Citing: Vancouver style

The Vancouver citation style is a reference system that is required  for publications within Pharmacy and Medicine. 

The websites below contain unique examples: for instance references to illustrations, tweets, blogposts.

• An complete overview of Vancouver style can be found at the website of the Imperial College London. 
• University College London briefly explains the importance of correct citing, followed by a long list of examples in both the Vancouver style and Harvard Style!
• Or read the (concise) information on Wikipedia: Vancouver system wiki

The authoritative publications below provide much information about citation styles based on Vancouver in (bio)medical journals; 

• American Medical Association Manual of Style (10th edition 2009 (e-book), N.B. the 11th edition is expected in 2020)
• Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (online, see part IV.A.3.g: References on p.15)
• NLM Samples of formatted references (2018). For more details see the NLM Style Guide for Authors, Editors, and Publishers Citing Medicine (online, 2007 2nd edition, incl. foreword from 2015)

In the case of pictures, illustrations, diagrams, tables or photographs: in the text directly below the picture in question you briefly state where you have found it.

In your reading list you give the entire reference. The style you use depends on the type of source you consult!

Is the picture from a printed book, check the box about books, is the picture from a website, check the box about websites etc.

For instance: you include a diagram from a book by Monné and Jansen. If you do it correctly, you not only write down what the diagram represents, but you also give a brief reference.
Example 1 in-text reference:
'Diagram representing the course of the average daytime temperature in Maastricht between 1900 and 2000 (Monné and Jansen, 2013: p.22)'.
In your reading list you include the full reference:
Example 1 full reference:
Monné, M, Jansen T. Climate control in the Netherlands. 3rd ed. Noorbeek: Limburg Press; 2013.

If it is a picture from the internet, it may look as follows:

Example 2 full reference:
McCourtie SD, World Bank. SDM-LK-179 [Internet]. 2009 Apr 13 [cited 2009 Jun 14]. Available from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/worldbank/3487488094

NB: When publishing a picture, please check if it is copyrighted!

More information about copyright can be found on the Copyright Information Office of Utrecht University.

Last name initial. Title article: Sub title. Abbreviated journal title. Year Month Day; volume (issue); page.

Example:
Greenhalgh T. Publishing your medical research paper: What they don't teach you at medical school. BMJ. 1999 Feb 27; 318(7183): 610.

Sometimes there is more than one author, volume and issue is not always known, in most cases there are more pages. That is why we give some extra examples:

Examples :
​​Jagosh J, Macaulay AC, Pluye P, Salsberg J, Bush PL, Henderson J, et al. Uncovering the benefits of participatory research: Implications of a realist review for health research and practice. Milbank Q. 2012 June; 90(2): 311-46.

Forooghian F, Yeh S, Faia LJ, Nussenblatt RB. Uveitic foveal atrophy: clinical features and associations. Arch Ophthalmol. 2009 Feb;127(2):179-86. PubMed PMID: 19204236.

NB1: Only the first six authors are given: the rest is summarised by; 'et al.'

NB2: If there is a DOI (Digital Object Identfier) or a PubMed ID present, you could add it as a last element.

Author initial(s) [no dots]. Book title. Edition. Place of publication: publisher; year of publication.

Example:
​Wolf K, Allen R, Saavedra AP.  Fitzpatrick's color atlas and synopsis of clinical dermatology. 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2013.

In the case of books there may be no authors but you will see an organisation responsible for the publication. For instance: American Veterinary Medical Association. This comes instead of the author(s).

Or there is no author at all. For instance: The Oxford concise medical dictionary. In that case you leave out the authors.

NB1:  No edition is given of first editions.

NB2:  In the case of ebooks: put  the word [internet] after the title . Put after publication year: [Accessed on: year-month-day]. Then put: Available via: ... (URL).

Last name initial(s). Title of artice. In: Last name initial(s), editors. Title of edited volume. Place of publication: publisher; year of publication. page numbers.

Example:
​Meltzer PS, Kallioniemi A, Trent JM. Chromosome alterations in human solid tumors. In: Vogelstein B, Kinzler KW, editors. The genetic basis of human cancer. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2012. p.93-113.

NB1: Of first editions no edition is given

NB2:  In the case of ebooks: Put [Internet] after the chapter title. Put after the page numbers at the end; [ Accessed on: year-month-day]. Then put; Available via: ... (URL).

Publishing body. Title. [Internet]. Available from: URL. [Accessed Date of access].

Example 1:
European Space Agency. ESA: Missions, Earth Observation: ENVISAT. [Internet]. Available from: http://envisat.esa.int/. [Accessed 3rd July 2008].

Example 2: 
Nederlands Huisartsen Genootschap. Samenvattingskaart Anemie, in herziening 2003. [Internet]. Available from: http://www.nhg.org/standaarden/samenvatting/anemie . [Accessed 11th September 2013].

NB.  Make sure that the links you include are working links! The best thing to do is to use a permanent hyperlink, for instance the  DOI (Digital Object Identifier). Never use hyperlinks from searches. They often come with a (search) session code. Once the search session is over, the hyperlink no longer works.

Last name Initial. Title of blogpost. Tittle of weblog. [Online]. Available from: URL [Accessed date of consultation].

Example:
Goldacre B. Trivial Disputes. Bad Science. Weblog. [Online]. Available from: http://www.badscience.net/2008/02/trivial-disputes-2/ [Accessed 19th June 2008].

There is currently (2024) no known authorized source of the Vancouver style that says anything about how to refer to AI-generated content.

In principle, you can assume that this type of material can be considered a form of personal communication or non-traceable data. You must refer to the source in the text, but you do not have to include a reference in the bibliography.
In the running text, state the type of communication, the AI ​​tool used and the time at which you generated the content (day month year).

Examples:
In an online chat with Microsoft Copilot (1 June 2024) the following text was generated ...

A chat generated a potentially useful script for making pizza dough (ChatGPT response, prompt for "How to make pizza dough", January 24, 2022).

Note to students: teachers may request additional information from you when using GenAI, such as an explanation of what you did and why or even your specific prompts. Check with your teacher if, how and where you need to add this information.

Special characteristics of the Vancouver style:

• The Vancouver style is a numerical citation style.: the references are numbered consecutively in order of appearance in the text
• The reading list is presented in ascending numbers
• The Vancouver style does not use the full title of the journal but uses an abbreviation instead:

Example: "New England Journal of Medicine" is abbreviated as "N Engl J Med".

The abbrevations that are used are the same as in Pubmed;

• Search in the list used by PubMed.
• Enter the full title of the journal and put it between inverted commas.
• Select the matching journal
• Another useful tool is the ISI abbreviations list

The Vancouver citation style is a numerical citation style.

• The numbers are put in the text between (square) brackets or in superscript:

Tweets are so short that it is possible to include them in their entirety - between inverted commas - in the reading list. Close with "Tweet". 

Example:
UCL Libraries "Take care on ice as 19th Century Newspapers reported loss of many lives after it broke in Regent's Park on 15 Jan.1867". 15 Jan 2013, 3:19pm. Tweet.

NB: The date and time of a message on Twitter reflect the time zone of the reader.