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I am currently attempting to submit my work to Springer Open. They have specified that the article should adhere to the BioMed Central article format (bmcart) along with BibTeX. However, upon careful observation of the articles they have published, a significant discrepancy in the bibliography format arises. The published articles utilize the APA 7th edition format, whereas bmcart lacks this option, providing only the vancouver and bmcart styles. Due to the absence of the APA 7th style in the .bst files, I attempted to test the use of the IEEEtran.bst to determine if bmcart supports alternative bibstyles.

\documentclass[twocolumn]{bmcart}

%%% Load packages
%\usepackage{amsthm,amsmath}
%\RequirePackage{natbib}
%\RequirePackage[authoryear]{natbib}% uncomment this for author-year bibliography
%\RequirePackage{hyperref}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} %unicode support
%\usepackage[applemac]{inputenc} %applemac support if unicode package fails
%\usepackage[latin1]{inputenc} %UNIX support if unicode package fails


%%% Begin ...
\begin{document}


\section*{Content}
Text and results for this section, as per the individual journal's instructions for authors. \cite{koon,oreg,khar,zvai,xjon,schn,pond,smith,marg,hunn,advi,koha,mouse}


\begin{backmatter}
\bibliographystyle{IEEEtran} % Style BST file (bmc-mathphys, vancouver, spbasic).
\bibliography{bmc_article}      % Bibliography file (usually '*.bib' )
\end{backmatter}
\end{document}


%%%%%%
The comment mentioned above has been left as is in accordance with the original file format of bmcart.
%%%%%%

The following image illustrates the differences in bibliographic styles resulting from the compilation using two distinct BibTeX styles: bmc-mathphys.bst (original formating) and IEEEtran.bst

result using IEEEtran.bst in bmcart format

It appears that BMCart does, to some extent, support an alternative bibliography style. However, the numbering remains unchanged from its original style.

The issue at hand is that articles submitted to Springer Open are expected to follow the APA 7th edition format for their bibliography. While Springer Open does not explicitly state the use of APA 7th edition, my assumption stems from the fact that their recent articles adhere to this format. My main concern is whether it is possible to implement the APA 7th edition format in bmcart.cls. It seems that bmcart does not support the use of alternative bibstyles to some extent (though theoretically, it should be possible given that published articles use the APA 7th edition; however, the specific procedure is unclear to me).

The BioMed Central format specified by Springer Open can be accessed through the following link: http://media.biomedcentral.com/content/production/bmc_article-tex.zip

Thank you for your attention, and I hope you can assist me in this matter.

Mico
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RaihanBaiz
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    Welcome to TeX.SE. Your writeup is a bit confusing. You mention that you're supposed to be using the bmc-mathphys bib style, yet you report that you actually appear to use the IEEEtran bib style. Quick question: After changing the argument of \bibliographystyle to bmc-mathphys, did you run a full recompile cycle -- consisting of running LaTeX, BibTeX, and LaTeX twice more? What does the .blg ("BibTeX log") file say regarding which bib style was employed by BibTeX? – Mico Jan 03 '24 at 03:07
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    (continued comment) What did you mean by "For instance, when I conducted a test using IEEEtran.bst"? E.g., why would you perform a test with the IEEEtran bibliography style when the instructions say to use the bmc-mathphys bibliography style? Please advise. – Mico Jan 03 '24 at 03:12
  • Im sorry if my question a bit confusing, so to clarify.

    Springer Open explicitly states the use of the bmcart format for submission. However, upon careful observation of the articles they have published, a significant discrepancy in the bibliography format arises. The published articles utilize the APA 7th edition format, whereas bmcart lacks this option, providing only the Vancouver and bmcart styles.

     – RaihanBaiz Jan 03 '24 at 03:25
  • (continued comment) Due to the absence of the APA 7th style in the .bst files, I attempted to test the use of the IEEEtran.bst to determine if bmcart supports alternative bibstyles. As indicated in the mentioned illustration, it appears that bmcart does not support this format. Consequently, the situation persists, where the published articles employ the APA 7th edition bibliography style, while bmcart seems to only support the provided formats, with the added limitation that APA 7th is not available in bibstyle form to the best of my knowledge. – RaihanBaiz Jan 03 '24 at 03:25
  • @Mico And about your question, yes i did run a full recompile cycle, i already set my editor to always do that and when i open the BibTex log as you asked me, there is nothing in it. I dont know if i open it in the wrong way, but when i open it by double clicking it, it shows nothing. – RaihanBaiz Jan 03 '24 at 03:46
  • I perceive two separate issues: (a) the document class that's in use (bcmart), and (b) the bibliography style that's in use (possibly bmc-mathphys, but maybe something else). You keep referring to bcmart in your comments, but the document class does not determine the formatting of the bibliographic items. Instead, it's the bibliography style that matters here. As IEEEtran bib style makes no claim whatsoever as to implementing the APA7 guidelines, it's unclear to me why you would hold up IEEEtran as some kind of benchmark. What are you trying to do? – Mico Jan 03 '24 at 05:04
  • I re-read the instructions to authors in the zip file you provided. I can see absolutely no references to APA7 guidelines. Instead, I do see multiple, clear instructions to use the bmc-mathphys bibliography style (which predates the release of APA7 by several years and hence is rather unlikely to implement APA7 guidlines). Where does your insistence on following APA7 guidelines come from? – Mico Jan 03 '24 at 05:17
  • I believe the document class may have an impact on the bibliography style, as even without explicitly using a bibliography package like natbib, the bibliography is still generated. Regarding IEEEtran, my observation is that the document class seems to affect the generated bibliography style (.bst file). Even when using a different bibliography style other than IEEEtran, the outcome remains consistent, not aligning with the initially intended bibliography style. – RaihanBaiz Jan 03 '24 at 06:14
  • So the thing is, the submission guidelines do not explicitly state that I must use APA 7th edition. However, the article that has been published follows APA 7th edition. I have already contacted the journal officials, but as of now, there has been no reply. That is why I am seeking assistance in this forum while waiting for a response, hoping to find a solution to my problem. – RaihanBaiz Jan 03 '24 at 06:20
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    It's a mystery to me how employing the IEEEtran bibliography style might shed light on any of your stated concerns. The submission guidelines are quite self-explanatory: employ bmc_article.tex as a template for your document, employ the bmc-mathphys bib style, include the line @settings{label, options="nameyear"} in the bib file, and include the instruction \nocite{label} in the body of the tex file. – Mico Jan 03 '24 at 07:03

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