Vancouver Style

References/Bibliography Vancouver Style

The Vancouver style of referencing is predominantly used in the medical field.
When referencing your work in the Vancouver style, it is very important that you use the right punctuation and that the order of details in the reference is also correct. This guide is based on AMA Manual of Style and the NLM Style Guide for Authors, Editors, and Publishers.Note:

Before you write your list of references, check with your lecturer or tutor for the bibliographic style preferred by the School. There may be differences in the style recommended by the School.

What is referencing?
Referencing is a standardised way of acknowledging the sources of information and ideas that you have used in your assignments and which allows the sources to beidentified. It is important to be consistent when you are referencing.

Why reference?
Referencing is important to avoid plagiarism, to verify quotations and to enable readers to follow up what you have written and more fully understand the cited author’s work.

Steps in referencing
Record the full bibliographic details and relevant page numbers of the source from which information is taken.Punctuation marks and spaces in the reference list and citations are very important. Follow the punctuation and spacing exactly. Insert the citation at the appropriate place in the text of your document. Include a reference list that includes all in-text citations at the end of your document.

In-text citations
A citation is an acknowledgement in your text of references that support your work. It isin the form of a number that correlates with a source in your reference list. In the Vancouver Style, citations within the text of the essay/paper are identified by Arabic numbers in round brackets or Arabic numbers in superscript. This applies to references in text, tables and figures. The EndNote referencing style software uses the Arabic number in brackets eg. (2) The identification ofreferences within the text of the essay/paper may vary according to the preferred style of the journal or the preferred style of the department or lecturer. For example superscript may be preferred when referencing. Eg. Example2 The Vancouver System assigns a number to each reference as it is cited. A number must be used even if the author(s) is named in the sentence/text. e.g. Smith (10) has arguedthat.... The original number assigned to the reference is reused each time the reference is cited in the text, regardless of its previous position in the text. When multiple references are cited at a given place in the text, use a hyphen to join the first and last numbers that are inclusive. Use commas (without spaces) to separate non-inclusive numbers in a multiple citation e.g. (2,3,4,5,7,10) isabbreviated to (2-5,7,10). Do not use a hyphen if there are no citation numbers in between that support your statement e.g. (1-2).

The placement of citation numbers within text should be carefully considered e.g. a particular reference may be relevant to only part of a sentence. As a general rule, reference numbers should be placed outside full stops and commas and inside colons and semicolons,however, this may vary according to the requirements of a particular journal. Examples – There have been efforts to replace mouse inoculation testing with invitro tests, such as enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (57,60) or polymerase chain reaction (20-22) but these remain experimental. Moir and Jessel maintain “that the sexes are interchangeable”.(1) Citing a specific page: Eg. Patients showed nosigns of diabetes.1(p23),9 Eg. Smithers2(pp3,6) reported no sign of.... (more than one page cited) Eg. Jones 10(pp23-27) states that....

How to create a reference list/bibliography
A reference list contains details only of those works cited in the text of the document. (eg. book, journal article, pamphlet, internet site, cassette tape or film). These details must include sufficient detail so...