Vancouver referencing — the UK guide

When to use Vancouver

Vancouver is the standard for nursing, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and most biomedical sciences in the UK. It uses numbered in-text citations and a numerically-ordered reference list at the end. There’s some variation between universities — some allow superscript numbers, others want brackets — but the core principles are the same.

In-text citations

Vancouver numbers sources in the order they first appear in the text. The same source keeps its original number every time it’s cited again.

• Single source: Recent research suggests motivation declines with screen time (1).
• Multiple sources: Several studies have confirmed this trend (1, 3, 7).
• Range: Older work in this area is reviewed elsewhere (4–8).
• Same source twice: Smith’s 2021 study (1) found... A later analysis (1) confirmed...

Most UK universities prefer round brackets — (1) — over superscript¹. Check your handbook.

Reference list — common source types

Journal article

1. Patel R, Khan S. Cognitive load in adolescent learners. J Educ Psychol. 2022;114(3):412–29.

Note: journals are abbreviated (NLM-style); volume in plain, issue in brackets, then colon, then page range with abbreviated end page.

Journal article with DOI

2. Smith J, Brown A, Patel R. Nurse burnout in acute settings: a systematic review. BMJ Open. 2023;13(4):e066512. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2022-066512.

Book

3. Baddeley A. Working memory, thought, and action. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2012.

Edited book chapter

4. Jones A. Reading in the age of distraction. In: Brown B, editor. Modern literacies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2020. p. 45–67.

Government / institutional report

5. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Type 2 diabetes in adults: management. London: NICE; 2022. NG28.

Website

6. NHS England. Symptoms of generalised anxiety disorder [Internet]. London: NHS England; 2023 [cited 2024 Mar 3]. Available from: https://www.nhs.uk/...

Authors — formatting rules

List up to six authors. Seven or more: list the first six, then “et al.”

7. Smith J, Jones A, Patel R, Khan S, Brown B, Hassan M, et al. Multi-author paper title. J Med. 2023;15:101–10.

Journal abbreviations

Vancouver uses NLM-style journal abbreviations. “Journal of Educational Psychology” becomes “J Educ Psychol.” You can look these up at the NLM Catalog (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/journals).

Common mistakes

• Re-numbering when the same source is cited again — Vancouver keeps the original number.
• Listing references alphabetically — they go in the order they first appear in the text.
• Forgetting to abbreviate journal names — required by Vancouver.
• Italicising journal names — Vancouver doesn’t italicise anything in references.
• Using “pp.” — Vancouver writes page ranges without any prefix.

Related guides: Harvard · APA 7 · Nursing essay help