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BMJ Citation Generator
Generate references in BMJ from a DOI or link in seconds. CitApp renders this style with citeproc, the same engine as Zotero and Mendeley, so every comma matches the spec. Free for students, no sign-up to try.
What a BMJ reference looks like
BMJ is a numeric style: sources are cited with a bracketed or superscript number in the order they first appear, and the reference list is numbered to match.
Rendered live from the same engine CitApp uses in the app:
Journal article
1 Babonis LS, Martindale MQ. A novel regulatory gene network in cnidarians. PNAS. 2022;119:e2113701119. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2113701119
Book
1 Kuhn TS. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. University of Chicago Press 1970.
Web page
1 IPCC. Climate change 2021: the physical science basis. 2021. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/ (accessed 15 July 2026)
Journal article with 26 authors
1 Harris CR, Millman KJ, van der Walt SJ, et al. Array programming with NumPy. Nature. 2020;585:357–62. doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2649-2
BMJ at a glance
Read from the style file and checked against the examples above.
- Used mainly in medicine.
- In the text, the first source is cited as [1].
- For a paper with 26 authors, the reference list names the first 3 authors and shortens the rest.
- First names are shortened to initials.
- DOIs are printed with a "doi:" prefix.
- Web pages include the date you accessed them.
- The reference list is numbered in the order sources are first cited.
- The style file was last updated in June 2024.
The guide this style follows: group.bmj.com
How BMJ compares with NLM/Vancouver: Citing Medicine 2nd edition (citation-sequence, brackets)
Where BMJ differs:
- For a paper with 26 authors, the reference list names the first 3 authors and shortens the rest.
The same journal article in NLM/Vancouver: Citing Medicine 2nd edition (citation-sequence, brackets)
1. Babonis LS, Martindale MQ. A novel regulatory gene network in cnidarians. PNAS. 2022 May 3;119(19):e2113701119. doi:10.1073/pnas.2113701119
Frequently asked questions
How many authors does BMJ list?
For a paper with 26 authors, the reference list names the first 3 authors and shortens the rest.
How does BMJ handle DOIs and web pages?
DOIs are printed with a "doi:" prefix. Web pages include the date you accessed them.
How is the reference list ordered in BMJ?
The reference list is numbered in the order sources are first cited.
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