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Vancouver Citation

EducationCitations and Bibliographies
Source type

Write each author as Surname, Given names and separate authors with a semicolon.

Vancouver reference —
Authors parsed
—
Reference length (characters)
—

A Vancouver journal reference reads Surname Initials, title, abbreviated journal, then year;volume(issue):pages. For example: Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002 Jul 25;347(4):284-7. Enter the parts and the reference is assembled with that punctuation, the author cut-off and the shortened page range.

About this tool

Vancouver is the numbered reference style used by most biomedical journals that follow the ICMJE recommendations, and by many nursing and medical schools. Its punctuation is terse and unforgiving: no full stops in initials, a semicolon before the volume, and repeated digits dropped from page ranges. This builder takes the author names, title and publication details for a journal article or a web page and writes the reference in the NLM Citing Medicine pattern. It also counts the authors it parsed, so you can confirm that a long author list was split correctly before the first six are kept. One limit: it does not look up journal abbreviations, so type the NLM Catalog form yourself, and check your target journal's instructions, since some ask for all authors or a DOI.

How to use it

  1. Pick the source type

    Choose Journal article or Web page; the fields below change to match.

  2. List the authors

    Type each author as Surname, Given names and separate them with semicolons. Initials are built for you.

  3. Add the publication details

    For an article give the abbreviated journal, year, volume, issue and pages; for a page give place, publisher, URL and the date you accessed it.

  4. Copy the reference

    Check the author count and any warnings, then copy the entry into your numbered list.

Examples

Three-author journal article

Source type
Journal article
Authors
Halpern, Scott D; Ubel, Peter A; Caplan, Arthur L
Article or page title
Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients
Journal (NLM abbreviation)
N Engl J Med
Year published
2002
Month and day
Jul 25
Volume
347
Issue
4
Pages
284-287

Result Vancouver reference: Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002 Jul 25;347(4):284-7.
Authors parsed: 3
Reference length (characters): 125

  1. 3 author(s) written as surname plus initials, no full stops in the initials.
  2. Journal title written without full stops: N Engl J Med.
  3. Page range shortened by dropping repeated digits: 284-287 to 284-7.
  4. In the text, cite the source by its number in square brackets, e.g. [1], in order of first mention.

The sample reference the ICMJE points authors to: initials without full stops, the abbreviated journal, and the page range 284-287 shortened to 284-7.

Seven authors cut to six

Source type
Journal article
Authors
Rose, Mary E; Huerbin, Mark B; Melick, John; Marion, Donald W; Palmer, Anne M; Schiding, Joanne K; Kochanek, Patrick M
Article or page title
Regulation of interstitial excitatory amino acid concentrations after cortical contusion injury
Journal (NLM abbreviation)
Brain Res
Year published
2002
Volume
935
Issue
1-2
Pages
40-46

Result Vancouver reference: Rose ME, Huerbin MB, Melick J, Marion DW, Palmer AM, Schiding JK, et al. Regulation of interstitial excitatory amino acid concentrations after cortical contusion injury. Brain Res. 2002;935(1-2):40-6.
Authors parsed: 7
Reference length (characters): 200

  1. 7 authors: the first 6 are listed, then "et al."
  2. Journal title written without full stops: Brain Res.
  3. Page range shortened by dropping repeated digits: 40-46 to 40-6.
  4. In the text, cite the source by its number in square brackets, e.g. [1], in order of first mention.

Vancouver lists the first six authors and then writes et al.; the parser still counts all seven.

Organisation web page

Source type
Web page
Authors
Article or page title
Hypertension
Place of publication
Geneva
Publisher or site owner
World Health Organization
Year published
2023
URL
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/hypertension
Date you accessed it
2024-03-12

Result Vancouver reference: Hypertension [Internet]. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2023 [cited 2024 Mar 12]. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/hypertension
Authors parsed: 0
Reference length (characters): 163

  1. No author given: the entry starts with the title.
  2. Web page marked [Internet] after the title, followed by place: publisher; year.
  3. Access date written year month day: 2024 Mar 12.
  4. In the text, cite the source by its number in square brackets, e.g. [1], in order of first mention.

With no named author the entry opens with the title, marked [Internet], and the access date goes in square brackets.

How it is calculated

Authors. Title. Journal. Year Month Day;Volume(Issue):Pages.

Authors
Surname plus initials with no spaces or stops, comma-separated; more than six become six plus et al.
Journal
NLM title abbreviation, written without full stops
Pages
First and last page, with leading digits that repeat removed (284-287 becomes 284-7)

The pattern follows Citing Medicine, 2nd edition, from the US National Library of Medicine, which the ICMJE cites as the reference model for journal submissions. Given names are reduced to their first letters, so Scott D becomes SD. Web pages take the medium marker [Internet] after the title, then Place: Publisher; Year, the access date as [cited Year Mon Day], and Available from: followed by the address.

When not to use it

  • Your journal or course asks for APA, Harvard or another author-date style.
  • The source is a book chapter, thesis or conference paper, which need extra elements.
  • Your target journal requires every author or a DOI and you have not added it by hand.

Common mistakes

  • Writing the journal name in full instead of its NLM abbreviation.
  • Putting full stops between initials, as in S.D. Halpern.
  • Listing all authors when there are more than six.
  • Numbering references alphabetically instead of by order of first citation.

Frequently asked questions

How many authors does a Vancouver reference list?

Citing Medicine lists up to six authors. With seven or more, the first six are written and followed by et al. Some journals change this cut-off, for example listing three and then et al., so check the instructions for authors before submitting.

Why is the page range shortened?

Vancouver drops the leading digits of the last page that repeat the first page, to save space. 284-287 becomes 284-7 and 1023-1029 becomes 1023-9. When the digits differ from the start, such as 99-105, the range stays as it is.

Where do I find the journal abbreviation?

The NLM Catalog, searchable through PubMed, gives the official title abbreviation for each indexed journal, such as N Engl J Med or Brain Res. PubMed records also show it in the citation line under each article title.

How is a Vancouver reference cited in the text?

Each source gets a number in the order it is first cited, written in square brackets, superscript or round brackets depending on the journal. The same number is reused every time that source is cited again, and the reference list is ordered by those numbers.

What does [Internet] mean in a web reference?

It is the medium marker Citing Medicine uses for online material. It sits after the title and tells the reader the item was consulted online, together with the [cited …] date and the Available from: address that end the entry.

What if the article has no named author?

Leave the authors field empty. The reference then starts with the title, which is how Citing Medicine treats anonymous articles and organisation pages where no person is credited.

Cite this tool

Using this tool in an assignment, article or report? Copy a citation, or a link for your website.

APA

Tools Directory Editorial Team. (2026, October 26). Vancouver Citation. Tools Directory. Retrieved October 26, 2026, from https://tools.milunir.com/education/citations-and-bibliographies/vancouver-citation/

MLA

Tools Directory Editorial Team. “Vancouver Citation.” Tools Directory, 26 Oct. 2026, https://tools.milunir.com/education/citations-and-bibliographies/vancouver-citation/. Accessed 26 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Tools Directory Editorial Team. “Vancouver Citation.” Tools Directory. Last modified October 26, 2026. Accessed October 26, 2026. https://tools.milunir.com/education/citations-and-bibliographies/vancouver-citation/.

Link<a href="https://tools.milunir.com/education/citations-and-bibliographies/vancouver-citation/">Vancouver Citation – Tools Directory</a>