Wikipedia

Vancouver system

TheVancouver system,also known asVancouver reference styleor theauthor–number system,is acitationstyle that uses numbers within the text that refer to numbered entries in the reference list. It is popular in thephysical sciencesand is one of two referencing systems normally used in medicine, the other being theauthor–date, or "Harvard", system.[1][2]Vancouver style is used byMEDLINEandPubMed.[3]

Hundreds ofscientific journalsuse author–number systems. They all follow the same essential logic (that is, numbered citations pointing to numbered list entries), although the trivial details of the output mask, such aspunctuation,casing of titles,anditalic,vary widely among them. They have existed for over a century; the names "Vancouver system" or "Vancouver style" have existed since 1978. The latest version of the latter isCiting Medicine,per theReferences > Style and Formatsection of the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals.[4]These recommendations, theVancouver ConventionandVancouver guidelines,have a much broader scope than only the citation style: they provide ethical guidelines for writers and rules for co-authorship in scientific collaborations to avoid fraud. The Convention further entails compliance with theHelsinki Declaration,and research projects must be recommended by an independent ethics committee.[5]

In the broad sense, the Vancouver system refers to any author–number system regardless of the formatting details. A narrower definition of the Vancouver system refers to a specific author–number format specified by theICMJE Recommendations(Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts, URM). For example, theAMA reference styleis Vancouver style in the broad sense because it is an author–number system that conforms to the URM, but not in the narrow sense because its formatting differs in some minor details from the NLM/PubMed style (such as what is italicized and whether the citation numbers are bracketed).

History

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Author–number systems have existed for over a century and throughout that time have been one of the main types ofcitationstyle inscientific journals(the other beingauthor–date). In 1978, a committee of editors from variousmedical journals,the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), met inVancouver, British Columbia, Canada,to agree to a unified set of requirements for the articles of such journals. This meeting led to the establishment of theUniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals(URMs). Part of the URMs is the reference style, for which the ICMJE selected the long-established author–number principle.

The URMs were developed 15 years before theWorld Wide Webdebuted. During those years, they were published as articles or supplements in various ICMJE member journals. These included the 1991 BMJ publication,[6]the 1995CMAJpublication[7]and the 1997Annals of Internal Medicinepublication.[8]In the late 1990s and early 2000s, journals were asked to cite the 1997JAMAversion[9]when reprinting theUniform Requirements.

In the early 2000s, with the Web having become a major force in academic life, the idea gradually took hold that the logical home for the latest edition of the URMs would be theICMJE websiteitself (as opposed to whichever journal article or supplement had most recently published an update). For example, as of 2004, the editors ofHaematologicadecided simply to invite their authors to visit www.icmje.org for the 2003 revision of theUniform Requirements.[10]

Since the early to mid-2000s, theUnited States National Library of Medicine(which runsMEDLINEandPubMed) has hosted the ICMJE's "Sample References" pages.[2]Around 2007, the NLM createdCiting Medicine,itsstyle guidefor citation style, as a new home for the style's details. The ICMJE Recommendations now point toCiting Medicineas the home for the formatting details of Vancouver style.[4]For example, in the December 2013 edition of the ICMJE Recommendations, the relevant paragraph is IV.A.3.g.ii. (References > Style and Format).[4]

Sample usage

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Labelling citations

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References are numbered consecutively in order of appearance in the text – they are identified byArabic numeralsinparentheses(1),square brackets[1],superscript1,or a combination[1].The number usually appears at the end of the material it supports, and an entry in the reference list would give full bibliographical information for the source:

Blood loss and the number of patients requiring post-operative blood transfusions were significantly greater, but operation and fluoroscopy times were significantly shorter, for the DHS versus the PFNA group[1].

And the entry in the reference list would be:

  1. Xu YZ, Geng DC, Mao HQ, Zhu XS, Yang HL (2010). "A comparison of the proximal femoral nail antirotation device and dynamic hip screw in the treatment of unstable pertrochanteric fracture".The Journal of International Medical Research.38(4):1266–1275.doi:10.1177/147323001003800408.PMID20925999.S2CID20812098.

Placing citations

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Several descriptions of the Vancouver system say that the number can be placedoutsidethe text punctuation to avoid disruption to the flow of the text,orbe placedinsidethe text punctuation, and that there are different cultures in different traditions.[11][12]The first method is recommended by some universities and colleges,[13]while the latter method is required by scientific publications such as theMLA[14]andIEEE[15]except for in the end of a block quotation. (IEEE are using Vancouver style labels within brackets, for example [1] to cite the first reference in the list, but otherwise refer toChicago Style Manual.)[15]The original Vancouver system documents (theICMJE recommendationsand Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals) do not discuss placement of the citation mark.

Format of citations

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Different formats exist for different types of sources, e.g. books, journal articles, etc.

Format of names

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Formatting for all names (e.g., authors, editors, etc.) is the same.

General rules for names:[16]

  • List names in the order they appear in the text
  • Enter surname (family or last name) first for each author
  • Capitalize surnames and enter spaces within surnames as they appear in the document cited on the assumption that the author approved the form used. For example: Van Der Horn or van der Horn; De Wolf or de Wolf or DeWolf.
  • Convert given (first) names and middle names to initials, for a maximum of two initials following each surname
  • Give all authors, regardless of the number
  • Separate author names from each other by a comma and a space
  • End author information with a period
  • See exceptions for author in Appendix F: Notes for Citing MEDLINE/PubMed.

AlthoughCiting Medicinedoes not explicitly mandate merging initials (e.g. "R. K." would be merged into "RK" ), the examples used throughout the book do.

Journal articles

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Standard journal articles
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  • Leurs R, Church MK, Taglialatela M. H1-antihistamines: inverse agonism, anti-inflammatory actions and cardiac effects. Clin Exp Allergy. 2002 Apr;32(4):489–498.
  • Tashiro J, Yamaguchi S, Ishii T, Suzuki A, Kondo H, Morita Y, Hara K, Koyama I. Inferior oncological prognosis of surgery without oral chemotherapy for stage III colon cancer in clinical settings. World J Surg Oncol. 2014 May 10;12(1):145. [Epub ahead of print]

As an option, if a journal carries continuous pagination throughout a volume (as many medical journals do), the month and issue number may be omitted.

  • Thomas MC. Diuretics, ACE inhibitors and NSAIDs – the triple whammy. Med J Aust. 2000;172:184–185.

TheNLMlists all authors for all articles, because it is appropriate for capturing all authors and all of their publications in the MEDLINE database to be found by searches. However, in the reference lists of articles, most journals truncate the list after 3 or 6 names, followed by "et al."(which most medical journals do not italicize):

  • Guilbert TW, Morgan WJ, Zeiger RS, Mauger DT, Boehmer SJ, Szefler SJ, et al. Long-term inhaled corticosteroids in preschool children at high risk for asthma. N Engl J Med. 2006 May 11;354(19):1985–1997.

Optionally, a unique identifier (such as the article'sDOIorPMID) may be added to the citation:

  • von Itzstein M, Wu WY, Kok GB, Pegg MS, Dyason JC, Jin B, et al. Rational design of potent sialidase-based inhibitors of influenza virus replication. Nature. 1993 Jun 3;363(6428):418–423.PMID8502295.

NLM elides ending page numbers and uses a hyphen as the range indicating character (184-5).[17]Some journals do likewise, whereas others expand the ending page numbers in full (184–185), use an en dash instead of a hyphen (184–5), or both (184–185).

Virtually all medical journal articles are published online. Many are published online only, and many others are published onlineahead of print.For the date of online publication, at the end of the citation NLM puts "[Epub Year Mon Day]" (for online-only publication) or "[Epub ahead of print]" for online ahead of print (with the month and day following the year in its normal position). In contrast,AMA styleputs "[published online Month Day, Year]" at the end of the article title. It no longer uses the term "Epub" and no longer includes the words "ahead of print". It omits the year from its normal location after the journal title abbreviation if there is no print data to give (online-only publication).

The titles of journals are abbreviated. There are no periods in the abbreviation. A period comes after the abbreviation, delimiting it from the next field. The abbreviations are standardized. The standardization was formerly incomplete and internal to organizations such as NLM. It is now formalized at thesupraorganizationallevel[18][19](see also:ANSI Z39.5andISO 4: Information and documentation – Rules for the abbreviation of title words and titles of publications).

Articles not in English
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As per journal articles in English:

  • Forneau E, Bovet D. Recherches sur l'action sympathicolytique d'un nouveau dérivé du dioxane. Arch Int Pharmacodyn. 1933;46:178–191. French.

TheNLMadds an English translation of the title enclosed in square brackets right after the title. The language is specified in full after the location (pagination), followed by a period.

Books

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Surname Initial(s). Book title. Edition – if available: Publisher, place of publication; Year.

Personal author(s)
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  • Rang HP, Dale MM, Ritter JM, Moore PK. Pharmacology. 5th ed. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone; 2003.
Editor(s) or compiler(s) as authors
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  • Beers MH, Porter RS, Jones TV, Kaplan JL, Berkwits M, editors. The Merck manual of diagnosis and therapy. 18th ed. Whitehouse Station (NJ): Merck Research Laboratories; 2006.
Authored chapter in edited publication
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  • Glennon RA, Dukat M. Serotonin receptors and drugs affecting serotonergic neurotransmission. In: Williams DA, Lemke TL, editors. Foye's principles of medicinal chemistry. 5th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2002.

Electronic material

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  • World Health Organization (WHO). Mortality country fact sheet 2006 [internet]. Geneva: WHO; 2006. Available from: www.who.int/whosis/mort_emro_pak_pakistan.pdf

References

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  1. ^"Reference styles".British Medical Association (BMA).Archived fromthe originalon 5 October 2016.Retrieved2016-10-04.
  2. ^abInternational Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE)."Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Sample References".United States National Library of Medicine.Retrieved2013-03-01.
  3. ^Patrias K (2007). Wendling D (ed.).Citing Medicine: The NLM Style Guide for Authors, Editors, and Publishers.Bethesda, Maryland,US:United States National Library of Medicine.
  4. ^abc"Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals"(PDF).International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).
  5. ^Severinsen, Johanne; Ekern, Lise (10 August 2020)."The Vancouver Recommendations"[Vancouveranbefalingene].Norwegian:National Research Ethics Committees.Archivedfrom the original on 13 April 2024.
  6. ^International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (February 1991)."Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors".BMJ.302(6772):338–341.doi:10.1136/bmj.302.6772.338.PMC1669007.PMID2001512.
  7. ^International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (May 1995)."Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors".CMAJ.152(9):1459–1473.PMC1337910.PMID7728695.
  8. ^International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (January 1997). "Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors".Annals of Internal Medicine.126(1):36–47.doi:10.7326/0003-4819-126-1-199701010-00006.PMID8992922.
  9. ^International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (March 1997)."Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors".JAMA.277(11):927–934.doi:10.1001/jama.277.11.927.PMC1267622.PMID9062335.
  10. ^International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) (March 2004)."International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE): Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: writing and editing for biomedical publication"(Free full text).Haematologica.89(3): 264.PMID15020262.
  11. ^"Vancouver (Numbered) System".University of Leicester. Archived fromthe originalon 27 March 2015.
  12. ^Gorea RK, Dalal JS, Thind AS, Aggarwal KK, Aggarwal AD (2004)."Reference systems deciphered for you"(PDF).Journal of Punjab Academy of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology (JPAFMAT)(4).Patiala,Punjab, India: Department of Forensic Medicine,Government Medical College, Patiala.ISSN0972-5687.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 6 April 2018.
  13. ^"Vancouver Citation Style"(PDF).Vancouver Community College. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2015-02-09.Retrieved2015-01-05.The citation in brackets is placed after any commas and periods, and before any colons and semi-colons
  14. ^"MLA Citation Style".Cornell University Library. Archived fromthe originalon 2 February 2016.
  15. ^ab"IEEE Citation Reference"(PDF).IEEE.Archived(PDF)from the original on 2011-04-08.Retrieved2011-05-12.References... appear on the line, in square brackets, inside the punctuation.
  16. ^Patrias K (2007). "Journals". In Wendling D (ed.).Citing Medicine: The NLM Style Guide for Authors, Editors, and Publishers [Internet](2nd ed.). Bethesda, MD: National Library of Medicine (US).Retrieved2019-03-31.
  17. ^Patrias K (2007, rev. 2015), Wendling D (tech. ed.),Citing Medicine: The NLM Style Guide for Authors, Editors, and Publishers,Bethesda (MD): United States National Library of Medicine; p. 41 (PDF), chap. 1, p. 8 (PubReader).
  18. ^Patrias K (2007)."Appendix A: Abbreviations for Commonly Used English Words in Journal Titles".In Wendling D (ed.).Citing Medicine: The NLM Style Guide for Authors, Editors, and Publishers [Internet](2nd ed.). Bethesda (MD): National Library of Medicine (US).
  19. ^"List of Title Word Abbreviations (LTWA)".ISSN.org.
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Many medical institutions maintain their own style guides, with information on how to cite sources:

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