References Management

The Journal of Marine Studies (JoMS) is committed to the highest standards of academic publishing. A core element of scholarly integrity is the proper citation and documentation of sources. Accurate and consistent references enhance readability, ensure credibility, and facilitate a smooth editorial and production process. This policy outlines the mandatory requirements for managing references in all manuscripts submitted to JoMS.

Use of reference management software

All authors are required to use reference management software to organize, insert, and format citations and references. Supported software includes EndNote, Mendeley, Zotero, Citavi, and similar tools. The use of such tools is critical to ensure consistent formatting, reduce errors, and enable quicker processing during review. Manuscripts submitted without the use of reference software are likely to be returned to the author for correction prior to review.

Required citation style

JoMS follows the APA 7th Edition style guide as defined in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th Edition. All in-text citations and references must adhere to the rules specified in this manual.

In-text citations

In-text citations must be included for all paraphrased or directly quoted material. Parenthetical citations should follow the format (Author, Year), such as (Agnes, 2020); (Taylor, 2020a) and (Gaylor et al., 2015; Taylor, 2020b; Martin & Staibatt, 2022; Martin et al., 2023; (National Institute of Climatology and Meteorology [NICM], 2024) for the first citation and (NICM, 2020) for subsequent citations; Stanford University, 2024).

For narrative citations, the author’s name is part of the sentence followed by the year in parentheses: Agnes (2020); Taylor (2020a) and Taylor (2020b); Martin & Staibatt (2020); Martin et al. (2020); National Institute of Climatology and Meteorology (NICM, 2020) for First citation and NICM (2020) for subsequent citations; Stanford University (2020). For works with three or more authors, only the first author's surname should be used, followed by “et al.” from the first instance: (Costello et al., 2021).

Direct quotations must include a locator, such as a page number: “Oceanic biodiversity is facing unprecedented threats” (Pauly, 2024, p. 87).

Reference list formatting

The reference list must begin on a new page titled “References.” It should be double-spaced, organized alphabetically by the first author’s surname, and use a hanging indent format. All citations must be complete and conform to APA rules regarding capitalization, punctuation, italics, and DOI or URL formatting.

Examples of common reference types include:

Journal article:

Worm, B., Barbier, E. B., Beaumont, N., et al. (2006). Impacts of biodiversity loss on ocean ecosystem services. Science, 314(5800), 787–790. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1132294.

Gaylord, B., Kroeker, K. J., Sunday, J. M., Anderson, K. M., Barry, J. P., Brown, N. E., Connell, S. D., Dupont, S., Fabricius, K. E., Hall-Spencer, J. H., Klinger, T., Milazzo, M., Munday, P. L., Russell, B. D., Sanford, E., Schreiber, S. J., Thiyagarajan, V., Vaughan, M. L., Widdicombe, S., & Harley, C. D. (2015). Ocean acidification through the lens of ecological theory. Ecology, 96(1), 3-15. https://doi.org/10.1890/14-0802.1.

Darling, E. S., McClanahan, T. R., Maina, J., Gurney, G. G., Graham, N. A. J., Januchowski-Hartley, F., Cinner, J. E., Mora, C., Hicks, C. C., Maire, E., Puotinen, M., Skirving, W. J., Adjeroud, M., Ahmadia, G., Arthur, R., Bauman, A. G., Beger, M., Berumen, M. L., Bigot, L., . . . Mouillot, D. (2019). Social-environmental drivers inform strategic management of coral reefs in the Anthropocene. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 3, 1341- 350. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-0953-8.

Book:

Säwe, F. (2023). The offshore imperative: A study of marine renewable energy. North Sea Press.

Gosling, E. M. (2003). Bivalve molluscs: Biology, ecology, and culture. Blackwell Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470995532.

Book chapter in an edited volume:

Thurber, A. R. (2019). The ecology of chemosynthetic ecosystems. In D. E. Levin & S. A. Wood (Eds.), Extremophiles: From deep sea to deep space (pp. 45–78). Academic Press.

Ross, P. M., Scanes, E., Byrne, M., Ainsworth, T. D., Donelson, J. M., Foo, S. A., Hutchings, P., Thiyagarajan, V., Parker, & Laura, M. (2023). Surviving the anthropocene: The resilience of marine animals to climate change. In S. J. Hawkins, B. D. Russell, & T. P. A. (Eds.), Oceanography and Marine Biology (Vol. 61, pp. 35-80). CRC Press. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003363873-3.

Dataset:

National Centers for Environmental Information. (2024). NOAA daily weather data (Version 2.1) [Data set]. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. https://doi.org/10.25921/ds9w-g349.

Report or grey literature:

United Nations Environment Programme. (2023, November). Status of the world’s coral reefs: 2023 report. UNEP. https://www.unep.org/resources/report/status-worlds-coral-reefs-2023.

Queensland Department of Innovation and Tourism Industry Development. (2016). Advancing tourism 2016-20. Queensland Government. https://www.publications.qld.gov.au/dataset/ace405b1-1495-4d9e-8c5e-fec5767345c6/resource/df997cf7-14fc-47b1-ac99-ddc7f0975967/download/6127atsupdateweb.pdf.

Conferences:

Norton, K., Molon, I., Burkenn, W., Sansoto, A., & Louis, P. (2019, September 15-20). Bivalvia responses to ocean acidity threats: From cell to habit [Paper presentation]. 2019 Regional Malacology Congress, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

David, C. (2019, October 31 - November 3). Coral bleaching and their relationship to climate change [Poster presentation]. 9th International Conference on Marine and Fisheries, Auckland, New Zealand.

University thesis:

Nasuchon, N. (2017). The impacts of ocean warming and acidification on the behavior and muscular system of marine animals [Doctoral dissertation, Nagasaki University]. Nagasaki University Academic Research Repository. https://nagasaki-u.repo.nii.ac.jp/records/2698.

Author workflow

Authors should begin by selecting a suitable reference management tool and installing the associated plugin for their word processor. Once installed, set the citation style to APA 7th Edition. References should be imported from academic databases or entered manually, with care taken to verify all metadata. Citations should be inserted directly into the manuscript using the tool's plugin. The reference list must be generated automatically by the software to ensure formatting compliance.

Pre-submission review

Prior to submission, authors must confirm that all references have been managed using reference software and that APA 7th Edition formatting has been applied. Every in-text citation should have a matching entry in the reference list, and all references should be correctly styled and verified for accuracy. DOIs should be included where available, and URLs should link directly to the source content.

Policy enforcement

The JoMS editorial office conducts a technical check at the point of submission. Manuscripts that do not comply with this policy will be returned to authors without review. This strict enforcement ensures consistency across publications and reduces delays in the review process.

Support and resources

For guidance on APA 7th Edition formatting, authors are encouraged to consult the official APA Style website at https://apastyle.apa.org. For issues related to reference management software, please refer to the user documentation and help forums of the specific tool you are using.