A Guide to Vancouver System of Citation

Vancouver system of citation is also known as author-number system. Every university or research organization follows a style of referencing/bibliography to cite the sources that have been used in their research.  There are basically three systems of citation that are used worldwide, vancouver system is the most used one. There are other systems of referencing or bibliography that include parenthetical system as well as Harvard or author-date system. In this article we will discuss vancouver system of referencing or bibliography and we will see the rules of using this system. Vancouver system got its name from the place where it was first invented, i-e, in vancouver, Canada.

• Use of Vancouver System

Well any system of referencing or bibliography can be used by any organization or university. There is no hard and fast rule that only certain organizations or in certain fields this system will be used. The distinction is made on the basis of ease of use and hence vancouver system of referencing is used mostly by physical sciences especially researches done in medical field. Its use is also common in biomedical researches. Due to vancouver system of referencing and harvard system of referencing the scientists have achieved uniformity in referencing style in every work. To bring uniformity in the referencing style every manuscript that is submitted in the journals should follow URMs Uniform Requirement for the Manuscripts. The researchers can check new changes in the referencing style on the world wide web.

• General Format of Citation

Every research follows uniform requirements of citation in vancouver system. There are different requirements for the different sources that need to be cited, for example, books, journals, newspapers, and websites all have different requirements. There are small differences that should be noted.

• Inside the text

The citation inside the text is done in chronological order and numbers appear in parentheses or square brackets to show the reference that is provided at the end of the manuscript.

• Example

Either of these methods can be used to provide citation in-the-text, (1), [1], sometimes a superscript number is used (1) .

• Books

The most basic source of information is book and usually books have all the information that need to be cited. The citation for electronic and hardcover books will be different. We can see examples to know the difference.

• Example of hard books

The general format for citation for books is as follows. This is the most basic format and if there are any other details that can be included. Author. Title. Edition. Place of edition: Publisher; Date of publication. Page number Hardy S, Smith PK. Fiber to Fabric. 2nd Ed. USA: MAcMillan Publication; 2004. 56-60p.

• Journals

Journals can be in hardcover print form as well as in electronic format. In today’s world most of the journals are available in electronic format. There is a difference in citation between hardcover journals and electronic journals.

• Example of journals

The general format for the citation of a journal is as follows: Author. Article title. Journal title. Date of publication; Volume Issue: Pagination Harriss T, Thomas S. Ibuprofen: Contraindications. 2009 Mar 20; 34(23): 78-80.

• Example of e-journals

Author. Article Title. Journal Title. Type of medium. Date of publication. Date of citation; Volume number issue number: location. Availability

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