Referencing guide: Vancouver

Author’s Surname INITIALS. Book Title. Edition (if not first). Place of publication: Publisher; Date.

• Glover IA, Grant PM. Digital communications. 3rd ed. Harlow: Prentice Hall; 2009.

Note: If there are no authors, only editors, use the same format as above and follow the last named editor with a comma and the word editor or editors.

Author of chapter's surname INITIALS. Title of chapter. In: Editor's surname INITIALS, editor(s). Book Title. Edition (if not first). Place of publication: Publisher; Date. Pages

• Li CW, Wang GJ. Mems manufacturing techniques for tissue scaffolding devices. In: Bhansali S, Vasudev A, editors. Mems for biomedical applications. Cambridge: Woodhead; 2012. p. 192-217.

Note: Pagination is always shortened to the fewest numbers necessary. For example you would write 23–5, not 23–25.

Author of paper's Surname INITIALS. Title of paper. In: Editor of proceedings' surname INITIALS, editor(s). Conference Title; Conference date; Place of conference. Place of publication: Publisher; Publication date. Pages.

• Rice AS, Farquhar-Smith WP, Bridges D, Brooks JW. Cannabinoids and pain. In: Dostorovsky JO, Carr DB, Koltzenburg M, editors. Proceedings of the 10th World Congress on Pain; 2002 Aug 17-22; San Diego, CA. Seattle (WA): IASP Press; 2003. p. 437-68.

Author’s Surname INITIALS. Book Title [Internet]. Edition/version. Place of publication: Publisher; Date of original publication [Date cited]. Available from: URL.

• Foley KM, Gelband H, editors. Improving palliative care for cancer [Internet]. Washington: National Academy Press; 2001 [cited 2002 Jul 9]. Available from: https://www.nap.edu/catalog/10149/improving-palliative-care-for-cancer.

Note: The dates in Vancouver are in the format: year month day (the month is abbreviated to 3 letters). For example [cited 2018 Oct 10]

Author’s Surname INITIALS. Title of article. Title of journal (abbr) [Internet]. Date of publication [Date cited];volume number(issue):pages. Available from: URL

• Hulka BS, Stark AT. Breast cancer: cause and prevention. Lancet [Internet]. 1995 Sep 30 [cited 2022 Nov 22];346(8979):883-7. Available from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673695927131

• Abood S. Quality improvement initiative in nursing homes: the ANA acts in an advisory role. Am J Nurs [Internet]. 2002 Jun [cited 2018 Sep 12];102(6):23. Available from: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3522839

• Li Y, Li S, Meng X, Gan R-Y, Zhang J-J Li, H-B. Dietary natural products for prevention and treatment of breast cancer. Nutrients [Internet]. 2017 Jul 8 [cited 2022 Nov 14]; 9(7): [38 p.]. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5537842/pdf/nutrients-09-00728.pdf

Note: 

- If there are more than 6 authors, list the first six then add et al.
- Journal titles are abbreviated. You can use the NLM Catalog (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/journals) to find the correct journal abbreviation.
- Give the date as Year Month (abbreviated) Day
- Do not repeat page numbers unless they are followed by a letter. For example 123-125 becomes 123-5 but 124A-126A is correct.
- If no numbers appear on the pages of the article, it is usual to give an estimation of the length in square brackets. For example [20 p.] or [10 paragraphs].

Author’s Surname INITIALS. Title of article. Title of journal (abbr). Date of publication;volume number(issue):pages.

• Pollack CV, Reilly PA, Eikelboom J, Glund S, Verhamme P, Bernstein RA, et al. Idarucizumab for Dabigatran reversal. N Engl J Med. 2015 Aug 6;373(6):511-20.

• Rowe SM, Miller S, Sorscher, EJ. Cystic Fibrosis. N Engl J Med. 2005 May 12;352(19):1992-2001.

Note:

- If there are more than 6 authors, list the first six then add et al.
- Journal titles are abbreviated. You can use the NLM Catalog (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/journals) to find the correct journal abbreviation.
- Give the date as Year Month (abbreviated) Day
- Do not repeat page numbers unless they are followed by a letter. For example 123-125 becomes 123-5 but 124A-126A is correct

Author's Surname INITIALS. Title of article. Newspaper title. Date;Section: (column).

• Levine S. Obesity increase creating special needs. Miami Herald. 2006 Jan 4;Sect. A:1 (col. 1).
• Tynan T. Medical improvements lower homicide rate: study sees drop in assault rate. The Washington Post. 2002 Aug 12;Sect. A:2 (col. 4).

Note:

- Name of newspapers are never abbreviated, although a leading "The" may be dropped if desired
- If the article is unsigned, begin the reference with the title of the article
- Sections may be named, for example 'Metro Section', 'Holiday Extra', etc. Use these names in a reference only when the section lacks a number or letter.

Author's Surname INITIALS. Title of article. Newspaper title [Internet]. Date of publication [Date cited];Section (if applicable). [pages]. Available from: URL

• Carey B. Psychiatrists revise the book of human troubles. New York Times [Internet]. 2008 Dec 17 [cited 2018 Oct 16];Health [about 3 p.]. Available from: https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/18/health/18psych.html?_r=1&em 

Note: When a location (pagination) for the article is not provided, as often occurs, calculate the length of article using the best means possible, e.g. in terms of print pages, screens, or paragraphs.

Inventor's Surname INITIALS, inventor(s); Assignee's name, assignee. Patent title. Patent country and document type Country code and patent number. Date issued.

• Pagedas AC, inventor; Ancel Surgical R&D Inc., assignee. Flexible endoscopic grasping and cutting device and positioning tool assembly. United States patent US 20020103498. 2002 Aug 1.

A reference book is usually known by its title, and can be referenced as a dictionary. This would be the case for the majority of key reference books in medicine, e.g. BNF and BNFC. The template given below is to reference a particular entry from the online version of a reference book:

Book title [Internet]. Publication place: Publisher; year. Entry title; [date updated; date cited]. Available from: URL.

• British National Formulary [Internet]. London: Royal Pharmaceutical Society; 2019. Aspirin; [updated 2019 Nov 12; cited 2019 Nov 27]. Available from: https://www.medicinescomplete.com/#/content/bnf/_456850132.

We have compiled examples taken from other reference books in a Word document. Click here to download it.

Author's Surname INITIALS. Title of report. Place of publication: Publisher; Date published. Report No.:

• Page E, Harney JM. Health hazard evaluation report. Cincinnati (OH): National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (US); 2001 Feb. Report No.: HETA2000-0139-2824.

• Barker B, Degenhardt L. Accidental drug-induced deaths in Australia 1997-2001. Sydney (Australia): University of New South Wales, National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre; 2003.

Note: When a division or other subsidiary part of a publisher appears in the publication, enter the publisher name first. For example: Harvard Medical School, Department of Genetics.

Author's Surname Initials. Title [publication type]. Place of publication: Publisher; year. 

• Roberts S. Studies of the origins and control of occupational exposure to cytotoxic drugs [PhD thesis] Bath: University of Bath; 2008.
• Harston DN. Formation of cancer cells [MRes dissertation]. London: University of London; 2014.

Emails, letters, conversations, interviews and lecturer's presentations are examples of sources that are often unpublished. Documents generally available to scholars in an archive or a depository can usually be included in a reference list. However, many publishers do not permit placing any form of unpublished material in the end references. Most authorities recommend placing references to personal communications such as letters and conversations within the running text, not as formal end references. Include the nature and source of the cited information, using a term or terms to indicate clearly that no corresponding citation is in the reference list. Place the source information in parentheses.

For example:

… and most of these meningiomas proved to be inoperable (2003 letter from RS Grant to me; unreferenced, see "Notes") while the few that …

Author(s)/Organisation. Title of webpage [Internet]. Place of publication: Publisher; Year of original publication OR Year of Copyright [updated year month day; cited year month day]. Available from: URL.

• National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Antiplatelet treatment: management [Internet]. London: NICE; c2018 [updated 2018 Jun; cited 2018 Sep 28]. Available from: https://cks.nice.org.uk/antiplatelet-treatment.

Note:

- Use the date that the page was first placed on the Internet. If it cannot be found, use the date of copyright, preceded by the letter ‘c’.
- If neither a date of publication nor a date of copyright can be found, use the date of update/revision and/or the date cited.