Books & book chapters

Reference type

  • Books

    Format for in-text citation

    Example

    Uses in 19th century medicine included3 …

    Format for Reference List

    Elements, punctuation and capitalisation

    Print book

    1. Author. Title of book: subtitle. Edition. Publisher; Year.

    Ebook with doi

    1. Author. Title of book: subtitle. Edition. Publisher; Year. doi:xxxxx

    Ebook with no doi, use accessible URL

    1. Author. Title of book: subtitle. Edition. Publisher; Year. Accessed Month Day, Year. URL

    Examples

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

    2. Glenn RW. Come hell or high fever: readying the world's megacities for disaster. ANU Press; 2023. doi:10.22459/CHHF.2023

    3. Martindale W. Coca and cocaine: their history, medical and economic uses, and medicinal preparations. H. K. Lewis; 1892. Accessed 2 June, 2023. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/70643


    Permanent link (books): https://library.unimelb.edu.au/recite/referencing-styles/vancouver/book/books

  • Book chapter in an edited book

    Format for in-text citation

    Example

    Carew and Flynn1 suggest this is under-represented in the literature because…

    Format for Reference List

    Elements, punctuation and capitalisation

    Print  book chapter

    1. Author (of chapter). Title of chapter. In: Editors (of book). Title of Book. Edition. Publisher; Year.

    Ebook chapter with doi

    1. Author (of chapter). Title of chapter. In: Editors (of book). Title of Book. Edition. Publisher; Year. doi:xxxxx

    Ebook chapter with no doi, use accessible URL

    1. Author (of chapter). Title of chapter. In: Editors (of book). Title of Book. Edition. Publisher; Year. Accessed Month Day, Year. URL

    Example

    1. Carew P, Flynn T. Hearing and language. In: Law J, Reilly S, McKean C, eds. Language Development: Individual Differences in a Social Context. Cambridge University Press; 2022. doi:10.1017/9781108643719


    Permanent link (book chapters): https://library.unimelb.edu.au/recite/referencing-styles/vancouver/book/bookchapter

Style notes for books & book chapters

  • Authors
    Number of authorsExample
    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 elementUse
    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.

Further help

General style notes

Formatting in-text citations and reference lists in the Vancouver style.

Referencing FAQs

Referencing FAQs not specific to a style.