Vancouver citation style is a commonly used referencing system in the health sciences, including medicine, nursing, and allied health. It is named after the city of Vancouver, Canada, where it was first developed in the 1970s.

The Vancouver citation style uses a numbered system for in-text citations, where a number is assigned to each reference as it appears in the text. The corresponding reference list at the end of the document is also numbered according to the order in which the sources are cited in the text.

Here are the basic elements of a Vancouver-style reference:

Author(s) - List the last name and first initial of up to six authors. If there are more than six authors, list the first six followed by “et al.”

Title of article or book chapter - in sentence case.

Title of journal - in italics.

Year of publication - in parentheses.

Volume number - in italics.

Issue number - in parentheses, if applicable.

Page numbers - include the first and last page of the article or chapter.

Here is an example of a journal article citation in Vancouver style:

Doshi P, Jefferson T, Del Mar C. The imperative to share clinical study reports: recommendations from the Tamiflu experience. PLoS Med. 2012;9(4):e1001201. In this example, the number “1” corresponds to the first reference cited in the text. The authors are listed, followed by the article title, journal title, year of publication, volume number, issue number, and page numbers.