Vancouver Style is used by hundreds of scientific journals, including IEEE and MEDLINE. Scientific journals have their own author guidelines when it comes to references. Vancouver encompasses any author-number system regardless of formatting specifics. Read the Vancouver Style citation guidelines at the bottom of the page for specific Vancouver citation rules.
Vancouver style, also known as the author-number system, is adopted by hundreds of scientific journals, including IEEE and MEDLINE. Scientific journals have their own author guidelines when it comes to references in submitted manuscripts, but many of these guidelines follow the logic of the author-number system. Vancouver is different from the above styles in that it encompasses any author-number system regardless of formatting specifics.
This citation guide introduces important aspects and guidelines from the Vancouver 2nd Edition. Wordvice also offers free style guides for MLA 7 and 8, APA 6 and 7, and Chicago styles.
Vancouver in-text citations use numbers, either superscripted or in brackets, placed next to the name of the author or study to which they refer. Each cited work should be assigned a unique number based on the order of citation. If the same work is cited more than once, the same citation number should be used each time.
In-text Citation Example
Diamond (1) states that the historical discrepancies between peoples are due to the ‘differences among peoples’ environments, not because of the biological differences among the peoples themselves’ (p.25).
Vancouver references are numbered and listed in the order of citation.
(1) Diamond J. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. New York City: W.W. Norton; 1997.
(2) Rand A. The Art of Fiction: A Guide for Writers and Readers. New York City: Plume; 2000.
(3) Ishiguro K. Never Let Me Go. London: Faber & Faber; 2005.
Elements of a Vancouver reference list:
In addition, all sources must be numbered and listed in the order of citation.
[Last Name] [First Initial]. [Page Title]. Available from: [URL] [Accessed [Accessed Date]].
Kim A. The History and Big Business of Academic Publishing. Available from: https://medium.com/wordviceediting/the-history-and-big-business-of-academic-publishing-90a23bb7cc4c [Accessed 25th January 2021].
[Last Name] [First Initial]. [Article Title]. [Journal Name]. [Year Published]; [Volume]([Issue]): [Entire Page Range of Article].
Encarnación-Pinedo E. On Webbed Monsters, Revolutionary Activists and Plutonium Glow: Eco-Crisis in Diane di Prima and Anne Waldman. Humanities. 2020; 10(4): 1-14.
[Last Name] [First Initial]. [Article Title]. [Journal Name>]. [Year Published]; [Volume]([Issue]): [Entire Page Range of Article]. Available from: [URL or DOI] [Accessed [Accessed Date]].
Encarnación-Pinedo E. On Webbed Monsters, Revolutionary Activists and Plutonium Glow: Eco-Crisis in Diane di Prima and Anne Waldman. Humanities. 2020; 10(4): 1-14. Available from: https://medium.com/wordviceediting/the-history-and-big-business-of-academic-publishing-90a23bb7cc4c [Accessed 25th January 2021].
[Last Name] [First Initial]. [Book Title]. [Publication Location]: [Publisher Name]; [Year Published].
Diamond J. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. New York City: W.W. Norton; 1997.
Works that have been consulted but not explicitly cited should be organized into a bibliography. All items should be organized in alphabetical order according to the first word of each entry, and the layout of an individual item should be reflective of the reference list. Unlike the reference list, the bibliography does not need to be numbered.
