COPHS Plagiarism & Citation Guide: Journals & Magazines

Rules for Journals & Magazines

• Do not cite PubMed, EBSCO or other generic reference.
• Include all authors unless there are more than six. If 7 or more, list the first 3, followed by the phrase et al.
• Abbreviate and italicize the names of journals. The official journal abbreviation is usually provided at the end of the abstract or at the bottom of the journal page. If it is not, journal abbreviations can be found through PubMed by following these steps:
  • Go to http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/journals/
  • In the search field type the full journal name
  • In the results, look at the line “NLM Title Abbreviation”
• For article titles, only capitalize the first letter of the first word, proper nouns, and abbreviations ordinarily capitalized (eg. DNA, EEG)
• Do not place spaces between the year;volume(issue number):pages.
• A DOI is preferable to a URL if one is available.
• Do not include a URL and accessed date for articles for which a DOI is available.
• If a DOI is not available for an online journal article, a URL and accessed date may be used.
• When referencing articles found in journal supplements, place (Suppl) in parenthesis immediately after the journal volume or issue number.
• If an article is published online ahead of print, and the print version is not yet available, place [published online Month Day, Year] immediately after the journal name.
• If only an abstract is available indicate that you are referencing an abstract by putting [abstract] after the title of the article and before the period separating the article title from the journal.

Online Journals

The basic format for reference to an article in an online journal is as follows:

• Author Last Name First Initial Middle Initial. Title of article. Accepted abbreviation of Journal. Year; Volume(Issue No):Page numbers. doi:xx.xxx
• Sunyer X, Astrup A, Fujioka K, et al. A randomized, controlled trial of 3.0 mg of liraglutide in weight management. N Engl J Med. 2015;373(1):11-22. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1411892

Print Journals

The basic format for reference to an article in a print journal is as follows:

• Author Last Name First Initial Middle Initial. Title of article. Accepted abbreviation of Journal. Year; Volume(Issue No):Page numbers.
• Beaber EF, Buist DS, Barlow WE, Malone KE, Reed SD, Li CI. Recent oral contraceptive use by formulation and breast cancer risk among women 20 to 49 years of age [abstract]. Cancer Res. 2014;74(15):4078- 89