title: References for scientific papers: why not standardise to one global style?
abstract: The different reference styles demanded by journals, both for in-text citations and manuscript bibliographies, require that significant time and attention be paid to minute detail that constitute a tedious obstacle on the road to publication for all authors, but especially for those from resource-limited countries and/or writing in a second language. To illustrate this, we highlight different reference styles requested by five popular journals to which operational research papers are often submitted. We call for a simpler, standardised format for in-text and bibliography reference citations, so that researchers can concentrate on the science and its interpretation rather than fonts and punctuation.
authors.affiliation: International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), Paris, France ; Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Harries
authors.affiliation: International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), Paris, France ; The Union, South-East Asia Regional Office, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: A M V
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), Paris, France ; The Union, South-East Asia Regional Office, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Satyanarayana
authors.affiliation: International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), Paris, France ; School of Population Health, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bissell
authors.affiliation: International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), Paris, France ; Center for International Health, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: S G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Hinderaker
authors.affiliation: International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), Paris, France.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Edginton
authors.affiliation: Médecins Sans Frontières-Operational Centre Brussels, Medical Department, Operational Research Unit, MSF-Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Reid
authors.affiliation: Médecins Sans Frontières-Operational Centre Brussels, Medical Department, Operational Research Unit, MSF-Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zachariah
keywords: Médecins Sans Frontières; The Union; operational research capacity building; references