WRITING REFERENCES IN BIBLIOGRAPHY
By: Dr Saeed Akhtar Khan,
Department of Pathology, University of Health Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan
Whether you are writing a research paper, a synopsis
or thesis, each reference quoted in the text must be given fully in the
end. All the references whether quoted
in the introduction, materials and methods, results or discussion are to be
given in full.
Names of the journals are abbreviated according
to the style of the Index Medicus, which published the list of the indexed
journals in the January issue or as a separate volume. Do not make your own abbreviations. Full references are given in the style of
Index Medicus.
Note: Index Medicus has ceased publication in
print form since December 2004.
Therefore PubMed/Medline is to be followed. Sample references
are available at the Bibliographic Services Division of the US National Library
of Medicine.
Examples of the frequently used references from different
sources are described below.
1. Reference from a journal article is quoted
thus: Surname of the author
Initials. Title of the
article. Name of the journal Year of publication; Volume number: First
page number – Last page number.
Khan SA.
A clinicomorphological study of malignancies of the breast. Biomedica 1988; 5: 69–75.
Note that there is a full stop after the name
of the author, a full stop after the title of the article, a space between the
name of the journal and the year of publication, a semi-colon after the year of
publication, a colon after the volume number and a dash between the first and
the last page numbers. These
punctuations are generally always followed.
2. When six or less authors have written the
articles, include all the names with initials.
Lewin KJ, Fair WR, Steigbigel RT, Winberg CD,
Droller MJ. Clinical and laboratory studies into the pathogenesis of
malakoplakia. J Clin Pathol 1976; 29: 354–363.
Names of the authors are separated by a comma
and there is a space between the surname and the initials. The last author is not separated from
other authors by the word and.
3. When more than six authors have written the
article, write the first six authors with initials followed by et al.
Jalil F, Lindbald BS, Hanson LA, Khan SR,
Ashraf RN, Carlisson B et al. Early child health in Lahore, Pakistan: I. Study
design. Acta Pædiatr 1993; 82 suppl 390: 3-16.
(Note: This is also an example of quoting a
reference from a supplement of the journal. Volume number of the journal is
followed by the supplement number)
4. When a team of authors has written a paper
(or a book), the name of the team takes the place of the authors.
The Royal Marsden Hospital Bone Marrow
Transplantation Team. Failure of syngeneic bone marrow graft without
preconditioning in post-hepatitis marrow aplasia. Lancet 1977; ii: 242-244.
Most of the publications by World Health
Organisation are by the teams and they usually appear as a team or by the name
of World Health Organisation.
5. When the author is not known, it is shown as
anonymous in a thesis. Editorial and
leading articles are such examples.
Anonymous. Coffee drinking and cancer of the
pancreas [Editorial]. BMJ 1981; 283: 628.
If you are writing a paper, you have to number
the references and you do not need to identify such an article by
anonymous. In such a case, the
reference in the text will be numbered and in the bibliography, it will appear
as follows.
Coffee drinking and cancer of the pancreas
[Editorial]. BMJ 1981; 283: 628.
7.In addition to editorials, abstracts, letters
etc are indicated in square brackets after the title.
Fuhrman SA, Joiner KA. Binding of the third
component of complement C3 by Toxoplasma gondii [abstract]. Clin Res 1987; 35:
475A.
8. When an article has been published and then
some correction has also been subsequently published, you should indicate the
correction as well.
Schofield A. The CAGE questionnaire and
psychological health [published erratum appears in Br J addict 1989; 84:701]. Br
J addict 1988; 83: 761-4.
9.When you are referring to an article, which
in fact is a comment on another article, you should indicate as such.
Piccoli A, Bssati A. Early steroid therapy in
IgA neuropathy: still an open question [comment]. Nephron 1989; 51: 289-91.
Comment on Nephron 1988; 48:12-17.
10.When a book is referred, the publishers are
also mentioned. Refer in this way.
Walter JB, Israel MS, editors. General
Pathology. 6th Ed. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone; 1987.p 101-102
11.When chapters in a book are written by
different authors and you want to quote from such a chapter, then give the name
of the author of the chapter first, which is the actual author.
Halloron PF. Tissue transplantation. In: Walter
JB, Israel MS, editors. General Pathology. 6th Ed. Edinburgh:
Churchill Livingstone; 1987. p 200–212.
12. If you want to refer to a monograph in a
series, follow the style given below.
Spjut HJ, Dorfman HD, Fechner RE, Ackerman LV.
Tumors of the bone and cartilage. Atlas of tumor pathology. 2nd series.
Fascicle 5. Washington: AFIP; 1971.
13. Reference from a thesis or dissertation is
given in this way.
Khan SA. A morphological study of cancerous and
paracancerous areas in mastectomy specimens [Thesis]. Lahore: University of the
Punjab; 1985: 34–37.
14. Reference of a software is given in this way. Title/Name of the software, sub-title/chapter if applicable (software), version. Operating system. Authors/publishers, year of publication.
DEVCAN:
Probability of Developing or Dying of Cancer (Software), version 4. Windows.
Wun LM. National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, 1999.
15. In a reference of a website you have to give: Author/Organization. Title. Website address/URL. You have to state that the article is available on line. Moreover, you have to give the date when you accessed the site. Example is given below.
World Health
Organization: WHO Mortality Database [On Line]. Available from URL:
www.who/int/whosis/mort [cited 1999, Jan 15].
The following example is from Uniform Requirements stating the pattern followed by US National Library of Medicine.
Morse SS. Factors in the emergence of infectious diseases. Emerg Infect Dis [serial online] 1995 [cited 1996 Jun 5]; 1(1): [24 screens]. Available from: URL: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/eid.htm
This is a brief description of a more usual situations of writing references based on uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. For other rare cases, you may consult the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals.
Sample references are also given on the website of National Library of Medicine, USA.