Medicine cites things other subjects never touch: a trial's registration, a Cochrane review and its CD number, a NICE guideline revised years after it appeared, a BNF entry, a conference abstract, a medRxiv preprint. This guide, published by EdCitation, shows how Vancouver style sets each one, following the US National Library of Medicine's Citing Medicine, read on the NLM Bookshelf on 27 September 2026, and the university guides medical students are told to use.
The general rules (numbering, author lists, journal abbreviations) are in our Vancouver referencing guide, the style's origins in the Vancouver Group and Vancouver style, the assignment itself in how to write a health sciences assignment in Vancouver, and CONSORT or PRISMA in reporting guidelines for student research. EdCitation's free Cite a source builds a Vancouver reference from a DOI, a PubMed ID or a web address, and Verify references checks the finished list against the records.
Which version of Vancouver do medical schools use?
Most follow Citing Medicine, and the department has the last word. Four library guides show the pattern:
- University of Liverpool (2026): Vancouver is the School of Medicine's style; the library calls Citing Medicine the authoritative version, says Cite Them Right's Vancouver matches it, and tells students to confirm the style with their supervisor or School Office.
- Lancaster University (2026), in its medicine guide, bases its Vancouver on the NLM style guide, puts the department's own guidelines first, and sends students to the NLM's journal list for abbreviations.
- University of Western Australia Library (2026) calls its guide "based on Citing Medicine" and adds forms for Australian drug and evidence databases.
- University of Newcastle Library (2026), in Australia, is also based on Citing Medicine, with a page for health sources.
They differ most on Cochrane reviews, below. Where your handbook shows a form, copy it.
Which medical sources need their own Vancouver form?
Eight kinds, each set as Citing Medicine or the named guide shows. The examples are real records, checked on 27 September 2026.
| Source type | What to include | Example | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| PubMed journal article | Authors as PubMed lists them, title in sentence case, NLM abbreviation, date;volume(issue):pages, DOI, PMID optional. Cite a source takes the PMID | RECOVERY Collaborative Group; Horby P, Lim WS, Emberson JR, Mafham M, Bell JL, Linsell L, et al. Dexamethasone in hospitalized patients with Covid-19. N Engl J Med. 2021 Feb 25;384(8):693-704. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2021436. PubMed PMID: 32678530. | NLM samples; PubMed record |
| Cochrane review | As a journal article, the review number (CD) in place of pages, the DOI with its .pub version | Sherrington C, Fairhall NJ, Wallbank GK, Tiedemann A, Michaleff ZA, Howard K, et al. Exercise for preventing falls in older people living in the community. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2019 Jan 31;1(1):CD012424. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD012424.pub2. | PubMed record; Newcastle |
| Trial registration | Responsible party, record title, registration date, [last updated; cited], "In:" the registry, identifier | University of Oxford. Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy. 2020 May 11 [last updated 2026 Apr 21; cited 2026 Sep 27]. In: ClinicalTrials.gov [Internet]. Bethesda (MD): U.S. National Library of Medicine. 2000 - . Available from: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04381936 ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04381936. | Citing Medicine, chapter 24 |
| Clinical guideline | Organisation, title [Internet], place, publisher, first year [updated; cited], guideline number | National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Type 2 diabetes in adults: management [Internet]. [London]: NICE; 2015 [updated 2026 Feb 18; cited 2026 Sep 27]. (NICE guideline [NG28]). Available from: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng28 | Citing Medicine, chapter 22 |
| BNF entry | The drug, "In:" the Joint Formulary Committee's BNF, [updated; cited] | Paracetamol. In: Joint Formulary Committee. British National Formulary [Internet]. London: British Medical Association and Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain; [updated 2026 Aug 11; cited 2026 Aug 13]. Available from: https://www.medicinescomplete.com/#/content/bnf/_970446495?hspl=Paracetamol | Swansea |
| Product information or patient leaflet | The manufacturer as author, product and document, [Internet], date, address | Mylan. Acamprosate 333 mg Gastro-resistant Tablets SmPC [Internet]. Hertfordshire: Mylan; 2020 [cited 2020 Dec 4]. Available from: https://www.medicines.org.uk/emc/product/2729/smpc | Portsmouth |
| Conference abstract | [abstract] after the title; supplement and page | Lofwall MR, Strain EC, Brooner RK, Kindbom KA, Bigelow GE. Characteristics of older methadone maintenance (MM) patients [abstract]. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2002;66 Suppl 1:S105. | NLM samples |
| Preprint | Server and [Preprint], year, [cited], address | Horby P, Lim WS, Emberson J, Mafham M, Bell J, Linsell L, et al. Effect of dexamethasone in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 – preliminary report. medRxiv [Preprint]. 2020 [cited 2026 Sep 27]. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.22.20137273 | Citing Medicine, chapter 14 |
How do I cite a PubMed article in Vancouver?
Take the details from the PubMed record, then fix what PubMed leaves to you. The NLM's samples allow "PubMed PMID:" and the number at the end, as an option (National Library of Medicine, 2026).
Title case, group authors and online dates
- Lower the title. Citing Medicine capitalises only the first word, proper nouns and acronyms (National Library of Medicine, 2018b), but since 15 June 2015 PubMed has shown each title as the journal printed it (National Library of Medicine, 2015a). "Dexamethasone in Hospitalized Patients with Covid-19" becomes "Dexamethasone in hospitalized patients with Covid-19".
- Group authors. PubMed lists the RECOVERY Collaborative Group before the named writers (RECOVERY Collaborative Group, 2021); match the record.
- Online first. PubMed dates that paper 2021 Feb 25 and adds "Epub 2020 Jul 17"; add it after the pages where a course wants it, as the NLM's samples do.
Journal abbreviations from the NLM Catalog
Look each journal up in the NLM Catalog, never guess: its record for the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews gives "Cochrane Database Syst Rev". The rules behind the abbreviations are in the Vancouver referencing guide.
How do I cite a Cochrane review in Vancouver?
As a journal article, with the review number where pages would go: PubMed records Sherrington et al. (2019) as "Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2019 Jan 31;1(1):CD012424." The University of Newcastle Library (2026) uses the same pattern. Other forms are in circulation:
- Cochrane's own style writes the full journal name, then "2011, Issue 7. CD004577." and the DOI (Cochrane, n.d.).
- Citing Medicine's chapter on databases has an older example citing a review as a contribution to the database, ending "Record No.: CD005459" (National Library of Medicine, 2018a).
- The University of Western Australia Library (2026) gives the year and the DOI only, so the review number appears only inside the DOI.
The review number and the version
The CD number stays with a review through every update; the ending of the DOI changes. CD012424.pub2 is the second version, and PubMed records it as an update of the first, 10.1002/14651858.CD012424. Cite the version you read, with its own date, because versions can differ. With no course guidance, use PubMed's form.
How do I cite a clinical trial in Vancouver?
Cite the published results as a journal article; cite the registration when you mean the protocol, an ongoing trial or results posted only on the registry. For the record, Citing Medicine uses a contribution to a database: the responsible party, the record's title, its date, then "In: ClinicalTrials.gov [Internet]" with the identifier at the end (National Library of Medicine, 2018a).
ClinicalTrials.gov and ISRCTN
The World Health Organization (2015), with examples from registries including ClinicalTrials.gov and ISRCTN, lists what the reference needs: the database, its publisher, the year it began, the unique identifier, the record's title, the registration date, the date cited and the address.
One trial can leave four records. RECOVERY is NCT04381936 on ClinicalTrials.gov, first posted on 11 May 2020 and last updated on 21 April 2026; ISRCTN50189673 on the ISRCTN registry; a medRxiv preprint; and the published article, whose abstract gives both numbers.
The exception: a record that changes
A registration is edited as a trial runs. RECOVERY's ISRCTN record now carries the title "A randomised trial of treatments to prevent death in patients hospitalised with pneumonia", while the metadata behind its DOI, 10.1186/ISRCTN50189673, still ends "with COVID-19 (coronavirus)". Cite the title the record showed on the day you read it, with "last updated" and "cited" dates.
How do I cite NICE guidelines and WHO guidelines in Vancouver?
As an organisation's book on the internet: the organisation, the title with [Internet], place and publisher, the first year, then the update and your reading date in brackets. Citing Medicine's chapter on books on the internet includes guidelines among its examples, such as the GOLD strategy for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (National Library of Medicine, 2015b).
NICE's NG28 was published on 2 December 2015 and last updated on 18 February 2026, so it takes "2015 [updated 2026 Feb 18; cited ...]", with the number in brackets at the end. A worked NG136 example, built and corrected, is in medical textbooks and how to cite them. A WHO guideline follows suit: World Health Organization. WHO guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour [Internet]. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2020 [cited 2026 Sep 27]. Available from: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240015128
How do I cite a drug monograph, the BNF or a patient leaflet in Vancouver?
Name who wrote it, which is rarely the site that shows it.
The BNF
The author is the Joint Formulary Committee, not the BNF (University of Portsmouth, n.d.). Swansea University (2026) cites one entry with the drug's name first, then "In:" and the whole formulary, as the table shows.
Product information, monographs and patient leaflets
For a Summary of Product Characteristics or patient information leaflet on the electronic Medicines Compendium, Portsmouth makes the manufacturer the author and takes the "last updated" date from the page. In Australia, the University of Western Australia Library (2026) cites product information through AusDI or eMIMSelite as a part of that database. Citing Medicine's patient example is a cancer network's Breast cancer treatment guidelines for patients with "Version 7" after the title, so give a leaflet's version when it has one.
How do I cite a conference abstract or a medRxiv preprint?
Label both, because neither is a peer-reviewed article.
Conference abstracts
Put [abstract] after the title (National Library of Medicine, 2018b). An abstract in a journal supplement takes "Suppl" and its page, as the table shows; one in a book of abstracts takes "In:" and the proceedings (National Library of Medicine, 2020a). A talk or poster never published uses "Paper presented at:" or "Poster session presented at:", and if a later publication is known, Citing Medicine says to cite that instead (National Library of Medicine, 2020b). MEDLINE does not index individual meeting abstracts (National Library of Medicine, 2015a), so many have no PubMed record.
Preprints on medRxiv
A preprint is marked [Preprint] after the server's name, as in Citing Medicine's "BioRxiv 069187 [Preprint]" (National Library of Medicine, 2017). Then check whether it has been published: Crossref records the RECOVERY preprint as a preprint of the New England Journal of Medicine paper, and the published version is the one to cite unless you are discussing the preliminary report.
What does EdCitation build for medical sources, and what needs fixing?
EdCitation's Cite a source is the best tool for these references, because it looks each one up in the record (Crossref, PubMed, the registry or the page itself) and never writes one, which no chatbot can promise. Free with no account, it takes a DOI, PubMed ID, ISBN, title or web address, sets the result in Vancouver or the five other styles, and screens it for retraction. Seven runs, with what came back quoted exactly:
- PubMed ID 32678530: "The RECOVERY Collaborative Group. Dexamethasone in hospitalized patients with Covid-19. N Engl J Med. 2021 Feb 25;384(8):693-704. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2021436." The title is in sentence case, with Covid-19 keeping its capital. PubMed has no "The".
- Cochrane DOI 10.1002/14651858.CD012424.pub2: "...Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2019 Jan 31;2019(1):CD012424. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD012424.pub2." The review number is read; PubMed's volume is 1, not 2019.
- Journal DOI 10.1056/NEJMoa2034577: "Polack FP, Thomas SJ, Kitchin N, Absalon J, Gurtman A, Lockhart S, et al. Safety and efficacy of the BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 vaccine. N Engl J Med. 2020 Dec 31;383(27):2603-15. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2034577." PubMed agrees on every element, adding "Epub 2020 Dec 10". The title came back in sentence case, with "Covid-19" capitalised as PubMed prints it.
- ClinicalTrials.gov page: "University of Oxford. ClinicalTrials.gov [Internet]. 2020 [cited 2026 Sep 27]. Randomised evaluation of COVID-19 therapy (identifier NCT04381936). Available from: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04381936". The identifier is right; rebuild it in the table's order, adding the registry's publisher and the record's dates.
- NICE page for NG28: "NICE [Internet]. 2026 [cited 2026 Sep 27]. Overview. Available from: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng28". It read the tab's title, "Overview", and no author; on the site, correct both in the form before the entry is built, and give 2015 with the update.
- medRxiv DOI: "Horby P, ... Effect of Dexamethasone in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 – Preliminary report [Preprint] [Internet]. medRxiv; 2020 [cited 2026 Sep 27]. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.22.20137273 doi: 10.1101/2020.06.22.20137273." Lower "Dexamethasone" and "Preliminary", move "medRxiv [Preprint]" after the title, drop the repeated DOI, and note the published version.
- ISRCTN DOI 10.1186/ISRCTN50189673: the registry appeared as "http://isrctn.com/ [Internet]"; build this one by hand.
Verify references on a Vancouver list
We pasted the six table entries that have a record behind them (all but the BNF and leaflet) into Verify references, free with no account. Five came back verified, three because "The DOI resolves to this record and the title matches" and the NICE and ClinicalTrials.gov entries because "The page is at this address, and its title matches." The abstract came back doubtful: "A work with this title is recorded in Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment (2005), not in the source your entry names." The 2005 paper, by the same first author, has a different title, so check by hand whether it is the same study. A reference the tool cannot reach comes back "could not check", never "not found".
Upload the whole paper on Pro, $8 a month, and References from a file looks up each reference and pairs every citation number with its entry; Max, $24 a month, adds Theoretics QA (pricing). EdCitation never writes any part of a student's paper.
Quick questions
How do I cite a Cochrane review in Vancouver?
Cite it as a journal article under the abbreviation Cochrane Database Syst Rev, with the CD review number in place of pages and the DOI with its .pub version.
Do I cite a clinical trial's registration or its results?
The results, as a journal article, when you use its findings. Cite the ClinicalTrials.gov or ISRCTN record when you mean the protocol, an ongoing trial or results posted only there.
Who is the author of the BNF?
The Joint Formulary Committee. Swansea and Portsmouth both put the committee first, with the British National Formulary as the title.
How do I cite a medRxiv preprint in Vancouver?
Give the authors and title, then "medRxiv [Preprint]", the year, your reading date and the DOI's address, following Citing Medicine's bioRxiv example. If it has since appeared in a journal, cite that version.
Can EdCitation build a Vancouver reference from a PubMed ID?
Yes. EdCitation's free Cite a source takes the PMID, fetches the record, abbreviates the journal as the NLM does and sets the title in sentence case; read the title against the record, as the runs above show.
References
- Cochrane. (n.d.). Cochrane publications. Cochrane Style Manual. https://www.cochrane.org/authors/handbooks-and-manuals/style-manual/references/reference-types/cochrane-publications
- Lancaster University. (2026, September 8). Referencing. Medicine library guide. https://lancaster.libguides.com/medicine/referencing
- National Library of Medicine. (2015a). Appendix F: Notes for citing MEDLINE/PubMed. In Citing medicine: The NLM style guide for authors, editors, and publishers (2nd ed.). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7243/
- National Library of Medicine. (2015b). Books and other individual titles on the Internet. In Citing medicine: The NLM style guide for authors, editors, and publishers (2nd ed.). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7269/
- National Library of Medicine. (2017). Manuscripts and preprints. In Citing medicine: The NLM style guide for authors, editors, and publishers (2nd ed.). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7264/
- National Library of Medicine. (2018a). Databases/retrieval systems/datasets on the Internet. In Citing medicine: The NLM style guide for authors, editors, and publishers (2nd ed.). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7273/
- National Library of Medicine. (2018b). Journals. In Citing medicine: The NLM style guide for authors, editors, and publishers (2nd ed.). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7282/
- National Library of Medicine. (2020a). Conference publications. In Citing medicine: The NLM style guide for authors, editors, and publishers (2nd ed.). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7272/
- National Library of Medicine. (2020b). Papers and poster sessions presented at meetings. In Citing medicine: The NLM style guide for authors, editors, and publishers (2nd ed.). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7255/
- National Library of Medicine. (2026). Samples of formatted references for authors of journal articles. https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html
- RECOVERY Collaborative Group. (2021). Dexamethasone in hospitalized patients with Covid-19. New England Journal of Medicine, 384(8), 693–704. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2021436
- Sherrington, C., Fairhall, N. J., Wallbank, G. K., Tiedemann, A., Michaleff, Z. A., Howard, K., Clemson, L., Hopewell, S., & Lamb, S. E. (2019). Exercise for preventing falls in older people living in the community. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (1), Article CD012424. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD012424.pub2
- Swansea University. (2026, August 13). How do I reference the British National Formulary (BNF) using the Vancouver style of referencing? LibAnswers. https://swansea-uk.libanswers.com/Referencing/faq/189100
- University of Liverpool. (2026, September 22). Vancouver. Referencing library guide. https://libguides.liverpool.ac.uk/referencing/vancouver
- University of Newcastle Library. (2026, January 23). Health specific. Vancouver referencing style. https://libguides.newcastle.edu.au/vancouver/health
- University of Portsmouth. (n.d.). Drug information sources. Vancouver referencing. https://library.port.ac.uk/using-resources/referencing/vancouver/drug-information-sources
- University of Western Australia Library. (2026, August 5). Databases & EBP resources. Referencing style: Vancouver (based on Citing Medicine). https://guides.library.uwa.edu.au/vancouver/databases_EBP_resources
- World Health Organization. (2015). How to cite a record on a clinical trials register [PDF]. https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/documents/health-topics/how-to-cite.pdf?sfvrsn=d027a259_2