Citation Guide
Vancouver Citation Guide
Vancouver Style — Standard
Common in medical and scientific journals.
The Vancouver style originated from a 1978 meeting of medical journal editors in Vancouver, Canada, and is maintained by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). It has become the standard citation format for biomedical literature worldwide.
Vancouver style is required by most medical and health sciences journals, including those indexed in PubMed and MEDLINE. It is also widely used in nursing, dentistry, and biomedical research programs at universities globally.
Vancouver uses a numbered citation system similar to IEEE, with references numbered consecutively in order of first appearance. It features a distinctive format for author names (surname followed by initials without periods) and standardized journal abbreviations from the NLM catalog.
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