Vancouver referencing is the numbered style of medicine and the health sciences, and this guide, published by EdCitation, gives its rules as the bodies behind it write them. Every rule was read on 23 September 2026: the US National Library of Medicine's sample references, last reviewed on 2 June 2026, and the references section of the ICMJE Recommendations, updated in January 2026. The journals chapter of the NLM's full manual, Citing Medicine, was read the same day.
The core fits in a line: a number where you use a source, the same number each time, and a list in number order. EdCitation's free Vancouver citation generator builds each entry from the publisher's record, taking a PubMed ID as readily as a DOI, and Verify references checks the finished list against those records. Journal authors will find more in the journal manuscript references checklist.
Where does the name Vancouver come from?
From a meeting. In 1978 a group of medical journal editors met in Vancouver, British Columbia, above all to agree a format for references, and agreed that the National Library of Medicine would define it (Huth & Case, 2004). The group became the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), often called "the Vancouver group" after that first meeting place.
Huth and Case (2004), in an account the ICMJE keeps in its archive, date the first Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts to 1979; the ICMJE's history page says "first published in 1978" (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, n.d.). Today that document is the ICMJE Recommendations, whose references section points to the NLM's samples and Citing Medicine. Neither that section nor the samples page uses the word "Vancouver"; universities do.
How do Vancouver in-text citations work?
Number each source the first time you cite it, and reuse that number whenever you cite it again. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (2026) asks for references numbered consecutively in order of first mention, shown in the text, tables and legends as Arabic numerals in parentheses. A reference cited only in a table or legend takes its number from where the text first mentions that table or figure.
Brackets or superscript
The ICMJE says round brackets. The NLM's samples cover only the list, and whether Citing Medicine sets a form for the text could not be confirmed. Imperial College London (n.d.-b) allows brackets or superscript: "Recent research (1) indicates", or a raised 1. The University of Queensland Library (2026b) uses superscript alone, outside full stops and commas but inside colons and semicolons. The journal or course decides; use its form throughout.
Several numbers, and names in the sentence
Join an unbroken run with a hyphen and separate the rest with commas: Imperial writes "(6-9, 13, 15)", and Queensland "2-5,7,10" in superscript, with "1,2" for two consecutive numbers.
A name in the sentence still takes its number, as in Imperial's "Watkins (2)". Queensland uses "and" for two authors and "et al." from three; Imperial uses "et al." after the first of two or more. Two works by one author in one year need no letters: each has its own number (Imperial College London, n.d.-b).
How do I set out the Vancouver reference list?
List each cited source once, under its number, in number order and never alphabetically. A bibliography of works read but not cited, where a course asks for one, is a separate alphabetical list without numbers (Imperial College London, n.d.-a).
Author names and "et al."
Write the surname, then the initials with no full stops or spaces, with commas between authors: "Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL." With more than six authors, the National Library of Medicine (2026) lists the first six, then "et al.", and notes that the NLM itself now lists all authors; Citing Medicine's journals chapter says to give all authors, "regardless of the number" (National Library of Medicine, 2018). The samples also show:
- An organisation is written out in full: "Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group."
- People and a group in one byline take a semicolon before the group: "van Moorselaar RJ; Alf-One Study Group."
- With no author, the reference opens with the title.
- A suffix follows the initials: "Gilstrap LC 3rd".
Journal titles, dates and pages
Abbreviate journal titles as MEDLINE does, looking each up in the NLM Catalog, which the ICMJE names and which searches by title, abbreviation or ISSN (National Library of Medicine, n.d.). Since 1 March 2007 new abbreviations have generally been built from the ISSN Centre's abbreviated key title, every word capitalised, punctuation and diacritics removed, and articles, conjunctions and prepositions dropped: Journal of mass spectrometry is J Mass Spectrom (National Library of Medicine, 2024). One-word titles are never abbreviated, and old abbreviations are not changed, so look each up rather than work it out.
Then come the year, month and day, a semicolon, the volume, the issue in brackets, a colon and the pages, with the closing page shortened: "2002 Jul 25;347(4):284-7." The samples use no italics anywhere.
What do the main Vancouver reference forms look like?
Every kind of source sets its elements in its own order; the examples below are the NLM's own, copied exactly, American spelling included.
| Source | Elements, in order | NLM example |
|---|---|---|
| Journal article | Authors. Title. Journal. Year Mon Day;volume(issue):pages. | Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002 Jul 25;347(4):284-7. |
| With a DOI and a PMID | As above, then doi: and the DOI, then the PMID (optional) | Zhang M, Holman CD, Price SD, Sanfilippo FM, Preen DB, Bulsara MK. Comorbidity and repeat admission to hospital for adverse drug reactions in older adults: retrospective cohort study. BMJ. 2009 Jan 7;338:a2752. doi: 10.1136/bmj.a2752. PubMed PMID: 19129307; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2615549. |
| Ahead of print | Print details, then Epub and the online date | Yu WM, Hawley TS, Hawley RG, Qu CK. Immortalization of yolk sac-derived precursor cells. Blood. 2002 Nov 15;100(10):3828-31. Epub 2002 Jul 5. |
| Book | Authors. Title. Edition. Place: Publisher; Year. | Murray PR, Rosenthal KS, Kobayashi GS, Pfaller MA. Medical microbiology. 4th ed. St. Louis: Mosby; 2002. |
| Chapter in an edited book | Authors. Chapter. In: Editors, editors. Book. Place: Publisher; Year. p. pages. | 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; 2002. p. 93-113. |
| Organisation as author | Organisation. Title. Place: Publisher; Year. | American Occupational Therapy Association, Ad Hoc Committee on Occupational Therapy Manpower. Occupational therapy manpower: a plan for progress. Rockville (MD): The Association; 1985 Apr. 84 p. |
| Page of a website | Site [Internet]. Place: Publisher; date [cited date]. Page; [length]. Available from: URL | American Medical Association [Internet]. Chicago: The Association; c1995-2016 [cited 2016 Dec 27]. Office of International Medicine; [about 2 screens]. Available from: https://www.ama-assn.org/about/office-international-medicine |
| Thesis | Author. Title [dissertation]. Place: University; Year. | Borkowski MM. Infant sleep and feeding: a telephone survey of Hispanic Americans [dissertation]. Mount Pleasant (MI): Central Michigan University; 2002. |
| Conference paper | Authors. Title. In: Editors, editors. Proceedings; dates; place. Place: Publisher; Year. p. pages. | Christensen S, Oppacher F. An analysis of Koza's computational effort statistic for genetic programming. In: Foster JA, Lutton E, Miller J, Ryan C, Tettamanzi AG, editors. Genetic programming. EuroGP 2002: Proceedings of the 5th European Conference on Genetic Programming; 2002 Apr 3-5; Kinsdale, Ireland. Berlin: Springer; 2002. p. 182-91. |
| Dataset (simplified form) | Title [dataset]. Version. Date [cited date]. Available from: URL | RxNorm [dataset]. April 4, 2016 Full Monthly Release. 2016 Apr 4 [cited 2016 Apr 18]. Available from: https://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/umls/rxnorm/docs/rxnormfiles.html |
DOIs, PMIDs and preprints
The DOI sample, one of the formats the NLM uses in MEDLINE/PubMed, writes "doi: " and the number, then a full stop, with the PMID optional after it (what is a DOI). Citing Medicine's own example has no space: "doi:10.1542/peds.2004-1441." An article number takes the place of pages: "338:a2752" there, and "360(5):e6" in the NLM's document-number example. For accepted work not yet out, the NLM prefers "Forthcoming" to "In press", since not everything is printed; the ICMJE accepts either. A preprint is marked "[Preprint]", as in "arXiv:1702.01006v1 [Preprint]", and the ICMJE asks that it be shown clearly as one.
Web pages, reports and guidelines
A book, website or database read online adds "[Internet]" after its title or name, "[cited 2016 Dec 27]" for the day you read it, and "Available from:" before the address. A report adds its number, as in "Report No.: LBNL49574", and an organisation that is also the publisher becomes "The Association". The samples give no clinical guideline: treat one as an organisation's book read online, and for an updated one follow the samples' database pattern, "[updated 2001 Nov 20; cited 2002 Aug 12]".
Where do university Vancouver guides depart from the NLM?
In the numbers, the author count, journal titles, pages and access dates. The University of Queensland Library (2026a) bases its guide on the 11th edition of the AMA Manual of Style, not on the NLM; Imperial College London follows the NLM in outline only.
- In the text. ICMJE: round brackets. Imperial: brackets or superscript. Queensland: superscript only.
- "Et al." NLM: over six authors, list six. Queensland: over six, list three, as in "Hanna JN, McBride WJ, Brookes DL, et al." (University of Queensland Library, 2026c). Imperial states no count, but its examples list six.
- Journal titles. NLM: abbreviated, not italic. Queensland: abbreviated, italic. Imperial: italic, and in full in its examples, such as British Medical Journal (Imperial College London, n.d.-c).
- Pages. NLM: shortened, 284-7. Queensland and Imperial: in full, 701-704 and 352-354.
- DOIs and access dates. NLM: "doi: 10.1136/bmj.a2752." and "[cited 2016 Dec 27]". Queensland: "doi:" with no space, and "Accessed June 27, 2024." Imperial: "[Accessed 6th July 2021]".
Follow the version your journal or course names; the ICMJE itself tells authors to consult the journal. Where nothing names one, use the NLM's, which the ICMJE points to.
How do I check a Vancouver reference list?
Check the text first, then the list.
- Note each number where it first appears: a new 7 before any 6 means the order has slipped.
- Number a source cited only in a table or legend from where the text first mentions that table or figure.
- Pair each number with exactly one entry, and each entry with a number in the text. Upload the whole paper to EdCitation's Verify references and it runs this match in both directions.
- Use one form in the text, brackets or superscript, with runs joined by a hyphen.
- Check names: surname and unpunctuated initials, six authors, then "et al.", unless your guide differs.
- Check each journal abbreviation in the NLM Catalog, then the date, volume, issue and pages.
- Check that each DOI leads to the paper named, and each website or online book has "[Internet]", "[cited ...]" and "Available from:".
- Mark preprints, and check whether a published version now exists.
- Screen for retraction: the ICMJE makes this the authors' job, names PubMed as the authority for MEDLINE journals, and allows a retracted article only to discuss the retraction (retracted papers in your reference list). A list pasted into Verify references comes back with retracted papers flagged, and Cite a source screens each work as it builds the entry.
- Remove any AI-generated material cited as a primary source, which the ICMJE does not accept.
How does EdCitation build and check a Vancouver list?
EdCitation is the best tool for a Vancouver reference list, because Cite a source fetches every reference from the publisher's record instead of writing it, as no chatbot can, and screens each source for retraction. Those are the two checks the ICMJE puts on authors: verify references against a source such as PubMed or the original, and cite no retracted article except to discuss the retraction. A PMID copied from PubMed goes straight in, as do a DOI, an ISBN or a plain title, and the reference comes out in Vancouver or any of the other five styles. It is free with no account and builds one reference at a time. Its Vancouver page gives the in-text rule, a number in round brackets or superscript reused for the same source, and the list follows the NLM, as below.
What the entry prints, and when to change it
| Part | What EdCitation prints | Your check |
|---|---|---|
| Page range | Shortened and hyphenated, 54-8, as the NLM samples are | Write pages in full if your guide does, as Queensland's and Imperial's do (701-704) |
| Journal article's date | The issue's date, as in "2013 Aug" | Add "Epub" and the online date yourself if the list wants them, as the NLM's ahead-of-print sample does |
| Article number | In the pages' place: "13(1):14045" | None: the NLM's own sample has "338:a2752" |
| After the DOI | A full stop | None |
| Article title | Sentence case, first word and proper nouns capitalised, as in the NLM samples, even where the publisher deposited title case | Glance at any name made of ordinary words, which can come back lowered |
| For a whole list, a free account's dashboard keeps it, numbering each entry by when you saved it, so saving sources in citation order gives you 1, 2, 3 in step with the text. The list copies into a document or downloads as Word, BibTeX or RIS. |
Verify references, also free with no account, reads the finished list against the records. Against each reference it gives one of three answers, verified, "check this" or not found; a retraction is flagged; and where a record could not be reached, the answer says so rather than claiming not found. Given the whole paper, it also checks that each cited number has an entry and each entry is cited.
On the paid side, Pro at $8 a month adds References from a file, which reads an uploaded manuscript and checks its references and citations together, with the plagiarism and AI checks. Pro's Mechanics QA measures formatting only against the APA 7 student paper, so a Vancouver manuscript gets nothing from it. Max, $24 a month, adds Theoretics QA and the Library (pricing).
Numbering the citations in your draft as you write is a reference manager's job, not EdCitation's; citation generator, reference manager or checker sets out the difference. EdCitation never writes any part of a paper.
Quick questions
Does Vancouver use brackets or superscript numbers?
Either. The ICMJE asks for parentheses, Imperial College London allows either, and the University of Queensland uses superscript; follow your journal or course.
How many authors go before et al. in Vancouver?
The NLM's samples name every author up to six, and past six give the first six followed by "et al." Guides based on the AMA manual, such as Queensland's, list three.
Is a Vancouver reference list alphabetical?
No. A Vancouver list runs in number order, and each source's number is fixed by where the text first cites it.
Should a PMID go in a Vancouver reference?
It may. The NLM's samples show "PubMed PMID:" and the number at the end of a journal reference as optional, so include it where your guide asks for it.
How do I cite a web page in Vancouver?
Give the site name with "[Internet]", the place, publisher and date, "[cited year month day]", the page title, and "Available from:" with the address, as the NLM's samples show.
Can I make a Vancouver reference from a PubMed ID?
Yes. Paste the PMID into EdCitation's free Vancouver citation generator and the entry comes from the record, with the issue's date, pages shortened to 54-8 and a full stop after the DOI. It screens the article for retraction as well, and sets a title deposited in title case in sentence case.
References
- Huth, E. J., & Case, K. (2004). The URM: Twenty-five years old. Science Editor, 27(1), 17–21. https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/archives/summary78-04.pdf
- Imperial College London. (n.d.-a). Vancouver style. Library Services. https://www.imperial.ac.uk/admin-services/library/learning-support/reference-management/vancouver-style/
- Imperial College London. (n.d.-b). Vancouver style: Citing. Library Services. https://www.imperial.ac.uk/admin-services/library/learning-support/reference-management/vancouver-style/citing/
- Imperial College London. (n.d.-c). Vancouver style: Your reference list and bibliography. Library Services. https://www.imperial.ac.uk/admin-services/library/learning-support/reference-management/vancouver-style/your-reference-list/
- International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. (n.d.). History of the recommendations. https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/about-the-recommendations/history-of-the-recommendations.html
- International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. (2026). Recommendations for the conduct, reporting, editing, and publication of scholarly work in medical journals: Preparing a manuscript for submission to a medical journal. https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/manuscript-preparation/preparing-for-submission.html
- National Library of Medicine. (n.d.). NLM Catalog: Journals referenced in the NCBI databases. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/journals/
- National Library of Medicine. (2018). 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. (2024). Construction of the National Library of Medicine title abbreviations. https://www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/cataloging/contructitleabbre.html
- National Library of Medicine. (2026). Samples of formatted references for authors of journal articles. https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html
- University of Queensland Library. (2026a, September 18). About Vancouver referencing style. Vancouver (AMA) referencing style. https://guides.library.uq.edu.au/referencing/vancouver-ama
- University of Queensland Library. (2026b, September 18). In-text citations. Vancouver (AMA) referencing style. https://guides.library.uq.edu.au/referencing/vancouver-ama/in-text-citations
- University of Queensland Library. (2026c, September 18). Journal articles. Vancouver (AMA) referencing style. https://guides.library.uq.edu.au/referencing/vancouver-ama/journals