Vancouver
This is the Vancouver style for referencing, used at the Univerity of Portsmouth within the School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences and the Radiography departments.
This guide is modelled on Citing Medicine: The NLM Style Guide for Authors, Editors, and Publishers (2nd edition). You may wish to consult this source directly for additional information or examples.
In the text of your work, number your references consecutively, as they appear for the first time (re-using that number if they re-appear later on). Your reference list is then given in that same matching numbered order.
There are two ways of numbering your references: check your course/unit handbooks for advice. One is to enclose them in parentheses () using the same font size as your work, the other is to use superscript superscript. Which ever method you use make sure you use it consistently, do not change between the two.
See the examples below:
Parentheses:
Stevenson (1) argues that ...
... concerns about individual viewer responses (1, p. 118).
Superscript:
Stevenson1 argues that ...
... concerns about individual viewer responses 1 (p118)
Whoever is reading your essay can now turn to the reference list and look for the reference numbered 1.
This does not have to be in () or superscript but is normally just shown as:
1. Stevenson + rest of reference.
more
Citing specific pages
Cite a specific page as follows
... clearly stated policy (6, p24)
or
... clearly stated policy 6 (p24)
Placing of the numbers
Numbers should be given to the right of commas and full stops, but to the left of colons and semicolons. Work your sentences so that the numbers do not appear close to any other numerical data.
In clinical practice, up to 2.5L of fluid has been adminstered in one infusion. (1)
or
In clinical practice, up to 2.5L of fluid has been adminstered in one infusion.1
Quoting more than one reference
The use of the numbering system means that several references can be quoted at once. If quoting a consecutive list the sequence can be shown using a hyphen, separate non-consecutive numbers with commas:
In recent studies (1-3, 5, 7) it was suggested that ...
or
In recent studies 1-3, 5, 7 it was suggested that ...
Using a work discovered in another work
Advice varies on this and it may be best if you consult your tutor. However for academic work we recommend that you should only cite what you have seen. If you cite a work that you discovered in another work, observe the following examples:
Smith (12) cites Brown as finding ...
Brown, cited by Smith (12 p27), found ...
In your reading list, only Smith as item 12. is given as this represents the source that you have actually seen and used.
Using quotations
When using quotations in your work observe the following examples:
It has been stated, "The relative importance of the systems may nevertheless remain in approximately the same proportion" (8, p41)
Smith (10, p84) found that "... there is no evidence that chimpanzees can produce a drawing and discern the object represented in it ..."
or
It has been stated, "The relative importance of the systems may nevertheless remain in approximately the same proportion" 8 (p41)
Smith 10 (p84) found that "... there is no evidence that chimpanzees can produce a drawing and discern the object represented in it ..."