1. Body
Information sources can be cited in two ways within a body of text: if the author’s name is an integral part of the sentence, include the publication date in brackets after the author’s name; or, if the source is not included within the information itself, include the author’s name and publication date together within brackets. For example:
Preferred style
Flannery (1995) reports the Sulawesi Fruit Bat as common near villages on the Sula Islands.
The Sulawesi Fruit Bat is common near villages on the Sula Islands (Flannery 1995).
Try to avoid
Flannery, 1995, reports the Sulawesi Fruit Bat as common near villages on the Sula Islands.
The Sulawesi Fruit Bat is common near villages on the Sula Islands; Flannery (1995).
The Sulawesi Fruit Bat is common near villages on the Sula Islands (Flannery (1995)).
2. Comma
Do not use a comma to separate author names and publication dates. For example:
Preferred style
The Sulawesi Fruit Bat is common near villages on the Sula Islands (Flannery 1995).
Try to avoid
The Sulawesi Fruit Bat is common near villages on the Sula Islands (Flannery, 1995).
3. Multiple authors
If a publication has two authors, use ‘and’ instead of an ampersand to link them. For example:
Preferred style
This species occurs in central to southern Chile and Argentina (Musser and Carleton 2005).
Try to avoid
This species occurs in central to southern Chile and Argentina (Musser & Carleton 2005)
4. Multiple sources
If more than one source is cited for the same information, use a comma to separate these. For example:
Preferred style
Brumback’s Night Monkey is a lowland species, with a range extending east from the Cordillera Oriental in Colombia, between the Ríos Arauca and Guaviare (Hershkovitz 1983, Defler 2003).
Try to avoid
Brumback’s Night Monkey is a lowland species, with a range extending east from the Cordillera Oriental in Colombia, between the Ríos Arauca and Guaviare (Hershkovitz 1983; Defler 2003).
Correct
Brumback’s Night Monkey is a lowland species, with a range extending east from the Cordillera Oriental in Colombia, between the Ríos Arauca and Guaviare (Hershkovitz 1983; Defler 2003, 2004a,b).
Incorrect
Brumback’s Night Monkey is a lowland species, with a range extending east from the Cordillera Oriental in Colombia, between the Ríos Arauca and Guaviare (Hershkovitz 1983; Defler 2003; 2004a&b).
Brumback’s Night Monkey is a lowland species, with a range extending east from the Cordillera Oriental in Colombia, between the Ríos Arauca and Guaviare (Hershkovitz 1983, Defler 2003, Defler 2004a; Defler 2004b).
5. Multiple references
Where several references occur with the same primary author, but different subsequent authors, and same year of publication, cluster the references by primary author; arrange the cluster alphabetically by secondary, tertiary, etc., author; add ‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’, ‘d’, etc. after the publication year; and cite the references as ‘primary author name et al. 2005a, primary author name et al. 2005b’. For example, the following publications:
Bennett, A., Hugill, B. and Knee, A. 1990. How to cite references. Bibliography Bible. 12(1): 5-10.
Bennett, A., Hugill, B., Stevens, B. and Knee, A. 1990. How to cite more references. Bibliography Bible. 12(2): 20-23.
Bennett, A., Stevens, B., Knee, A. and Hugill, B. 1990. Even more reference citations. Bibliography Bible. 12(3): 17-19.
Bennett, A., Stevens, B., Hugill, B. and Knee, A. 1990. Advanced citations for complicated references. Bibliography Bible. 13(1): 3-7.
Bennett, A., Knee, A. and Stevens, B. 1990. Who needs all these references anyway? Bibliography Bible. 13(2): 14-105.
Would be arranged as:
Bennett, Hugill and Knee 1990a
Bennett, Hugill, Stevens and Knee 1990b
Bennett, Knee and Stevens 1990c
Bennett, Stevens, Hugill and Knee 1990d
Bennett, Stevens, Knee and Hugill 1990e
And these would be cited in a body of text as:
“It is important to be consistent when citing information sources within a body of text (Bennett et al. 1990a, Bennett et al. 1990b, Bennett et al. 1990c, Bennett et al. 1990d, Bennett et al. 1990e).”
6. Multiple authors
If a publication has more than two authors, cite only the first author then use ‘et al.’. For example:
Preferred style
The identification of spawning sites in Lough Leane and their protection from declining water quality and development works is a priority to ensure the future survival of the species (Doherty et al. 2004).
Try to avoid
The identification of spawning sites in Lough Leane and their protection from declining water quality and development works is a priority to ensure the future survival of the species (Doherty, O’Maoileidigh and McCarthy 2004).
7. Personal communication
If the information source is a personal communication or a personal observation include the initial(s) of the person who communicated the information BEFORE the surname, followed by the appropriate abbreviation (no comma), then the year the information was received. For example:
Preferred style
The Macedonian Shad’s previously occurred in Lake Koronia, but in 1995 the lake dried up killing all the fish present there (G. Barbieri pers. comm. 2006).
Try to avoid
The Macedonian Shad’s previously occurred in Lake Koronia, but in 1995 the lake dried up killing all the fish present there (Barbieri, pers. comm.).
The Macedonian Shad’s previously occurred in Lake Koronia, but in 1995 the lake dried up killing all the fish present there (Barbieri, Pers. Comm., 2006).
NOTE: For all pers. comm., pers. obs., and in litt. citations, there should be a record of where the original statement came from (e.g., if in an email or a letter, an electronic or hard copy of this should be held somewhere and the details noted). Every field in SIS has a notes field attached to it where these details can be recorded. The notes field can be opened by clicking on the cogwheel icon attached to any and selecting Notes.
For example, the citation ‘M. Kottelat pers. comm. 2008’ may have the following note attached “M. Kottelat pers. comm. 2008: email dated 12th June 2008 from Maurice Kottelat to Kevin Smith (IUCN Freshwater Biodiversity Assessment Unit).
References in a bibliographic list
In SIS, information such as authors, publication year, title, journal name, book titles, etc. must be entered into separate fields; SIS can then automatically generate the reference citation in the appropriate format based on the reference type and the information in these fields.
In general, DO NOT add commas, full stops, semi-colons, etc. at the end of authors, titles, etc. in the SIS reference fields; these will be added automatically when the citation is generated. However, it is important to enter the information into the fields in the appropriate format otherwise the final citation will not follow the correct standard.
1. Author Names
- For all author names, use the format ‘Smith, A.B.’ (note that initials are separated by a full stop and no space).
- Separate co-author names using a comma.
- Use ‘and’ between the penultimate and last co-author names, with no comma before ‘and’.
- In general, where author names include text such as “de”, include this at the front of the surname.
- Where and author name has “junior” attached to it, add this as a abbreviation (Jr) at the end of the name.
For example:
Preferred style
Cochran, D.M. and Goin, C.J.
de Gaulle, C.
Smith, K., Jr. and Jones, P.A.
Carnaval, A.C.O.Q., Puschendorf, R., Peixoto, O.L., Verdade, V.K. and Rodrigues, M.T.
Try to avoid
Cochran, D.M. & C.J. Goin
Cochran, D. M. and Goin, C. J.
Gaulle, de C.
Gaulle, C. de
Smith, Jr. K., and Jones, P.A.
Smith, K. Junior and Jones, P.A.
Carnaval, A.C.O.Q., R., Puschendorf, O.L., Peixoto, V.K. Verdade and M.T. Rodrigues
Carnaval, A.C.O.Q., Puschendorf, R., Peixoto, O.L., Verdade, V.K., & Rodrigues, M.T.
2. Publication year
Enter the publication year without adding any punctuation after it. SIS will automatically add a full stop after the year when it creates the citation. For example:
Preferred style
1990
Try to avoid
1990.
1990,
3. Titles
In SIS, book titles are automatically italicised so there is no need to do this manually; for all reference types the just enter the title into the Title field. However, if Latin terms (e.g., scientific names) are included in the title, these need to be in italicised. Use html codes for this. Do not include any full stops at the end of the title. For example:
Preferred style
Alburnus vistonicus, a new species from eastern Greece, with remarks on Chalcaburnus chalcoides macedonicus from Lake Volv
Try to avoid
Alburnus vistonicus, a new species from eastern Greece, with remarks on Chalcaburnus chalcoides macedonicus from Lake Volvi.
Alburnus vistonicus, a new species from eastern Greece, with remarks on Chalcaburnus chalcoides macedonicus from Lake Volvi
4. Editors
- For editors names, the initials appear before the surname.
- Do not use a full stop or a comma after the editors names.
- SIS automatically adds the associated text for this (i.e., there is no need to add ‘In:’ or ‘(eds)’ in the Editor field).
For example:
Preferred style
C.D. Barker
C.D. Barker and A.B. Smith
Try to avoid
Barker, C.D. (ed.)
In: C.D. Barker and Smith, A.B. (eds),
5. Journal Titles
- In references, journal titles appear in italics. However, SIS automatically handles this formatting, so there is no need to add codes for italics in the Journal field.
- Avoid using abbreviations for journals, because 1) it can be difficult to maintain consistency and check that the correct abbreviations are used; and 2) it can be difficult to understand what these mean for some of the less well-known journals.
For example:
Preferred style
Oryx
Annales de la Faculté des Sciences du Yaoundé
Bulletin of Marine Science
Chelonian Conservation and Biology
Herpetological Review
Try to avoid
Oryx
Ann. Fac. Sci. Yaoundé
Bull. Mar. Sci.
Bull.Mar.Sci.
Chelonian Conservation & Biology
Herp. Review
Herp Rev
6. Journal volume, issue and page numbers
SIS formats these automatically, so there is no need to enter brackets, colons, spaces, etc. Simply type the appropriate information into the Volume, Issue and Pages fields.
