Vancouver

Style notes

Here are some notes on the Vancouver style to get you started. For more specific instructions check the style notes on each reference type.

• What does Vancouver style look like?

  Example:

  Salmonella infections are common worldwide with an estimated 150 million cases and 60,000 deaths annually.¹ The "Can I Eat That?" app² is a valuable tool for travellers in assessing the safety of consuming local food.
  
  References
  
  1. Plumb I, Fields P, Bruce B. Salmonellosis, Nontyphoidal. CDC Yellow Book 2024. Updated May 1, 2023. Accessed June 23, 2023. https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/yellowbook/2024/infections-diseases/salmonellosis-nontyphoidal
  
  2. Seed SM, Khov SL, Binguad FS, Abraham GM, Aungst TD. Identification and review of mobile applications for travel medicine practitioners and patients. J Travel Med. 2016;23(4):taw034. doi:10.1093/jtm/taw034

• In text citations - style notes
  • Order
    • numbered consecutively in the order they appear in the text
  • Type of numbers
    • superscript Arabic numerals
      Example
      Several studies have shown^1,2 ...
  • Postion of numbers
    • After a comma and before colons and semicolons.
      Example
      Previous research shows,⁴…
      The data were as follows⁵:
    • Try to avoid putting numbers at the end of the sentence. If needed put after the full stop.
      Example
      The design was informed by the need for bodily communication.⁶
  • More than one source
    • Use commas without spaces to separate two sources
      Example
      The case studies^7,8 indicated...
    • For three or more references in numerical order, use a hyphen to join the first and last numbers.
      Example
      Meta-analysis of research shows,^9–14…
• Reference list - style notes

  The reference list contains all the citations you have referred to in your text.

  They appear in the same numerical order as the citations.

  • Order of References
    • References are listed in numerical order, and in the same order in which they are cited in the text.
    • The reference list appears at the end of your paper, before appendices
  • Formatting
    • Begin your reference list on a new page with the title 'References'.
    • Can be indented or not, your choice.

  • Missing Elements
    • No year of publication = date unknown 
    • No publisher = Publisher unknown
    • No author =  do not replace it with Anonymous. This is only used if the author is specifically credited as Anonymous
  • Journal abbreviations
    • Use the  NLM (National Library of Medicine) Catalog abbreviations, don’t make up your own.
  • Author initials
    • Provide initials for all of the given names for each author with no spaces or punctuation.
• Full style manual

  Using the information on Re:cite should be enough to create citations and references, however if you need further information you can review the full style manual online.

  AMA Manual of Style, 11th Edition (ebook).

Reference Management tools

Access Vancouver style in Endnote and Zotero and a quick export from PubMed.

• Reference management software

  EndNote

  The JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) output style can be added to your list of styles.

  Tools > Output styles > New style (choose JAMA) and add to your frequently used styles.

  Zotero

  You can download the style from the repository.

• Export from PubMed

  You can output the text of a reference in Vancouver style from PubMed.

  This is suitable for placing directly in documents, not for use in reference management software.

  Click Cite > Format (choose AMA)

  

Style notes for journal articles

• Authors

  Number of authors	Example
  0	Leave blank
  1	Doherty P
  2-6	Lo Bianco J, Slaughter Y.
  6+	Lacy-Nichols J, Nandi S, Mialon M, et al

  No author

  • Leave author blank.
  • Don't use Anonymous unless the author is specifically credited as Anonymous

  Nobel lectures in physiology or medicine 1922-1941. World Scientific 1999.

  1 author

  • Use initials for all of the given names of the author.
  • No punctuation in between surname and initials.

  Doherty P. An insider's plague year. Melbourne University Press; 2021.

  2–6 authors

  • Use initials for all of the given names of the author.
  • No punctuation in between surname and initials.
  • Use a comma to separate authors.

  Lo Bianco J, Slaughter Y. Second languages and Australian schooling. Australian Education Review. ACER Press; 2009.

  6+ authors

  • Use initials for all of the given names of the author.
  • No punctuation in between surname and initials.
  • After 3 authors use et al

  Lacy-Nichols J, Nandi S, Mialon M, et al. Conceptualising commercial entities in public health: beyond unhealthy commodities and transnational corporations. Lancet. 2023;401(10383):1214-1228. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(23)00012-0

• Journal abbreviations

  Use the  NLM (National Library of Medicine) Catalog abbreviations, don’t make up your own.

Style notes for books & book chapters

• Authors

  Number of authors	Example
  0	Leave blank
  1	Doherty P
  2-6	Lo Bianco J, Slaughter Y.
  6+	Lacy-Nichols J, Nandi S, Mialon M, et al

  No author

  • Leave author blank.
  • Don't use Anonymous unless the author is specifically credited as Anonymous

  Nobel lectures in physiology or medicine 1922-1941. World Scientific 1999.

  1 author

  • Use initials for all of the given names of the author.
  • No punctuation in between surname and initials.

  Doherty P. An insider's plague year. Melbourne University Press; 2021.

  2–6 authors

  • Use initials for all of the given names of the author.
  • No punctuation in between surname and initials.
  • Use a comma to separate authors.

  Lo Bianco J, Slaughter Y. Second languages and Australian schooling. Australian Education Review. ACER Press; 2009.

  6+ authors

  • Use initials for all of the given names of the author.
  • No punctuation in between surname and initials.
  • After 3 authors use et al

  Lacy-Nichols J, Nandi S, Mialon M, et al. Conceptualising commercial entities in public health: beyond unhealthy commodities and transnational corporations. Lancet. 2023;401(10383):1214-1228. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(23)00012-0

• Missing elements of a reference

  Missing element	Use
  Year of publication	date unknown
  Publisher	Publisher unknown
  Author	leave blank

  • Do not use Anonymous for no author. This is only used if the author is specifically credited as Anonymous
• Book chapters in an authored book

  For book chapters in authored book (rather than a book with editors and different authors for book chapters) refer to whole book.

• Edition

  Include edition number if it's not the first edition.

• Books not yet published

  Use 'Forthcoming' after publisher. 'In press' is no longer used.

Style notes for newspaper articles

• Authors

  Number of authors	Example
  0	Leave blank
  1	Doherty P
  2-6	Lo Bianco J, Slaughter Y.
  6+	Lacy-Nichols J, Nandi S, Mialon M, et al

  No author

  • Leave author blank.
  • Don't use Anonymous unless the author is specifically credited as Anonymous

  Nobel lectures in physiology or medicine 1922-1941. World Scientific 1999.

  1 author

  • Use initials for all of the given names of the author.
  • No punctuation in between surname and initials.

  Doherty P. An insider's plague year. Melbourne University Press; 2021.

  2–6 authors

  • Use initials for all of the given names of the author.
  • No punctuation in between surname and initials.
  • Use a comma to separate authors.

  Lo Bianco J, Slaughter Y. Second languages and Australian schooling. Australian Education Review. ACER Press; 2009.

  6+ authors

  • Use initials for all of the given names of the author.
  • No punctuation in between surname and initials.
  • After 3 authors use et al

  Lacy-Nichols J, Nandi S, Mialon M, et al. Conceptualising commercial entities in public health: beyond unhealthy commodities and transnational corporations. Lancet. 2023;401(10383):1214-1228. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(23)00012-0

• Newspaper title

  Add a city name if necessary for clarification.

Style notes for theses

• Authors

  Number of authors	Example
  0	Leave blank
  1	Doherty P
  2-6	Lo Bianco J, Slaughter Y.
  6+	Lacy-Nichols J, Nandi S, Mialon M, et al

  No author

  • Leave author blank.
  • Don't use Anonymous unless the author is specifically credited as Anonymous

  Nobel lectures in physiology or medicine 1922-1941. World Scientific 1999.

  1 author

  • Use initials for all of the given names of the author.
  • No punctuation in between surname and initials.

  Doherty P. An insider's plague year. Melbourne University Press; 2021.

  2–6 authors

  • Use initials for all of the given names of the author.
  • No punctuation in between surname and initials.
  • Use a comma to separate authors.

  Lo Bianco J, Slaughter Y. Second languages and Australian schooling. Australian Education Review. ACER Press; 2009.

  6+ authors

  • Use initials for all of the given names of the author.
  • No punctuation in between surname and initials.
  • After 3 authors use et al

  Lacy-Nichols J, Nandi S, Mialon M, et al. Conceptualising commercial entities in public health: beyond unhealthy commodities and transnational corporations. Lancet. 2023;401(10383):1214-1228. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(23)00012-0

Style notes for websites and social media

• Authors

  Number of authors	Example
  0	Leave blank
  1	Doherty P
  2-6	Lo Bianco J, Slaughter Y.
  6+	Lacy-Nichols J, Nandi S, Mialon M, et al

  No author

  • Leave author blank.
  • Don't use Anonymous unless the author is specifically credited as Anonymous

  Nobel lectures in physiology or medicine 1922-1941. World Scientific 1999.

  1 author

  • Use initials for all of the given names of the author.
  • No punctuation in between surname and initials.

  Doherty P. An insider's plague year. Melbourne University Press; 2021.

  2–6 authors

  • Use initials for all of the given names of the author.
  • No punctuation in between surname and initials.
  • Use a comma to separate authors.

  Lo Bianco J, Slaughter Y. Second languages and Australian schooling. Australian Education Review. ACER Press; 2009.

  6+ authors

  • Use initials for all of the given names of the author.
  • No punctuation in between surname and initials.
  • After 3 authors use et al

  Lacy-Nichols J, Nandi S, Mialon M, et al. Conceptualising commercial entities in public health: beyond unhealthy commodities and transnational corporations. Lancet. 2023;401(10383):1214-1228. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(23)00012-0

• Missing elements

  It is common for element to be missing from web references. Only include the details you can see on the resource.