scientists are classified into 22 scientific fields and 176 subfields. Field- and subfield-specific percentiles are also provided for all scientists who have published at least five papers. Career-long data are updated to end of 2017 and to end of 2018 for comparison.

Citation: Ioannidis JPA, Baas J, Klavans R, Boyack KW (2019) A standardized citation metrics author database annotated for scientific field. PLoS Biol 17(8): e3000384. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000384

Copyright: © 2019 Ioannidis et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Funding: The Meta-Research Innovation Center at Stanford (METRICS) has been funded by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation (funding to JPAI). The work of JPAI is also funded by an unrestricted gift from Sue and Bob O’Donnell. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. JPAI is a member of the editorial board of PLoS Biology. Jeroen Baas is an Elsevier employee. Elsevier runs Scopus, which is the source of this data, and also runs Mendeley Data where the database is now stored.

Provenance: peer reviewed, not commissioned.

Use of citation metrics has become widespread but is fraught with difficulties. Some challenges relate to what citations and related metrics fundamentally mean and how they can be interpreted or misinterpreted as a measure of impact or excellence [ 1 ]. Many other problems are of a technical nature and reflect lack of standardization and accuracy on various fronts. Several different citation databases exist, many metrics are available, users mine them in different ways, self-reported data in curriculum vitae documents are often inaccurate and not professionally calculated, handling of self-citations is erratic, and comparisons between scientific fields with different citation densities are tenuous. To our knowledge, there is no large-scale database that systematically ranks all the most-cited scientists in each and every scientific field to a sufficient ranking depth; e.g., Google Scholar allows scientists to create their profiles and share them in public, but not all researchers have created a profile. Clarivate Analytics provides every year a list of the most-cited scientists of the last decade, but the scheme uses a coarse classification of science in only 21 fields, and even the latest, expanded listing includes only about 6,000 scientists ( https://hcr.clarivate.com/worlds-influential-scientific-minds ), i.e., less than 0.1% of the total number of people coauthoring scholarly papers. Moreover, self-citations are not excluded in these existing rankings.

We have tried to offer a solution to overcome many of the technical problems and provide a comprehensive database of a sufficiently large number of most-cited scientists across science. Here, we used Scopus data to compile a database of the 100,000 most-cited authors across all scientific fields based on their ranking of a composite indicator that considers six citation metrics (total citations; Hirsch h-index; coauthorship-adjusted Schreiber hm-index; number of citations to papers as single author; number of citations to papers as single or first author; and number of citations to papers as single, first, or last author) [ 2 ].

The methodology behind the composite indicator has been already extensively described along with its strengths and residual caveats in [ 2 ]. We offer two versions of the database. One version (supplementary Table S1, http://dx.doi.org/10.17632/btchxktzyw.1#file-ad4249ac-f76f-4653-9e42-2dfebe5d9b01 ) is calculated using Scopus citation data over 22 years (from January 1, 1996 until December 31, 2017; complete data for 2018 will not be available until later in 2019). For papers published from 1960 until 1995, the citations received in 1996–2017 are also included in the calculations, but the citations received up to 1995 are not. Therefore, this version provides a measure of long-term performance, and for most living, active scientists, this also reflects their career-long impact or is a very good approximation thereof. In order to assess the robustness and validity of the calculations, they have been replicated on a second, independent platform and a data set with a slightly different timestamp (less than one month difference). Correlations between the two independent calculations for the composite indicator (r = 0.983) and number of papers (r = 0.991) for the top 1,000,000 authors confirm the calculations are accurate and stable.

The other version (supplementary Table S2, http://dx.doi.org/10.17632/btchxktzyw.1#file-b9b8c85e-6914-4b1d-815e-55daefb64f5e ) is calculated using data for citations in a single calendar year, 2017. It provides a measure of performance in that single recent year. Therefore, it removes the bias that may exist in comparing scientists with long accrual of citations over many years of active work versus younger ones with shorter time frame during which they may accumulate citations because it focuses on citation accrual only during a single year.

The constructed database shows, for each scientist, the values for each of the six metrics that are used in the calculation of the composite as well as the composite indicator itself, and all indicators are given with and without self-citations. Institutional affiliation and the respective country are inferred based on most recent publications according to the Scopus data as of May 2018. Therefore, only one affiliation is provided even though scientists may have worked in several institutions. Nevertheless, all their work in different institutions is all captured within their author record.

Extreme self-citations and “citation farms” (relatively small clusters of authors massively citing each other’s papers) make citation metrics spurious and meaningless, and we offer ways to identify such cases. We provide data that exclude self-citations to a paper by any author of that paper and, separately, data including all citations, e.g., if a paper has 12 authors and it has received 102 citations, but 24/102 have as a (co)author at least one of these 12 authors of the original paper, only 102 − 24 = 78 citations are counted. Among the top 100,000 authors for 1996–2017 data, the median percentage of self-citations is 12.7%, but it varies a lot across scientists (interquartile range, 8.6%–17.7%, full range 0.0%–93.8%). Among the top 100,000 authors for the 2017 single-year data, the median percentage of self-citations is 9.2% (interquartile range, 4.8%–14.7%, full range 0.0%–98.6%). With very high proportions of self-citations, we would advise against using any citation metrics since extreme rates of self-citation may herald also other spurious features. These need to be examined on a case-by-case basis for each author, and simply removing the self-citations may not suffice [ 3 ]. Indicatively, among the top 100,000 authors for 1996–2017 and 2017-only data, there are 1,085 and 1,565 authors, respectively, who have >40% self-citations, while 8,599 and 8,534 authors, respectively, have >25% self-citations.

We also provide data on the number of citing papers and on the ratio of citations divided by the number of citing papers. 5,709 authors in the career-long data set and 7,090 in the single-year data set have a ratio over 2. High ratios deserve more in-depth assessment of these authors. Sometimes, this may reflect that it is common for a small number of papers of the same author to be cited together. Alternatively, they may point to situations of spurious “citation farms.”

For each scientist, we provide the most common scientific field and the two most common scientific subfields of his/her publications, along with the percentage for each. All science is divided into 22 large fields (e.g., Clinical Medicine, Biology), and these are further divided into 176 subfields according to the Science-Metrix journal classification system [ 4 ] ( http://science-metrix.com/?q=en/classification ). Thus, users can rank scientists according to each of the six metrics or the composite indicator and can limit the ranking to scientists with similar scientific field or top subfield for different levels of desired similarity.

A separate file (supplementary Table S3, http://dx.doi.org/10.17632/btchxktzyw.1#file-e30a1e62-daf4-49f1-b1ca-484a979f6500 ) lists the total number of authors in Scopus who have published at least five papers and breaks this down by their most common area of publications (for the 22 fields and 176 subfields mentioned above). A total of 6,880,389 scientists have published at least five papers. Because each of the top 100,000 authors can be assigned to the most common field or subfield to which his/her work belongs, a ranking can be obtained among authors assigned to the same main area based on what journals they publish in; e.g., suppose a scientist is ranked 256 in some particular metric among the 120,051 scientists in the subfield of immunology. Therefore, the scientist is in the top 0.21% (256/120,051) of authors by that metric in immunology.

For all 6,880,389 scientists, Table 1 shows the career-long 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentile of total citations and composite citation index according to each of the 22 fields. Table S3 provides the same information (along with 95th and 99th percentiles) for each of the 176 subfields as well. Thus, one can see the relative citation density of different fields. Moreover, any scientist who has published at least five papers can be ranked against these standard percentiles in his/her field or subfield based on his/her citation data from Scopus.

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Total citations include self-citations.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000384.t001

Existing ranking systems typically focus on single fields (e.g., ranking of authors in economics is performed by https://ideas.repec.org/top/ ) and use numbers of papers and total citations rather than multiple metrics. They also do not account for self-citation phenomena. Nevertheless, our databases still have limitations that have been discussed in detail previously in describing the methodology behind the composite indicator [ 2 ]. We should also caution again that citations from before 1996 are missing from our analysis. Overall, whole-career metrics place young scientists at a disadvantage. Single-year metrics remove much of this problem, although again, younger scientists have fewer years of publication history and thus probably fewer papers that can be cited in 2017. We have included the year of first (earliest) publication and the year of last (more recent) indexed publication of each author.

Publications of the scientists are extracted from the Scopus database using the author profiles, which are formed by a combination of curated profiles and profiles generated by an “author profiling” algorithm [ 5 ]. The reported precision and recall by Scopus in 2017 was 98% precision (i.e., on average, 98% of publications merged in a profile belong to one and the same person) at an average recall of 93.5% (i.e., on average, 93.5% of all publications of the same person are merged into one profile); the evaluation used a manual assessment of a sample of >6,000 authors for which the full publication history was collected and compared to what is available in the Scopus profiles. The precision/recall is higher as of April, 2019 at 99.9% and >94%, and the gold set used is also larger now, with >10,000 author records. Nevertheless, a few scientists still have their work split into multiple author records in Scopus; however, even then, one record usually carries the lion’s share of citations. We examined in depth a random sample of 500 author records among the top 1,000,000 records according to the 1996–2017 composite indicator, and we found 13 authors who had been split into two records each. It is possible that the most-cited/most-productive authors may have a higher chance of having split records. Among the top 150 in terms of composite indicator for 1996–2017, we found 20 who had two records and three who had three records among the top 1,000,000 records. However, in all cases, the top record captured the large majority of the citations, and for 11/23, the extra record(s) were not even among the top 100,000. Some other scientists with the same name may have been merged in the same record, but overall, disambiguation in Scopus has improved markedly in this regard, and major errors of this sort are currently very uncommon. They may be more common still for some Chinese and Korean names. Inappropriate merging may also be suspected when the top subfields are not contiguous, e.g., diabetes and particle physics.

Some citation indicators such as the h-index are highly popular, but all single indicators have shortcomings. For practical purposes, it is usually desirable to have a set of bibliometric indicators, each emphasizing a different aspect of the scientific impact of a scientist [ 6 ]. We offer the means to practice routinely such an approach. Of note, the six components of the composite indicator are not orthogonal but have correlations among themselves. Some bibliometrics experts may not favor composites that include correlated metrics and may prefer to inspect each one of them independently. Our databases also allow this approach.

The data sets that we provide also allow placing scientists in reference standards of almost two hundred fields. Still, some scientists may work in very small sub-subfields that may have different citation densities. Moreover, for very early career scientists, any citation metrics would have limited use since these researchers may not have published much yet and their papers would not have time to accrue citations.

A citation database is most useful when it can be regularly updated. We also provide here data that have been updated with an annual interval. We repeated the same exact analyses for career-long data until the end of 2018 (as opposed to the end of 2017) using a timestamped Scopus data set released on April 22, 2019. The data on the top-100,000–ranked scientists are provided in supplementary Table S4 ( http://dx.doi.org/10.17632/btchxktzyw.1#file-bade950e-3343-43e7-896b-fb2069ba3481 ). As one can see, the correlation between the two data sets is extremely high, and the vast majority of scientists do not change their ranking much. As an illustrative example, supplementary Table S5 ( http://dx.doi.org/10.17632/btchxktzyw.1#file-5d904ef8-fc87-4dbf-aaa7-ad33db9ac561 ) provides the ranking for a random sample of 100 authors sampled from those who were in the top 100,000 based on the composite index excluding self-citations. 93 of the 100 were among the top 100,000 in both assessments. Another five were very close to the top 100,000 with one assessment and at the lower end of the top 100,000 in the other assessment. Another two with modestly larger differences still did not shift by much in terms of their percentile ranking across all authors, with changes of 1% and 2% on the percentile ranking, respectively. Both of these changes were due to corrections in which papers are included in the author record rather than simply accrual of citations. For the vast majority of scientists, it is likely that percentile ranking may take many years to change substantially; therefore, the current databases that we have compiled can be used meaningfully for several years by the wider community before a new update is needed. We provide the databases as spreadsheets in Mendeley Data for entirely open, free public use. Instead of creating a formulaic website, spreadsheets can be downloaded, searched, and tailored for analyses by scientists in whatever fashion they prefer. Moreover, the percentile information could be used for placing a field-specific ranking for any scientist, not just the top 100,000.

We hope that the availability of standardized, field-annotated data will help achieve a more nuanced use of metrics, avoiding some of the egregious errors of raw bean-counting that are prevalent in misuse of citation metrics. Citation metrics should be used in a more systematic, less error-prone and more relevant, context-specific, and field-adjusted way and also allowing for removal of self-citations and detection of citation farms.

Citation analyses for individuals are used for various single-person or comparative assessments in the complex reward and incentive system of science [ 7 ]. Misuse of citation metrics in hiring, promotion or tenure decision, or other situations involving rewards (e.g., funding or awards) takes many forms, including but not limited to the use of metrics that are not very informative for scientists and their work (e.g., journal impact factors); focus on single citation metrics (e.g., h-index); and use of calculations that are not standardized, use different frames, and do not account for field. The availability of the data sets that we provide should help mitigate many of these problems. The database can also be used to perform evaluations of groups of individuals, e.g., at the level of scientific fields, institutions, countries, or memberships in diversely defined groups that may be of interest to users. Linkage to other author-based databases in the future may enhance the potential for further use in meta-research evaluations [ 8 ]. We discourage raw comparisons of scientists across very different fields. We cannot emphasize enough that use of these metrics needs to be prudent. Authors who detect errors in the entered data should contact Scopus to correct the respective entries and author records. We also welcome suggestions for more generic improvements that may augment the utility of the shared resource that we have generated.

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