Vancouver General Style Notes

References are presented in two ways:

A reference list (or bibliography) at the end of the work

In text citations

Three major systems of in-text references can be used: citation-sequence, citation-name, and name-year. This guide refers only to the citation-sequence (numeric) system of in-text referencing. In this system numbers are used in the text to refer to the reference list.

In Text Citations

References are numbered in the order they first appear in the text.
Assigned numbers are re-used each time a particular reference is cited.
Citation numbers can be superscripts e.g. "...was the most significant.⁴" or in round brackets e.g. "...was the most significant.(4)".
When citing multiple references join inclusive numbers using a hyphen e.g. (2-5). If numbers are non-inclusive separate with commas. e.g. (2,4,7,10).

Reference List

A reference list should include all (directly quoted or paraphrased) sources cited, a bibliography should include all sources consulted, whether or not they are directly quoted or paraphrased.
Entries are listed numerically (the same order that they are cited in the text).
Capitalize only the first word of a title (as well as words that would normally begin with a capital letter).
If no author or editor can be identified, begin the reference with the title.
Commonly used words in publisher names may be abbreviated. For example: Dept. for Department.
Place of publication
- If the publisher is located in more than one city: cite the city that is printed first.
- For cities that are not well known follow with the country name either written out in full or as the ISO country code. For example: Melbourne (Australia) OR Melbourne (AU).
- If no place of publication can be found but can reasonably be inferred, place the city in square brackets. Eg [Melbourne].
If no publisher can be found, use [publisher unknown].
If no date of publication can be found, use the copyright date preceded with ‘c’ c2010. If no copyright date can be found, use [date unknown]

Specific Reference Types

Books

Include edition if not the first (unless citing a first edition where subsequent editions exist).
Edited books
- Begin entry with name of editor follow the last named editor with a comma and the word editor or editors.
- List all editors regardless of number.
Pagination is optional.
Theses and dissertations
- Book type: for masters level use thesis, for doctorate level use dissertation.
- Place of publication is the University’s location.
- Publisher is the University.
- Give total number of pages of the book.

Journals

Journal references omit Place of publication and Publisher information.
Where a journal has changed its name - cite the journal name that was used at the time of publication.
Journal titles can be abbreviated, see PubMed Journals Database or Journals Indexed for MEDLINE.
The month and day (or the season) may be omitted from the date of publication if the journal is continuously paginated throughout the volume. However, the month and day (or the season) must be included when citing a journal that has no volume or issue number.
Online journal articles

cite the same as print journals with the following additions
- Medium = [Internet]
- Date cited
- URL or DOI
Where pagination is not provided, calculate the length of the document in terms of print pages, screens or paragraphs and place this information in square brackets.

Newspapers

The title of the newspaper is not abbreviated although ‘The’ may be dropped.
If the article is unsigned, begin the reference with the title of the article.
Note abbreviations
- Sect. for Section
- col. for column
If no section letter, number, or name is found, end date information with a colon and the pagination.
For example 1. Brumby calls for tough sentences. Herald Sun. 2008 October 29:5 (col. 2).

DVD, Video, TV or Radio Broadcast

For medium use videocassette, audiocassette, DVD etc.
If there is no author, editors may be moved to the author position.
Names of producers are added after the medium type. Follow that last named producer with a comma and the word producer or producers.

Electronic Sources

For medium use Internet, discussion list on the Internet, etc.
If no person or organization can be identified as the author, the reference begins with the title of the homepage.
If no dates can be found, use date cited.
Extent or pagination is optional but can be added as the total number of screens, paragraphs, lines, or bytes. eg, [5 paragraphs]. [13 lines]. [about 4 screens].
Online journal articles

Internet journals should be cited the same as print journals with the following additions.
- Medium = [Internet]
- Date cited
- URL or DOI
Where pagination is not provided, calculate the length of the document in terms of print pages, screens or paragraphs and place this information in square brackets.

For more information:

This guide is based on Patrias K. Citing medicine: the NLM style guide for authors, editors, and publishers [Internet]. 2nd ed. Wendling DL, technical editor. Bethesda (MD): National Library of Medicine (US); 2007 [updated 2009 Oct 21].