How to cite a patent in BMJ

Example

This example is rendered with the official CSL definition for BMJ. For the exact style required by your journal, paste your references into DEEPNOTIS and pick that style from the dropdown — the app covers 2,800+ variants.

What you need

For a patent, BMJ expects these fields at minimum:

• Inventor(s)
• Year
• Patent title
• Patent number
• Jurisdiction

Common mistakes

• Mixing bibliography formatting with in-text citation rules. Reference-list entries and in-text cites follow different patterns — use the style's official guide for both.
• Forgetting the DOI. When a DOI exists, most styles now require it (usually as a full https://doi.org/… URL).
• Inconsistent capitalization. APA uses sentence case for titles; MLA and Chicago use title case. Mixing them is the single most common style error.