http://en.wikipedia.

org/wiki/Vancouver_system#History, 31 Mei 2013

History
The Vancouver system takes its name from a meeting in Vancouver, BC, Canada, in 1978 that
led to the establishment of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).
This was further developed by the National Library of Medicine in the U.S.[3] whose version
"should be considered as the authoritative style" according to the British Medical Association
(BMA).[1]

The 2007 ICMJE edition, at paragraph IV.A.9.b. Reference Style and Format, refers to the
detailed style guide at the NLM's Citing Medicine.[4] Several versions of the Uniform
Requirements were published, including the 1991 BMJ publication,[5] the 1995 CMAJ
publication[6] and the 1997 Annals of Internal Medicine publication.[7] Journals were asked to cite
the 1997 JAMA version[8] when reprinting the Uniform requirements. As of 2004, the editors of
Haematologia decided simply to "invite" their authors to visit www.icmje.org for the 2003
revision of the Uniform requirements.[9]

Sample usage
Labelling citations

References are numbered consecutively in order of appearance in the text – they are identified by
Arabic numerals in parentheses (1), square brackets [1], superscript1, or a combination[1].

Format of citations

Different formats exist for different types of sources, e.g. books, journal articles etc. Author
names are abbreviated to at most two initials.[10] Although Citing Medicine does not explicitly
mandate merging initials (e.g. "R. K." would be merged into "RK"), the examples used
throughout the book do.

Journal articles

Standard journal articles

 Leurs R, Church MK, Taglialatela M. H1-antihistamines: inverse agonism, anti-inflammatory

actions and cardiac effects. Clin Exp Allergy. 2002 Apr;32(4):489-98.

As an option, if a journal carries continuous pagination throughout a volume (as many medical
journals do), the month and issue number may be omitted:

 Thomas MC. Diuretics, ACE inhibitors and NSAIDs – the triple whammy. Med J Aust.
2000;172:184–185.
If there are more than six authors, the first six authors are listed followed by "et al.":

 Guilbert TW, Morgan WJ, Zeiger RS, Mauger DT, Boehmer SJ, Szefler SJ, et al. Long-term inhaled
corticosteroids in preschool children at high risk for asthma. N Engl J Med. 11 May
2006;354(19):1985–97.

Note, however, that the NLM lists all authors for articles.

As an option, a unique identifier from a database may be added to the citation:

 von Itzstein M, Wu WY, Kok GB, Pegg MS, Dyason JC, Jin B, et al. Rational design of potent
sialidase-based inhibitors of influenza virus replication. Nature. 1993 Jun 3;363(6428):418-23.
Cited in PubMed; PMID 8502295.

Articles not in English

As per journal articles in English:

 Forneau E, Bovet D. Recherches sur l'action sympathicolytique d'un nouveau dérivé du dioxane.
Arch Int Pharmacodyn. 1933;46:178-91. French.

The NLM adds an English translation of the title enclosed in square brackets right after the title.
The language is specified in full after the location (pagination), followed by a period.

Books

Personal author(s)

 Rang HP, Dale MM, Ritter JM, Moore PK. Pharmacology. 5th ed. Edinburgh: Churchill
Livingstone; 2003.

Editor(s) or compiler(s) as authors

 Beers MH, Porter RS, Jones TV, Kaplan JL, Berkwits M, editors. The Merck manual of diagnosis
and therapy. 18th ed. Whitehouse Station (NJ): Merck Research Laboratories; 2006.

Authored chapter in edited publication

 Glennon RA, Dukat M. Serotonin receptors and drugs affecting serotonergic neurotransmission.
In: Williams DA, Lemke TL, editors. Foye's principles of medicinal chemistry. 5th ed. Philadelphia:
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2002.

Electronic material

Website
  Drug-interactions.com [homepage on the Internet]. Indianapolis: Indiana University Department
of Medicine; 2003 [updated 17 May 2006; cited 30 May 2006]. Available from:
http://medicine.iupui.edu/flockhart/

References
1. ^ a b Reference styles: Harvard and Vancouver [cited 2013-03-01].
2. ^ International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) Uniform Requirements for
Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Sample References, United States National
Library of Medicine, retrieved 2013-03-01
3. ^ International Committee of Medical Journal Editors Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts
Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Sample References [cited 2006 Dec 24].
4. ^ Citing Medicine. 2007 [cited 2012 October 25].
5. ^ Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. International
Committee of Medical Journal Editors. BMJ (Clinical research ed.). 1991;302(6772):338–41.
doi:10.1136/bmj.302.6772.338. PMID 2001512.
6. ^ Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. International
Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Canadian Medical Association Journal.
1995;152(9):1459–73. PMID 7728695.
7. ^ Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. International
Committee of Medical Journal Editors [Free full text]. Annals of Internal Medicine.
1997;126(1):36–47. PMID 8992922.
8. ^ Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. International
Committee of Medical Journal Editors. JAMA: the journal of the American Medical Association.
1997;277(11):927–34. doi:10.1001/jama.277.11.927. PMID 9062335.
9. ^ International Committee Of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Uniform Requirements for
Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: writing and editing for biomedical publication
[Free full text]. Haematologica. 2004;89(3):264. PMID 15020262.
10. ^ Patrias, K. In: Wendling, D., editor. Citing Medicine: The NLM Style Guide for Authors, Editors,
and Publishers [Internet]. 2nd ed. Bethesda, MD: National Library of Medicine (US); 2007 [cited
2012 February 22]. "Convert given (first) names and middle names to initials, for a maximum of
two initials following each surname"

External links
Many medical institutions maintain their own style guides, with information on how to cite
sources:

 University of Queensland (PDF; accessed September 30, 2006)

 University of Leicester Library, Vancouver Style Guide (accessed 30 December 2012)
http://monash.edu/library/skills/resources/tutorials/citing/vancouver.html, 31 Mei 2013

Vancouver style
Vancouver is a numbered referencing style commonly used in medicine and science, and consists
of:

 citations in the text, using numbers

 a numbered reference list at the end of the document

It follows rules established by the International committee of Medical Journal Editors, now
maintained by the U.S. National Library of Medicine. It is also knows as Uniform Requirements
for Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals.

Examples on this page:

1. In-text Citing
2. References
a. Journal articles
b. Books and book chapters
c. Conferences & Conference proceedings
d. Electronic sources
3. Example of a reference list
4. Abbreviations
5. Further information

1. In-text Citing
A number is allocated to a source in the order in which it is cited in the text. If the source is
referred to again, the same number is used.

Example:
...as one author has put it "the darkest days were still ahead" [1]: which is well documented in the
literature. [2-5] This proves that "the darkest days were still ahead". [1]

The author's name can also be integrated into the text eg. Scholtz [2] has argued that...

General rules:

 either square [ ] or curved brackets ( ) can be used as long as it is consistent.

 superscripts can also be used rather than brackets eg. ...was discovered. 1,3
 numbers should be inserted to the left of colons and semi-colons.
  full stops are placed either before or after the reference number - check with your
department/tutor/journal publisher to determine their preference. Whatever format is
chosen, it is important that the punctuation is consistently applied to the whole document.

2. References
References are listed in numerical order in the Reference List at the end of the paper:

1. Smith SD, Jones, AD. Organ donation. N Engl J Med. 2001;657:230-5.

2. Brown JG. Asphyxiation. Med J Aust. 2003; 432:120-4.

Examples for common publication types are listed below. for more examples refer to Citing
Medicine <http://www.nlm.nih.gov/citingmedicine>

2a. Journal Articles

Elements of a Citation: non continuous pagination

Author's surname Initials, Author's surname Initials. Title of article. Title of Journal.
[abbreviated]
Year of publication Month date;Volume Number(Issue number):page numbers.

Example:
Smithline HA, Mader TJ, Ali FM, Cocchi MN. Determining pretest probability of DVT: clinical
intuition vs. validated scoring systems. N Engl J Med. 2003 Apr 4;21(2):161-2.

 Journal titles are abbreviated (to decipher abbreviations see: PubMed Journals Database
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=journals>)
 Only first words of article title and words that normally begin with a capital letter are
capitalised.
 First 6 authors are listed; thereafter add an et al. after the sixth author.
 If the journal has continuous page numbering, you may omit month/issue number

Example: continuous pagination; more than 6 authors

Gao SR, McGarry M, Ferrier TL, Pallante B, Gasparrini B, Fletcher JR, et al. Effect of cell
confluence on production of cloned mice using an inbred embryonic stem cell line. Biol Reprod.
2003;68(2):595-603.

2b. Books

Elements of a Citation:
Author/Editor/Compiler's surname Initials. Title of the book. # ed.[if not 1st] Place of
publication: Publisher's name; Year of publication.

 Only first words of the article title and words that normally begin with a capital letter are
capitalised.

Personal author:

Example:
Carlson BM. Human embryology and developmental biology. 3rd ed. St. Louis: Mosby; 2004.

Edited book:

 add editor or editors after the name/s

Example:
Brown AM, Stubbs DW, editors. Medical physiology. New York: Wiley; 1983.

Chapter in a book:

Elements of a Citation:
Author's surname Initials. Title of chapter. In: Editor's surname Initials, editor. Title of the book.
# ed.[if not 1st] Place of publication: Publisher's name; Year of publication. p. #. [page numbers
of chapter]

 Abbreviate page numbers to p. eg p. 12-25.

 Abbreviate numbers where appropriate eg p. 122-8.

Example:
Blaxter PS, Farnsworth TP. Social health and class inequalities. In: Carter C, Peel JR, editors.
Equalities and inequalities in health. 2nd ed. London: Academic Press; 1976. p. 165-78.

2c. Conferences

Conference paper:

Elements of a citation:

Author's surname Initials. Title of paper. In: Editor's surname Initials, editor. Title of the
Conference; Date of conference; Place of publication: Publisher's name; Year of Publication. p.
page numbers.
 Example:
Anderson JC. Current status of chorion villus biopsy. In: Tudenhope D, Chenoweth J, editors.
Proceedings of the 4th Congress of the Australian Perinatal Society; 1986: Brisbane,
Queensland: Australian Perinatal Society; 1987. p. 190-6.

Conference proceedings:

Example:
Harris AH, editor. Economics and health: 1997: Proceedings of the 19th Australian Conference
of Health Economists; 1997 Sep 13-14; Sydney, Australia. Kensington, N.S.W.: School of Health
Services Management, University of New South Wales; 1998.

2d. Electronic sources

CD-Rom / DVD:

 The format is added after the title eg. [DVD]

Example:
Collier L, Balows A, Sussman M, editors. Topley and Wilson's microbiology and microbial
infections [CD-ROM]. 9th ed. London: Arnold; 1998.

(i) Journal article on the internet:

Elements of a Citation:

Author's surname Initials, Author's surname Initials. Title of article. Abbreviated Title of Journal
[serial on the Internet]. Year of publication Month day [cited Year Month Day];Volume
Number(Issue number):[about number of pages or screens]. Available from: URL

 Only cite month/day if applicable

 Can list either pages or screens

Example:
Aylin P, Bottle A, Jarman B, Elliott, P. Paediatric cardiac surgical mortality in England after
Bristol: descriptive analysis of hospital episode statistics 1991-2002. BMJ [serial on the
Internet]. 2004 Oct 9;[cited 2004 October 15]; 329:[about 10 screens]. Available from:
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/329/7470/825

(ii) Book/Monograph on the Internet:

 Example:
Donaldson MS, editor. Measuring the quality of health care [monograph on the internet].
Washington: National Academy Press; 1999 [cited 2004 Oct 8]. Available from:
http://legacy.netlibrary.com/.

(iii) Web site / homepage:

Elements of a citation:
Author/Editor/Organisation's name . Title of the page [homepage on the Internet]. Place of
publication: Publisher's name; [updated yr month day; cited yr month day]. Available from: (url)

Example:
HeartCentreOnline [homepage on the Internet]. Boca Raton, FL: HeartCentreOnline, Inc.;
c2000-2004 [updated 2004 May 23; cited 2004 Oct 15]. Available from:
http://www.heartcenteronline.com/

(iv) Web Site/part of a Homepage:

 Add number of screens and title of page

Example:
American Medical Association [homepage on the Internet]. Chicago: The Association; c1995-
2002 [cited 2005 Apr 20]. Group and Faculty Practice Physicians; [about 2 screens]. Available
from: http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/1736.html

3. Example of a Reference list

Example:
1. Miller DM, The wisdom of the eye. San Diego: Academic Press; 2000

2. Rau JG, Wooten DC. Environmental impact analysis handbook. New

York: McGraw-Hill; 1980.

3. Richardson AJ. Traffic planning and modelling: a twenty year perspective.

Aust Road Res. 1990;20(1):9-21.

4. Meyer MD. Public transportation in the 21st century. In: Gray GE, Hoel
LA, editors. Public transportation. 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey:
Prentice Hall; 1992. p. 636-653.
4. Abbreviations
These are commonly used abbreviations:

 c. = circa (about, approximately)

 ch. = Chapter
 ed. = edition
 et al.. = and others
 fig; figs = figure(s)
 ill ills = illustrator(s)
 p. = page(s)
 para paras = paragraph(s)
 pt pts = part(s)
 rev = revised
 suppl = Supplement

Check journal abbreviations in: PubMed Journals Database

5. Sources for further information

 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; cited 2010 Jan 8]. Available from:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/citingmedicine
 Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals: writing and
editing for biomedical publication [Internet]. Philadelphia, PA:International Committee
of Medical Journal Editors; [updated 2008; cited 2010 Mar 26]. Available from:
http://www.icmje.org/.
 Style manual for authors, editors and printers. 6th ed. Milton, Qld: John Wiley & Sons;
2002. Monash holdings