Vancouver Referencing: A Guide for Health and Medical Students

Vancouver is the standard style in much of medicine and health science writing. It produces compact papers, because the text carries only a number and all the detail sits in a numbered list. Students in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, public health and related fields meet it early, often in clinical and research assignments.

Like Harvard, Vancouver exists in several versions, and institutions publish their own. This guide covers the common pattern and shows examples, using invented sources to illustrate the format. Always check your course guide for the version to follow.

How Vancouver works

Vancouver has two linked parts:

1. In-text numbers, such as (1) or a superscript 1, placed where you use a source.
2. A numbered reference list at the end, in the same order.

Each source takes the next free number the first time it appears, so the opening source is 1 and the next new one is 2. A source you meet again keeps the number it already has.

In-text citations

Format

Most versions use a number in round brackets or a superscript number. Choose the one your course requires, and use it consistently.

Early mobilization reduces length of stay after surgery (1).

Early mobilization reduces length of stay after surgery.¹

Placement

Place the number after the relevant word or clause, and before punctuation in many versions. Check your guide.

Several sources

Naming the author in the text

You can still name the author, followed by the number: "Lee and Patel (3) found that..."

The reference list

• Title it References.
• Order the entries by number of first citation.
• Give the author's surname and initials, with no full stops or commas between initials: Lee J, Patel R.
• Use an abbreviated journal title in standard form, without full stops.
• Give the year, volume, issue and pages in a compact format.
• Include a DOI where available.

Examples

Journal article

Format: Author AA, Author BB. Title of article. Abbreviated Journal Title. Year;Volume(Issue):Pages. doi:xxxx

1. Lee J, Patel R. Early mobilization after abdominal surgery. J Clin Nurs. 2021;30(4):512-20. doi:10.0000/example

Book

Format: Author AA. Title of book. Edition. Place of publication: Publisher; Year.

2. Gomez M. Fundamentals of clinical assessment. 3rd ed. Boston: Harbor Press; 2020.

Chapter in a book

3. Patel R. Pain assessment in older adults. In: Gomez M, editor. Care of the older adult. London: Northfield; 2019. p. 120-45.

Website

Format: Author or Organization. Title of page [Internet]. Place: Publisher; Year [cited date]. Available from: URL

4. World Health Organization. Hand hygiene in health care [Internet]. Geneva: WHO; 2021 [cited 2025 Mar 12]. Available from: https://www.example.org/hand-hygiene

Clinical guideline or report from an organization

5. National Institute for Health Research. Falls prevention guideline [Internet]. London: NIHR; 2022 [cited 2025 Mar 12]. Available from: https://www.example.org/falls

Government or organization as author

6. Department of Health. Annual report on patient safety. London: Department of Health; 2023.

Many Vancouver versions have rules for the number of authors listed, for the order of date elements and for how to cite online sources. Follow the version your course uses, and copy its examples exactly.

Authors and journals

Practice varies, but common rules are:

• Up to six authors: list all of them.
• More than six: list the first six followed by "et al." in many versions, though some guides use the first three.
• Organization as author: give the full name of the organization.
• Journal abbreviations: use the standard abbreviation from a recognized list. You can often find it by searching the journal in the National Library of Medicine catalog.

If your guide differs, follow it.

Vancouver in nursing and health assignments

Nursing and health students often cite clinical guidelines, government reports and professional body documents as well as journal articles. Keep careful records of the organization, year and URL for every guideline, since they are updated, and note which version you used. Many courses ask you to prefer recent sources, so check publication dates. If you cite patient information in a case study, anonymize it, and cite only published sources for facts.

Nursing programs vary: some use APA and others use Vancouver. If your course is nursing and you are not sure, ask. Health students who want an additional check on a finished list can use citation and reference formatting for nursing papers.

Tools and checking

Reference managers such as Zotero and EndNote can output Vancouver style. Check the results: journal abbreviations, author lists and punctuation often need correction. Our citation generator offers a starting point for some styles. Compare every entry with a trusted example before you submit.

More source types you may need

Health assignments draw on a wider range of sources than most. A few patterns follow, using invented details.

Journal article with an organization as author:

7. Falls Prevention Working Group. Reducing inpatient falls: a consensus statement. BMJ Qual Saf. 2020;29(2):101-8.

Systematic review in the Cochrane Library:

8. Patel R, Lee J. Early mobilization for hospitalized adults. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2021;(3):CD000000.

Thesis or dissertation:

9. Gomez M. Nurse staffing and patient outcomes [dissertation]. London: Northfield University; 2019.

Personal communication: Many versions cite it in the text only, for example "(personal communication, Dr J Lee, 12 March 2025)", and leave it out of the list, since readers cannot retrieve it.

Online journal article with no page numbers: Give the article number, such as e12345, in place of pages.

When you meet a source that does not fit, find the closest example in your guide, and keep the order of elements the same.

Citing patient information and clinical cases

Case studies and reflective papers raise a special issue: you must protect patient confidentiality. Do not name patients, and remove details such as exact ages, dates or locations that could identify someone. Cite published guidelines and research for clinical facts, but do not cite a real patient's record as if it were a published source. If your course gives a template for case studies, follow its rules on anonymity.

Keeping your list under control

Because Vancouver numbers follow the order of citation, adding a new source early in a paper changes every number after it. A reference manager with a word processor plugin handles this automatically, and is strongly worth setting up before your first long assignment. If you work by hand, keep a short working list and renumber only when the text is final, then read the paper through once to confirm that the first number you meet is 1 and the sequence never skips.

Common Vancouver mistakes

• Alphabetizing the list. It should follow the order of citation.
• Wrong numbers. Numbers must follow the order in which you first cite sources.
• New entries for repeated sources. Reuse the number.
• Inconsistent author format, such as full stops after initials.
• Using full journal titles where abbreviations are required.
• Missing DOIs or access dates for online material.
• Mixing brackets and superscripts in one paper.
• Citing without reading. Cite the work you used, not one you only saw cited elsewhere.

For the numbered style used in technical fields, see our guide to IEEE referencing, which has a similar logic and different formatting.

A quick checklist

• Do the in-text numbers run 1, 2, 3 in the order the sources first appear?
• Does the reference list mirror that numbering exactly?
• Are author names formatted correctly?
• Are journal titles abbreviated as required?
• Are year, volume, issue, pages and DOI present?
• Is every source in the text in the list, and the reverse?
• Have I followed my institution's version?

Final thoughts

Vancouver rewards patience and consistency. Let each new source take the next number, give a repeated source its old number and format every entry in one pattern. Keep a running list while you draft so renumbering never becomes a last-minute job, then verify the list entry by entry against your sources and your course guide.