Vancouver Referencing Style

In text

  • A superscript number should be assigned in numerical order to each reference as it is cited in the text. A number must be used even if the author is given in the text (e.g. Jones5 reported that…).
  • The original number assigned to a reference should be used each time the reference is cited in text.
  • When multiple references are cited together, use a hyphen to join the first and last numbers that are inclusive (e.g. ...was reported5-8 ) and commas (without spaces) to separate non-inclusive numbers (e.g. ...was reported5-8,12) and two consecutive numbers (e.g. was reported5,6).
  • If the source applies to the full sentence, the superscript citation number should be placed after the full stop (e.g. This finding has been reported previously.5). If the source applies to only a part of the sentence or to a quotation, the number should appear directly after the end of that part of the sentence/quotation, before the punctuation (full stop, comma, colon or semi-colon) and without a space (e.g. This finding has been reported previously5, and was recently confirmed in a later study6.)

Reference list

  • Sources should be listed numerically at the end of the article, in the same order in which they were cited in text.
  • Book and journal titles should not be italicised nor placed in quotation marks.
  • Only the first word of the article title and words that normally begin with a capital letter should be capitalised.
  • Journal titles should be abbreviated, according to their official abbreviation.
  • If the journal has continuous page numbering, the month/issue number can be omitted.
  • If there are more than six authors/editors, the first six should be listed, followed by et al.
  • The digital object identifier (DOI), where available, should be included at the end of the reference in the form of a link (i.e. preceded by https://doi.org/10.xxxx). DOIs can be retrieved from Crossref using the Metadata Search tool (the tool is free to use).

Some common examples:

Journal article

Author's surname Initials, Author's surname Initials. Title of article. Abbreviated journal title. Year of publication;volume(issue number):page range/article ID. DOI link

Article in press

Author's surname Initials, Author's surname Initials. Title of article. Abbreviated journal title. In press Year. DOI link

Article not in English

Author's surname Initials, Author's surname Initials. Title of article in original language [translated title in English]. Abbreviated journal title. Year of publication;volume(issue number):page range/article ID. Original language. DOI link

Book

Author/editor’s surname Initials. Title of book. ed. [if not 1st]. City of publication: publisher's name; year of publication. DOI link

Chapter in a book

Author's surname Initials. Title of chapter. In: Editor's surname Initials, editor. Title of book. ed. [if not 1st]. City of publication: publisher's name; year of publication. p. xx–xx. [page range of chapter, separated by an en dash and not elided]. DOI link

Conference proceeding

Author's surname Initials. Title of paper. In: Editor's surname Initials, editor. Title of conference; date of conference; place where conference was held. City of publication: publisher's name; year of publication. p. xx–xx. [page range]. DOI link

Newspaper article

Author’s surname Initials. Title of article. Title of newspaper. Year month day;page/section.

Website / homepage

Author/Editor/Organisation's name. Title of the page [homepage/webpage/document on the Internet]. City of publication: publisher's name; year created [updated year month day; cited year month day]. Available from: URL

Thesis / Dissertation

Author's surname Initials. Title of thesis or dissertation [thesis/dissertation]. City: university; year.

Dictionary

Dictionary. ed. City: Publisher; year. Word; page.

Dictionary online

Dictionary [online]. ed. City: Publisher; year. Word [cited year month day]. Available from: URL

Patent

Filer(s). Title. Patent number, date.

Act

nth Act of year, country.

TV programme

Name of reporter. Title [television broadcast]. Programme name. City: Broadcaster; year month day.

Preprint

Author’s surname Initial. Title. Preprint repository. Version. DOI/URL

Data set

Author's surname Initials. Subset/portion. In: Title of data set. Data repository/archive. Version. DOI/persistent ID

Software program

Surname Initials. Software name [software program]. City: Publisher; year of publication.

Company name. Software name [software online]. Created year. Available from: URL

Personal communication

Personal communications used as a reference should be avoided, unless they provide essential information that is not available from a traceable source. Personal communications should be cited in text only and should not be included in your reference list. It is advisable to get permission from the source/author of your personal communication. Personal communications in the text should include the date and type of communication (e.g. oral or written):

Surname Initials Year, oral/written communication, month day