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BMJ Referencing

1.1 Books and monographs

Use the following format to reference books and monographs in BMJ (British Medical Journal) Referencing style:
Author(s) - surname and name/initials. Title. Edition, if not the first, followed by full stop. Principle place of publication: Publisher; Year of publication.

a) One author:

Pritchard B. Introduction to speech and language pathology. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone; 2001.

b) Two authors:

Pritchard B, Elliot NF. Acquired Aphasia. 3rd ed. London: Royal Society of Medicine; 2003.

c) For three to six authors cite as above. For books written by more than six authors, cite the first six then use et al.

Wilson S, Fitzpatrick E, White SR, Glare AG, Cherny P, Bingley RP, et al. Adolescent Pregnancy. New York: Springer; 1998.

d) Edited book cited in BMJ Referencing style:

Pallin M, editor. Palliative Care. Oxford: Blackwell Science; 1994.

e) Referring to a chapter in an edited book:

Stone BH. Palliative care in the emergency department. In: Pallin M, editor. Palliative Care. Oxford: Blackwell Science; 1994. p. 34-77.

1.2 Journals

The following format should be used to reference journal articles in the BMJ Referencing style:

Author(s) - surname and name/initials. Title of journal article. Title of journal (abbreviated according to the style of Index Medicus). Publication date in full; Volume (issue number): Page numbers.

a) One to six authors:

White AD, Bell PF, Willcox E. A Comparative Review of Palliative Care. N Engl J Med. 2000 Jul 18; 128(2): 12-79.

b) More than six authors in BMJ Referencing: List the first six authors followed by et al.

Rose Y, Ansell IP, Chang J, Sullivan OM, Palmer G, Boudreaux J, et al. A Program for Asthma Education. Brain Res. 1998; 45(1-2): 467-98.

c) Organisation in place of author:

Asthma Prevention Program Research Group. Impact of a Nurse-Initiated Asthma Care Protocol. Asthma Research. 1999; 20(5): 279-86.

d) No given author:

The Prevalence of Nocturnal Hypoxemia in Advanced Cancer. Br Med Bul 1999; 53: 114-93.

1.3 On-line references

To reference electronic material in the BMJ Referencing style use the following format:
Author(s) - surname and name/initials. Title of article. [Date]; Volume and (issue) number: [Page numbers]. Available from: underline the URL.

1.4 Conference referencing

Editor(s) - surname and name/initials. Title. Proceedings; Year month date; Place of conference. Publisher: Year of publication.

1.5 Other Published Material

a) Pamphlets and booklets cited in BMJ Referencing
Reference pamphlets and booklets in the same way you would reference a book.

b) Newspaper article
Author- surname initial(s). Title. Newspaper. Year month date; Page (col.).

c) Dissertations
Author- surname initial (s). Title [dissertation]. Place publication: Publisher; Year of publication.

Baker WP. Early language acquisition [dissertation]. Manchester: Univ. Manchester; 1979.

1.6 Personal communications

If you wish to cite from unpublished manuscripts, papers reported at meetings or conferences, or personal communications ensure you have permission from the source, then in BMJ Referencing cite only in the text:
...(A Jenkins, personal communication with the author, 2003)...

2. BMJ Referencing: Writing style

2.1 Text referencing

Reference, in BMJ Referencing, within the text by means of sequential numerical indicators. Reference numbers are placed after commas and full stops, but before colons and semicolons. This style of referencing has the advantage of not interrupting the flow of the text. References are numbered in the order in which they appear in the text. In the BMJ Reference section following the end of the article the full list of references can be found.

2.2 Spelling and Punctuation

Spelling
Use English not American spellings ie aetiology, haemorrhage, and s rather than z spellings i.e., organisation (not organization).

Punctuation
There are specific guidelines for the use of punctuation in the BMJ Referencing style. BMJ Referencing encourages the mimimal use of commas. Two particular uses, though, are stressed:
a) use before "and" and "or" in lists
b) use on both sides of parenthetical clauses or phrases, and with commenting clauses.
Likewise, only minimal hyphenation is permitted in BMJ Referencing. Use hyphens only for words with non-, -like, -type, and for adjectival phrases that include a preposition (one-off event, run-in trial). Capitalisation as well is kept to a mimimum. BMJ Referencing makes use of capitals only for names and proper nouns. It is not acceptable in BMJ Referencing to capitalise the names of studies. Double inverted commas are used as quotation marks with full stops and commas placed inside the quotation marks. Exclamation marks are not to be used, unless they are within a direct quotation. In BMJ Referencing there are no full stops in initials or abbreviations.

2.3 Grammar

In BMJ Referencing, use of the first person is permitted where necessary. Authors are encouraged to avoid the use of long, complex sentence structures with several embedded clauses within one sentence. Avoid using "he" as a general pronoun. Instead, use "they" or, in cases where that is not possible, "he or she".

2.4 Technical terms

Drugs, in BMJ Referencing, must be referred to by their approved non-proprietary names. If referring to new or experimental preparations the source should be given.
Blood pressure should be expressed in mm Hg. Other scientific measurements, in BMJ Referencing, are given in SI units.
Spell numbers under 10, with the exception of a) measurements with a unit (7mmol/l) b) age (14 days old), or c) when in a list with other numbers.
Give raw numbers alongside percentages, and as supporting data for P values.

2.5 Tables

In BMJ Referencing, ensure that any tables used do not duplicate information already made explicit in the text. Tables should be simple and fit on one page.

3. BMJ Referencing: Guidelines

BMJ Referencing conforms in most respects to the Vancouver style.
Further information on the Vancouver style is available at:
www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html
For the BMJ Guidelines see:
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/advice/stylebook/basics.shtml

BMJ Referencing Guidelines recommend Whitakers Almanac and Times Gazetteer as sources for geographical names.

The preferred dictionaries are Chambers 21st Century Dictionary for general usage and Dorlands for medical terms.