Modern Habitat Reference Style (MHRS)
Citation and Referencing Guidelines
- General Principles
Modern Habitat Journal adopts the Modern Habitat Reference Style (MHRS), a numerical citation system designed to ensure accuracy, consistency, transparency, and international scholarly standards in scientific publishing.
All sources cited within the manuscript must appear in the reference list, and all references included in the reference list must be cited in the manuscript text.
Authors are responsible for the completeness and accuracy of all bibliographic information.
- In-Text Citations
References should be cited sequentially according to the order of first appearance in the manuscript.
Citation numbers should be presented using Arabic numerals enclosed in square brackets.
Examples
Single reference:
Environmental sustainability requires integrated planning approaches [1].
Multiple references:
Several studies have confirmed this relationship [2,4,7].
Consecutive references:
Previous investigations reported similar findings [5–8].
Author names may be mentioned in the narrative; however, the citation number must still be provided.
Example:
Rahimi and colleagues [9] demonstrated that environmental resilience is strongly associated with institutional capacity.
A reference cited more than once should retain its original citation number throughout the manuscript.
- Reference List Organization
The reference list must:
- Appear at the end of the manuscript.
- Be arranged numerically according to citation order.
- Use a hanging indent format.
- Include DOI information whenever available.
- Follow consistent punctuation and formatting throughout.
- Journal Articles
Standard Format
Author(s). Title of article. Journal Title. Year;Volume(Issue):Page Range. DOI
Example
[1] Ahmadi M, Rezaei H, Karimi A. Environmental risk assessment of urban ecosystems. Journal of Environmental Management. 2025;112(4):325–338. https://doi.org/xx.xxxx/xxxxx
- Journal Articles with Article Numbers
Format:
Author(s). Article title. Journal Title. Year;Volume:Article Number. DOI
Example:
[2] Wang Y, Li X. Artificial intelligence for environmental monitoring. Heliyon. 2025;11:e12548. https://doi.org/xx.xxxx/xxxxx
- Books
Format:
Author(s). Book Title. Edition. Place of Publication: Publisher; Year.
Example:
[3] Cunningham WP, Cunningham MA. Environmental Science. 15th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2022.
- Chapters in Edited Books
Format:
Author(s). Chapter title. In: Editor(s), editor(s). Book Title. Place of Publication: Publisher; Year. p. xx–xx.
Example:
[4] Smith J. Environmental policy analysis. In: Brown P, editor. Environmental Governance. London: Routledge; 2021. p. 80–105.
- Conference Proceedings
Format:
Author(s). Title of paper. In: Proceedings of Conference Name; Date; Location. Place of Publication: Publisher; Year. p. xx–xx.
Example:
[5] Rahimi A, Hosseini M. GIS-based environmental assessment. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Sustainable Development; 2024; Istanbul, Turkey. Cham: Springer; 2025. p. 45–58.
- Thesis and Dissertation
Format:
Author. Title [Master’s thesis or Doctoral dissertation]. Institution; Year.
Example:
[6] Moradi S. Climate resilience assessment in urban environments [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Tehran; 2024.
- Reports and Institutional Publications
Format:
Organization Name. Report Title. Place of Publication: Publisher; Year.
Example:
[7] United Nations Environment Programme. Global Environment Outlook. Nairobi: UNEP; 2024.
- Websites and Online Resources
Format:
Author/Organization. Title of webpage. Available at: URL. Accessed Month Day, Year.
Example:
[8] United Nations. Sustainable Development Goals. Available at: https://sdgs.un.org. Accessed February 10, 2026.
- Datasets
Format:
Author(s). Dataset Title [dataset]. Repository Name. Year. DOI or URL.
Example:
[9] Hosseini M, Ahmadi A. Urban Air Quality Database [dataset]. Zenodo. 2025. https://doi.org/xx.xxxx/xxxxx
- Software and Computer Programs
Format:
Developer/Author. Software Name [software]. Version. Publisher; Year. DOI or URL.
Example:
[10] QGIS Development Team. QGIS Geographic Information System [software]. Version 3.40. Open Source Geospatial Foundation; 2025.
- Preprints
Format:
Author(s). Title. Preprint at Repository Name. Year. DOI.
Example:
[11] Zhang L, Chen H. Climate adaptation modeling in coastal regions. Preprint at EarthArXiv. 2025. https://doi.org/xx.xxxx/xxxxx
- Reference Quality Standards
To ensure scientific rigor and international visibility, authors are encouraged to:
- Cite primarily peer-reviewed scholarly sources.
- Use recent literature whenever appropriate.
- Include international and high-impact references.
- Cite original sources rather than secondary references.
- Avoid excessive self-citation.
- Avoid citing predatory journals or unreliable websites.
For research articles, it is recommended that at least 70% of references be published within the previous ten years unless older sources are considered seminal or foundational works.
- DOI Policy
Whenever a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) exists, it must be included in the reference.
DOIs should be presented in the following format:
DOI information takes precedence over ordinary URLs.
- Reference Accuracy
The Editorial Office reserves the right to return manuscripts to authors for correction when references are incomplete, inaccurate, inconsistent, or not prepared according to MHRS guidelines.
Failure to comply with MHRS requirements may delay peer review and editorial evaluation.