Vancouver Referencing: A Guide for Medical and Science Students

Vancouver is the citation style used across medicine, nursing, dentistry, pharmacy, and biomedical sciences. It is a numbered system — simpler to use in text than author-date styles, but requires careful management of numbering order.

How in-text citations work

Every source is assigned a number the first time it appears. Numbers appear either as superscript or in brackets — check which your department requires.

Superscript style (common in journals):

The testing effect has been replicated across multiple experimental designs.¹

Bracket style (common in student essays):

The testing effect has been replicated across multiple experimental designs.(1)

Citing the same source again:

This was later confirmed in a systematic review.(1)

Citing multiple sources at once:

Several meta-analyses support this conclusion.(1,3,5)

Citing a range of sources:

This is consistent with prior findings.(1–4)

Citing the author by name in the text:

Roediger and Karpicke(1) demonstrated that retrieval practice...

Note that in Vancouver, the author's name is not required in the text — the number is sufficient. When you do name the author, the citation number follows the name rather than appearing after the sentence.

Reference list format

The reference list appears at the end of the essay, numbered in the order sources were first cited (not alphabetically).

Journal article

Standard format:

1. Roediger HL, Karpicke JD. Test-enhanced learning: taking memory 
   tests improves long-term retention. Psychol Sci. 2006;17(3):249–255.

With DOI:

2. Smith J, Jones A. Spaced practice in educational settings: a 
   meta-analysis. J Educ Psychol. 2021;113(4):782–795. doi:10.1037/
   edu0000000

Notes:

• Author surnames first, then initials (no spaces between initials)
• Up to 6 authors listed; if 7 or more, list first 6 then "et al."
• Article title: sentence case, no quotation marks
• Journal name: abbreviated in italics (standard PubMed abbreviations)
• Year;Volume(Issue):Pages

Book

3. Baddeley A, Eysenck MW, Anderson MC. Memory. 3rd ed. London: 
   Psychology Press; 2020.

4. World Health Organization. International Classification of Diseases. 
   11th rev. Geneva: WHO; 2019.

Notes:

• Editor: add "(ed.)" or "(eds.)" after name if it is an edited book
• Edition: only include if not the first
• City: publisher; year

Chapter in an edited book

5. Brown S. Working memory in clinical contexts. In: Smith J, Jones A, 
   editors. Cognitive Science for Clinicians. London: Routledge; 2021. 
   p. 102–125.

Website

6. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Hypertension in 
   adults: diagnosis and management [NG136] [Internet]. London: NICE; 
   2019 [cited 2024 Mar 15]. Available from: https://www.nice.org.uk/
   guidance/ng136

Notes:

• [Internet] after the title
• [cited YYYY Mon DD] for access date (required for online sources)
• Available from: URL

Clinical guideline

7. NICE. Type 2 diabetes in adults: management [NG28]. London: NICE; 
   2022. Available from: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng28

Government / institutional report

8. Department of Health. UK Chief Medical Officers' Physical Activity 
   Guidelines. London: Department of Health; 2019.

Journal abbreviations

Vancouver uses abbreviated journal names. Common abbreviations for medical journals:

For other journals, use the standard PubMed/MEDLINE abbreviation found on the journal's NLM Catalog entry.

Vancouver vs APA/Harvard: key differences

Common Vancouver mistakes

Alphabetical reference list — Vancouver lists references in order of first citation, not alphabetically. Alphabetising a Vancouver reference list is a fundamental structural error.

Changing numbers on revision — If you add a new citation early in the essay during revision, every number that follows it shifts. Renumber carefully, or use reference management software (Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote) to handle numbering automatically.

Too many authors listed — Vancouver convention is to list the first 6 authors; if there are 7 or more, list 6 and add "et al." Check your department's specific guidance — some variants list only 3 authors before et al.

Full journal names — Vancouver uses abbreviated journal titles, not full names. Using "Journal of Educational Psychology" instead of "J Educ Psychol" is incorrect.

Use the Citation Reference Formatter to generate Vancouver-formatted references. For other styles, see the APA Guide and Harvard Guide.