BMJ referencing for Clinical Sciences
Formatting references
Book
Template
Author/s (Family name Initials). Title of book. Edition. Place of publication: Publisher, Year.
Example
McKinnell RG. The biological basis of cancer. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2006.
Book chapter
Template
Author/s of chapter (Family name Initials). Title of chapter. In: Editor of book (Family name
Initials), editor(s). Title of book. Edition. Place of publication: Publisher, Year: Start page – end
page.
Example
Collins I, Workman P. Modern cancer drug discovery. In: Neidle S, editor. Cancer drug design and
discovery. London: Academic, 2008:3-38.
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BMJ referencing for Clinical Sciences
Major reference work
For example: British National Formulary, Merck Index, Martindale, encyclopedias and
dictionaries.
Template
Title of work. Edition. Place of publication: Publisher, Year: Start page – end page.
NB No author’s or editor’s name is given.
Example
Merck Index. 13th ed. Rahway, N.J.: Merck, 2001:738-39.
Journal article
Use abbreviated journal titles (abbreviations may be found in Pubmed’s Journals Database).
Template
Author/s (Family name Initials). Title of article. Title of journal Year; Volume: Start page – end
page.
Examples
Newell DR. How to develop a successful cancer drug - molecules to medicines or targets to
treatments? Eur J Cancer 2005;41:676-82.
Parkin DM, Bray F, Ferlay J, Pisani P. Global cancer statistics, 2002. CA Cancer J Clin 2005;55:74108.
Journal title abbreviations may be found at:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/journals
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BMJ referencing for Clinical Sciences
Web page
Authors may be institutions rather than individuals. This is true for any type of publication, but
most commonly seen in Web page references.
Template
Author/s (Family name Initials). Title. Publisher, Year. Web address .
Example
Cancer Research UK. Mortality from cancer worldwide. Cancer Research UK, 2005.
http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/cancerstats/geographic/world/mortality/.
Citing in the text
Every time you refer to someone else’s work you must cite them. The citation is a number in
superscript 123 etc. The first item you cite is numbered 1 and the second numbered 2 and so on.
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BMJ referencing for Clinical Sciences
NOTES
Images and direct quotations
Direct quotations are not generally used in advanced scientific work and you should not use
them.
Charts, diagrams and images may be used in scientific work.
Example of image and citation
Fig. 1 DNA damage and cancer2
How many authors should I list?
Many articles are written by more than one person, but articles would soon become very long if
you had to list them all in the reference list.
Rule:
List all authors up to a maximum of six. If there are more than six, list the first six followed by et
al.
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BMJ referencing for Clinical Sciences
SAMPLE ESSAY SECTION
Drugs and cancer
Causes of cancer
Many factors are known to increase the risk of cancer, including smoking, alcohol and diet1.
Fig. 1 DNA damage and cancer2
How common is cancer?
Cancer is one of the most common diseases in the world and its incidence is increasing 3. It is a
major cause of death in all areas of the world, including developing countries4 .
Drug treatments for cancer
However, the cure rate for many forms of cancer is also increasing 5, thanks to the use of drugs
such as tamoxifen6.
In the last few years, the process of cancer drug discovery has been transformed by the
development of targeted therapies7.
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BMJ referencing for Clinical Sciences
References
1 Ruddon RW. Cancer biology. New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
2 Adams SF. DNA and cancer. 3rd ed. Oxford: Blackwell Science, 2012.
3 Parkin DM, Bray F, Ferlay J, Pisani P. Global cancer statistics, 2002. CA Cancer J Clin
2005;55:74-108.
4 Cancer Research UK. Mortality from cancer worldwide. Cancer Research UK, 2005.
http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/cancerstats/geographic/world/mortality/
5 Collins I, Workman P. Modern cancer drug discovery. In: Neidle S, editor. Cancer drug design
and discovery. London: Academic, 2008:3-38.
6 Merck Index. 13th ed. Rahway, N.J.: Merck, 2001:738-39.
7 Newell DR. How to develop a successful cancer drug - molecules to medicines or targets to
treatments? Eur J Cancer 2005;41:676-82.
HELP
For details of the BMJ referencing system see;
http://www.bmj.com/about-bmj/resources-authors/house-style (under References).
For details of a wider range of formats see:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html
For assistance please contact:
Anne Costigan,
Room 1.6, JB Priestley Library,
Tel: 01274 233372
E-mail: A.T.Costigan@bradford.ac.uk
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