Looking at recent articles published in Stem Cell Reports or The American Naturalist (depending on your chosen citation style) is one of the best ways to compare your citations to those appearing in the journal whose style you're using. Here are links to access both journals online:

General Instructions from American Naturalist's Instructions for Authors page:

• Authors who use citation managers to generate reference lists automatically should still check through their reference text to ensure the citations are accurate and complete.

• We encourage authors to consider whether there are papers by scientists from diverse backgrounds that should be included in the Literature Cited.

• More info in the "References" section under MANUSCRIPT FORMAT

In-Text Citations

• In-text citations include first-author last names and year.
  • Here is a sample sentence that needs a citation (Ramanujan 2010).
• List in-text citations chronologically, then alphabetically for the same year.
  • Another great sentence that needs some citations (Xeno and Alpha 2019; Penguin et al. 2020; Poppins et al. 2020). 
  • Note that with the first citation, Xeno is author 1; that paper is cited first because it was written first.
  • Since Poppins and Penguin were published the same year, Penguin is listed first because 'e' is alphabetized before 'o'.

Literature Cited

• The Literature Cited is alphabetical by first-author's last name and year.
• Cite unpublished work as "A. B. Smith and C. D. Jones, unpublished data" or "E. F. Smith and G. H. Jones, unpublished manuscript."
• "In review" manuscripts should be referred to as unpublished manuscripts in text and not listed in the Literature Cited.
• Spell out all journal and press names in the literature cited.
• Provide the city of publication for books.
• Follow journal reference style. For example:

  • Hubbell, S. P., and R. B. Foster. 1986. Canopy gaps and the dynamics of a Neotropical forest. Pages 77-96 in M. J. Crawley, ed. Plant ecology. Blackwell Scientific, Oxford.

  • Maynard Smith, J. 1966. Sympatric speciation. American Naturalist 100:637-650.

  • Stier, A., N. B. Metcalfe, and P. Monaghan. 2020. Pace and stability of embryonic development affect telomere dynamics: an experimental study in a precocial bird model. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 287:20201378.

References in Stem Cell Reports citation style must follow the requirements shown on the Stem Cell Reports Information for Authors page under the section heading "References."