how to cite websites vancouver style

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How to Cite a Website in Vancouver Referencing

3-minute read

• 2nd January 2020

Soon enough, we’ll have the internet built into our brains and we’ll be able to link to a website with a mere thought. But until that dystopian future comes to pass, you still need to reference  online sources  the old-fashioned way.

And since we’re on that topic, here are our tips on how to cite a website in an  essay  when you’re using Vancouver referencing.

Vancouver referencing  uses a number–endnote system. This means you provide citations via numbers in the text, with source information saved for the reference list. To cite a source, then, simply write a number in brackets at the end of the sentence. Alternatively, if the author is named in the text, you should provide the number immediately afterwards:

Human consciousness will merge with artificial intelligence (1). Some thinkers warn against this, but Dr. Statt (2) speaks positively of it.

You will need to number sources in the order you cite them in the text. This is also the order you’ll add them to the reference list.

In the passage above, for example, the numbers show us that the writer is citing the first and second sources in the reference list.

Websites in a Vancouver Reference List

As mentioned above, Vancouver requires you to ad all cited sources to a  reference list  at the end of your document. Sources are listed in the same order they’re cited in the text.

The format for a website in a Vancouver reference list is:

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(Citation Number) Author Last Name and Initial/Organization. Web Page Title . Available from: URL [Accessed date].

There is quite a bit of information here, so let’s break it down:

• Author/Organization  – Ideally, find the name of the person who wrote the page you’re citing. If not, use the organization that publishes the site.
• Web Page Title  – This should be the title of the specific page you’re citing.
• URL  – The web address for the page you’ve cited.
• Accessed Date  – The date of when you last visited the page.

In practice, a Vancouver website reference would look like this:

(1) Statt N.  Elon Musk launches Neuralink, a venture to merge the human brain with AI . Available from: https://www.theverge.com/2017/3/27/15077864/elon-musk-neuralink-brain-computer-interface-ai-cyborgs [Accessed 2 April 2019].

Watch Out! Vancouver Variations

There are several variations of Vancouver referencing. Most use a format similar to the one above, but always  check your style guide  in case your university/publisher has specific requirements.

These may include how citations are presented (e.g., round vs. square brackets) or the information you need to include in the reference list entry.

If you can’t find a style guide, just aim for clarity and consistency. And, when you’re done, don’t forget to have your work proofread .

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• Knowledge Base
• Referencing
• Vancouver Referencing | A Quick Guide & Reference Examples

Vancouver Referencing | A Quick Guide & Reference Examples

Published on 18 February 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on 19 August 2022.

Vancouver is a system of referencing commonly used in biomedicine, among other scientific disciplines. In Vancouver style, you place a reference number in the text wherever a source is cited:

This number corresponds to an entry in your reference list – a numbered list of all the sources cited in your text, giving complete information on each:

This quick guide presents the most common rules for Vancouver style referencing. Note that some universities and journals have their own guidelines for the formatting of Vancouver references.

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Table of contents

Vancouver in-text citations, creating a vancouver reference list, vancouver reference examples, missing information in vancouver references, frequently asked questions about vancouver referencing.

In Vancouver style, citations are marked in your text with numbers. These numbers appear either in parentheses or in superscript – choose one option and stick to it consistently:

The numbers usually appear after the name of the author or after a direct quote. They may also appear at the end of the sentence:

Naming authors

You will often need to mention the author when referring to a work or introducing a quote. Only use the author’s last name in your text. If a source has multiple authors, name only the first author followed by ‘et al.’:

It’s not always necessary to mention the author’s name in your text – but always include the reference number when you refer to a source:

Numbering references

Sources are numbered based on the order in which they are cited in the text: the first source you cite is 1, the second 2, and so on.

If the same source is cited again, use the same number to refer to it throughout your paper. This means that the numbers might not appear in consecutive order in your text:

Citing multiple sources

You can also cite multiple sources in the same place:

To cite several sources that appear consecutively in your numbered list, you can use an en dash to mark the range.

In this case, the citation refers the reader to sources 1, 4, 5, 6, and 7.

Citing page numbers

You must specify a page number or range when you directly quote a text, and it can be helpful to do so when you are paraphrasing a particular passage.

Place the page number after the reference number inside the same parentheses, preceded by ‘p.’:

If you’re using superscript numbers, the page number also appears in superscript, in parentheses after the reference number:

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Your reference list is where you provide the information your readers will need in order to look up the sources cited in your text. It consists of a numbered list of all your sources, providing key information including the author, title and publication date of each source.

The list appears in numerical order at the end of your paper. Each entry ends with a full stop, unless the last element is a DOI or URL.

Vancouver reference list example

Author names

Each entry starts with the author’s last name and initials.

When a source has more than one author, their names are separated by commas. If a source has more than six authors, list the first six followed by ‘et al.’

Source titles

Only the first word of the title and subtitle, along with any proper nouns, are capitalised:

Titles in Vancouver referencing are consistently written in plain text. Do not use italics or quotation marks.

The information you provide differs according to the type of source you’re citing, since different details are relevant in different cases. Formats and examples for the most commonly cited source types are given below.

• Book chapter
• Journal article

Some sources will be missing some of the information needed for a complete reference. See below for how to handle missing elements.

As shown in the website example above, when no individual author is named, you can usually name the organisation that produced the source as the author.

If there is no clear corporate author – for example, a wiki that is created and updated collaboratively by users – you can begin your reference with the title instead:

Sources such as websites may lack a clear publication date. In these cases you can omit the year in your reference and just include the date of your citation:

No page numbers

You may want to show the location of a direct quote from a source without page numbers, such as a website. When the source is short, you can often just omit this, but where you feel it’s necessary you can use an alternate locator like a heading or paragraph number:

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Harvard referencing uses an author–date system. Sources are cited by the author’s last name and the publication year in brackets. Each Harvard in-text citation corresponds to an entry in the alphabetised reference list at the end of the paper.

Vancouver referencing uses a numerical system. Sources are cited by a number in parentheses or superscript. Each number corresponds to a full reference at the end of the paper.

A citation should appear wherever you use information or ideas from a source, whether by quoting or paraphrasing its content.

In Vancouver style , you have some flexibility about where the citation number appears in the sentence – usually directly after mentioning the author’s name is best, but simply placing it at the end of the sentence is an acceptable alternative, as long as it’s clear what it relates to.

In Vancouver style , when you refer to a source with multiple authors in your text, you should only name the first author followed by ‘et al.’. This applies even when there are only two authors.

In your reference list, include up to six authors. For sources with seven or more authors, list the first six followed by ‘et al.’.

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Caulfield, J. (2022, August 19). Vancouver Referencing | A Quick Guide & Reference Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved 10 June 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/referencing/vancouver-style/

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• University of Newcastle Library
• Referencing Guides
• Vancouver Referencing Style

Web resources

Vancouver referencing style:  web resources.

• About Vancouver
• In-text citations
• Reference list
• Books & eBooks
• Book chapters
• Govt documents
• Course material
• Conferences
• Images & tables
• Health specific
• Personal comm
• Other sources
• Secondary sources
• What are DOIs? This link opens in a new window
• Referencing Guide This link opens in a new window
• General rules - Web resources

Online documents

Press releases.

• Twitter & Facebook
• YouTube & online videos

General rules:

• For specific type of web resources see the tabs above. 

Author Names

• List up to 6 author names in the reference. Add et al. after the 6th author for more than 6 authors.
• Web sites with an organization  as both author and publisher,  place the organization in the publisher position.
• If the web content does not have an author, move the title to the author position.
• Reproduce the title of a homepage as closely as possible to the wording on the screen, duplicating capitalization, spacing, punctuation, and special characters when possible
• Use a colon followed by a space to separate a title from a subtitle, unless some other form of punctuation (such as a question mark, etc.) is already present.
• Add ‘Internet’ in square brackets directly after the web page title. Follow with a full-stop.
• Do not italicize, underline or use quotation marks for web page titles.

Place of Publication

• Use the city where  the headquarter of the publisher is located.  
• If no place of publication can be found or inferred, use [place unknown].
• Omit an initial "The" from a publisher’s name
• The  publisher name can be abbreviated when the title is the same as the publisher. 
• If no publisher can be found, use [publisher unknown].

Date of Publication

• Add date  of publication  in the format of year month day, e.g. 2021 May 4. 
• If no date of publication can be found, but the webpage contains a date of copyright, use the date of copyright preceded by the letter "c"; for example c2020.
• Include   the date the web page was updated/revised, and the date the page was cited  i n square brackets, eg. [updated 2018 Jun 24; cited 2019 May 19]. 
• For webpages without any date information, you may omit the date element and use date of citation only, e.g. [cited 2021 May 4]. 
• At the end of the reference, add the phrase ‘Available from:’ followed by the URL. Do not include a full-stop at the end.
• Do not insert a hyphen if you need to break a URL across lines. Break the URL before a slash or dash or at another logical division point.
• Remove the University proxy  (ezproxy.newcastle.edu.au) from any link used.

Secondary Sources

For citations taken from secondary sources, see the  Secondary Sources  page.

Websites and webpages 

For web resources other than websites and webpages, see the tabs above. 

A website can be cited by the homepage of the site (see example 1 below). For websites within other websites, cite the most specific identifiable site used (see example 2 below). 

To cite only one component of a website, such as a specific page, first determine whether or not the component can stand alone and be cited separately. If not, cite the webpage under the website (see example 3 below). If in doubt, cite it separately.

See the  general rules for web resources  for more details. 

Reference list entry: homepages or stand alone webpages

Citation No.   Author/s of website.  Title of website: subtitle [Internet].   Place of publication:   Publisher; Date of publication  [updated date; cited date].  Available from: URL

1.           University of Newcastle, Australia [Internet]. Callaghan (NSW): The University; 2020 [cited 2024 Mar 24]. Available from: https://www.newcastle.edu.au

2.           Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.  Our international role [Internet]. Canberra: AIHW; 2023  Nov 8 [cited 2024 May 3]. Available from: https://www.aihw.gov.au/our-services/international-collaboration

Reference list entry: webpages as part of a website

Citation No.   Author/s of website.   Title of website : subtitle  [Internet].   Place of publication:   Publisher;  Date of publication  [updated date].  Title of webpage; Date of publication [updated date; cited date];   [length of webpage].   Available from: URL

3.           Profiles in Science [Internet]. Bethesda (MD): National Library of Medicine (US); 1998 - . Visual Culture and Health Posters; [cited 2024 May 4]; [about 2 screens]. Available from: https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/spotlight/vc

The publisher name can be abbreviated when the title is the same as the publisher.

This information is for general documents found online, that are not covered elsewhere in this guide.

N.B. For the following document types, refer to their specialist pages:

• Journal articles
• Documents and reports from government agencies
• Research and technical reports (plus white papers)
• Conference papers

Citing online documents is similar to citing websites and webpages. 

The following is the general format of a reference to an online document.  See the  general rules for web resources  for more details. 

Reference list entry: format and example

Citation No.   Author/s of document.  Document  title: subtitle [Internet].  Place of publication:   Publisher;  Date of publication  [updated date; cited date].  Pagination of document.  Available from: URL

1.          Moore B. The vocabulary of Australian English [Internet]. Canberra: Australian National University, Australian National Dictionary Centre; [cited 2019 Jul 23]. Available from: http://www.slll.cass.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/andc/vocab_aussie_eng.pdf

2.          Influenza vaccine: who should get it, and who should not [Internet]. Atlanta: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2018 Oct 16 [cited 2019 Jul 23]. 2p. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pdf/freeresources/updated/who-should-vaccinate-update.pdf

A press release, also called news release, or media release, is an official statement on a particular matter by a news agent or organisation. 

A press release published on an  organisation's  web site may be cited as part of their web site. If the text of 'Press release' appears on the page before the page title, include it in the citation preceding the press release title. 

The following is the general format of a reference to a press release. 

See also the  general rules for web resources  for more details. 

Citation No.   Author/s of website.   Title of website : subtitle  [Internet].   Place of publication:   Publisher;  Date of publication  [updated date]. Title of press release; Date of Publication   [updated date; cited date];   pagination/length of press release.   Available from: URL

1.           Australian Bureau of Statistics  [Internet]. Canberra: ABS; 2018 Aug 9 [updated 2019 Jul 5 ]. P ress release cat. no. 6226.0,  More than one million Australians change jobs  [cited 2024 May 2]; [about 5 screens]. Available from: https://www.abs.gov.au/ ausstats /[email protected]/lookup/6226.0Media% 20Release5February %202018

2.           AAMC : Association of American Medical Colleges  [Internet].  Washington: The Association; 2019. Press release, AAMC releases national guidance on face coverings ; 2020 Aug 12 [cited 2024 May 2]; [about 3 screens]. Available from: https://www.aamc.org/news/press-releases/aamc-releases-national-guidance-face-coverings

1. The publisher name can be abbreviated when the title is the same as the publisher.

Citing blogs, blog posts, and comments

A blog is a web-based forum that consists of posted entries organized by date or topic, and usually accompanied by readers’ comments. 

Note that the distinction between a blog and a website is often unclear; when in doubt, treat the title like that of a website. 

​It is often sufficient to cite blogs/posts/comments entirely within the running text unless a reference list entry is needed.

The following is the general format of a reference to a blog and a reference to a blog post. Comments on a blog/post  can usually be cited in the text, in reference to the related blog/post, unless a formal reference list is needed, see example 3 below.   Use [blog on the Internet] if the word 'blog' is not part of the blog title.

Reference list entry for a blog: format and example

Citation No.   Blog Author.  Blog  title [Internet] .  Place of publication:   Publisher.  Date of publication  [c ited date].     Available from: URL

1.           Bernstein M. Bioethics Discussion Blog [Internet]. Los Angeles: Maurice Bernstein. 2004 Jul - [cited 2020 Jan 6]. Available from: https://bioethicsdiscussion.blogspot.com       

Reference list entry for a blog post: format and example

Citation No.   Blog Author.  Blog  title  [Internet] .  Place of publication:   Publisher.  Date of publication.  Post title;  Date of post  [c ited date];  [screen no].  Available from: URL

2.           Doctor CBB.  CodeBlueBlog  [Internet]. Florida: Thomas Boyle. 2004 May.  i-Mammo  part II: breasts, lies and videotapes; 2005 Apr 15 [cited 2007 May 23]; [about 4 screens]. Available from: http://codeblueblog.blogs.com/ codeblueblog /2005/04/part_ii_and_the.html

Reference list entry for a comment on a blog: format and example

Citation No.   Comment Author.  Comment  title. Date of comment [date cited]. In: Blog Author. Blog Title  [Internet] .  Place of publication:   Publisher.  Date of publication.  page/screen no .  Available from: URL

3.           Campbell A. Diabetes and alcohol: do the two mix? (Part 2). 2008 Jan 28 [cited 2020 Feb 14]. In: Diabetes Self-Management Blog [Internet]. New York: Diabetes Self-Management. 2006 Aug 14. 2 p. Available from: http://www.diabetesselfmanagement.com/blog/Amy_Campbell/Diabetes_and_Alcohol_Do_the_Two_Mix_Part_2

Twitter, Facebook and other social media contents

• Unless a more formal citation is needed, citations of social media content can often be limited to the text, e.g. The UON Student Central Facebook page (www.facebook.com/UONStudentCentral) lists a number of options for students ...
• Private content via social media, such as personal and friends-only content s , is considered a form of personal communication and should be cited as such. 
• Comments can usually be cited in the text, in reference to the related post. 

If you need to cite publicly available content shared via social media in the  reference  list, include the following elements:

• Author of the post. Real name and/or screen name if available.
• Title or text of the post. 
• Type of post. List the name of the social media service and include a description if relevant (photo, video, etc.).
• Date (Year Month Day) of the post. Time stamps as needed to differentiate a post or comment from others on the same day.
• A URL. A URL for a specific item can often be found via the date stamp, click the date/time underneath the post to be taken to an individual update page with its own URL.

 Also note:

• Because social media content is subject to editing and deletion, authors are advised to retain a copy of anything they cite.

Citation No.   Author.  T itle  [Internet] .  Place of publication:   Publisher;  Date of publication.  Post title; Date of post  [c ited date];  [screen no].  Available from: URL

1.           JAMA. JAMA Oncology Twitter page [Internet]. Chicago: American Medical Association; 2014 Sep. Patient information: jaundice in cancer; 2016 Jul 17 [cited 2016 Jul 20]; [about 1 screen]. Available from: https://twitter.com/JAMAOnc/status/754752541582356480

YouTube and other free online videos

Streaming or other online video is digital video content made available through online/networked means. The information here is for the various free video hosting platforms such as YouTube, TED talks,  VEVO, Vimeo, Dailymotion, etc. For video content made available through subscription services such as Netflix, Kanopy, or ClickView, see the information under the source type of Films & TV  on the left. 

Notes to cite free online videos:

• If the author's real name is not available use the screen name.
• Include the full URL as the final element of the citation. The 'Share' feature on YouTube can provide a shortened, usable link.
• If the material is a recording of a speech or performance, or if it is a digital version of a published source, include information about the original performance or source if needed.
• Copies of sources that are under copyright and which have been posted without ties to any publisher or sponsor should be cited with caution. 
• Comments on the videos  can usually be cited in the text, in reference to the related video. 

Citation No.   Author.  Video  title  [Internet] .  Place of publication:   Publisher;  Date of publication  [cited date].  Video: time length.  Available from: URL

1.           James and the peanut allergy [Internet]. Salt Lake City (UT): University of Utah, Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library; 2011 Mar 31 [cited 2020 Jan 7]. Video: 52 sec. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoCAizDEKlM

2.          Vsauce. Is your red the same as my red? [Internet]. [place unknown]:Vsauce; 17 Feb. 2013 [cited 2020 Jan 7]. Video: 9:34. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evQsOFQju08

Podcasts and streaming audio

Citations of online audio content follow the same rules for citing online videos. See more details under the YouTube and online videos tab. 

The following is the general format of a reference to a podcast. See the  general rules for web resources  for more details.

Citation No.   Author.   T itle  [Internet] .  Place of publication:   Publisher;  Date of publication  [cited date].  Podcast: time length.  Available from: URL

1.           Van Nuys D. Growing your resilience with Rick Hanson PhD [Internet]. [place unknown]: Shrink Rap Radio; 2018 Apr 5 [cited 2020 Jan 7]. Podcast: 1:10:51. Available from: https://shrinkrapradio.com/592-growing-your-resilience-with-rick-hanson-phd

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• URL: https://libguides.newcastle.edu.au/vancouver

How to Cite Web Sources in Vancouver Style

World Wide Web page general format:

Author A, Author B. Title [Internet]. City and publisher details; [cited Year Month Date]. Available from: URL

Note: a two-letter ISO code of an organization’s country should be put in brackets after its name (if it is not already present it the title). See the list of ISO country codes here .

In our citation examples we use the following color coding:

• Red – Author
• Blue – Title of book/article/charter/webpage
• Pink – Date
• Orange – Website/Publisher
• Turquoise – Place of publication
• Gray – URL/database/website where the source is retrieved
• Peach – Additional information about the source (i.e. its type, specific features etc.)

General Format

If some data are not available, please omit it.

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Further study

• Effective Tips for Writing an Annotated Bibliography
• How to Write Bibliography for Assignment
• American Antiquity Citation Style Guide

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University of St Andrews

Referencing styles.

• Author Rules
• Referencing a Book
• Referencing a Chapter in an Edited Book
• Referencing a Journal Article
• Referencing a Webpage
• APA - for module ID4001
• Sample Reference list - APA style
• Referencing translated works
• Referencing a Lecture / Presentation
• Sample Bibliography - Chicago Notes and Bibliography Style
• Referencing a chapter in an edited book
• Translated works
• Referencing a journal article
• Referencing a webpage
• Sample Reference List - Chicago (Author Date) style
• Sample Reference List - Harvard
• Harvard Endnote style
• Referencing a book
• JRAI Style on Endnote
• Sample Reference List in JRAI Style
• Sample Reference List in MHRA Author Date Style
• Sample Works Cited list in MLA style
• Sample Reference list for RSC Style
• Referencing an image
• Sample Reference List in Vancouver Style
• Vancouver endnote style
• Referencing something mentioned in another source (Secondary Referencing)

What you need to include:

• Components of a website reference
• Sample -Web page with an individual author
• Sample - Web page with an organisation as author
• Punctuation and format of a website reference

This advice related specifically to web pages, rather than all information found online.  If you need to reference a book or journal article which you have accessed online, please refer to the section within this guide for books and journal articles.

Remember to evaluate the information you find on websites to ensure they are appropriate for academic use.

• Author or organisation
• Title (give the title of the specific page you are referring to)
• Give the title of the website
• Place: Publisher;
• Date produced YYYY MMM DD
• [Date updated YYYY MMM DD; Cited YYYY MMM DD].
• Available from :URL

The Basic Reference format is:

Author or Organisation. Title [Internet] . Place: Publisher; YYYY MMM DD [cited YYYY MMM DD]. Available from: URL 

In-text citation:

Use either a bracketed number or superscripted number which refers to an entry in the Reference List.  If you refer to the same source again, use the same bracketed or superscripted number.

Reference list entry:

9. Jones C. Solar system facts [Internet]. Space Facts; 2017 [cited 2017 Feb 13]. Available from:  http://space-facts.com/solar-system/

10. NASA. Journey to Mars [Internet] . Washington: NASA: 2016 Sep 30 [cited 2017 Feb 13]. Available from: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/journeytomars/index.html 

• Sample reference list Based on the references in this guide.
• In-text citations are bracketed or superscripted numbers which refer to the item you are citing in a numerically arranged reference list.  When you refer to the same source again within your text you use the same number.
• Ensure you include all the punctuation required in your reference.
• Where possible try to ascertain the author/organisation responsible for the website content
• For multiple authors give details of all the authors following the advice in the  Author Rules tab , giving the Surname and up to two initials.  Each author is separated with a comma.
• Give the title of the specific page you are referring to, not the homepage, followed by " [Internet]. "
• Try to ascertain the place and publisher of the webpage - if you can't, miss it out.
• The date of the webpage is given in the format YYYY MMM DD; if you can't find the date miss it out, but remember you should only include information which you can be sure is still current.  If an updated date is given include this in square brackets, and also add the date cited using the same date format.
• Where you are referencing a webpage  include " Accessed from : URL " at the end of the reference.
• URLs should not be hyperlinked.

The NML style guide gives detailed information on how to reference many different types of sources using the Vancouver style.

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Citing: Vancouver style

• Using sources
• Referring to your sources
• Chicago style
• Vancouver style
• Find out more
• Introduction Vancouver citing
• Vancouver, guides and websites​
• Characteristics Vancouver citation style​​​

Vancouver: in-text references

• Articles from an (online) scientific journal
• Edited volume

Introduction Vancouver citing

The Vancouver citation style is a reference system that is required  for publications within Pharmacy and Medicine. 

Vancouver, guides and websites

The websites below contain unique examples: for instance references to illustrations, tweets, blogposts.

• An complete overview of Vancouver style can be found at the website of the  Imperial College London . 
• University College London  briefly explains the importance of correct citing, followed by a long list of examples in both the Vancouver style and Harvard Style!
• Or read the (concise) information on Wikipedia:  Vancouver system wiki

The authoritative publications below provide much information about citation styles based on Vancouver in (bio)medical journals; 

• American Medical Association Manual of Style  (10th edition 2009 (e-book), N.B. the 11th edition is expected in 2020)
• Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals  (online, see part IV.A.3.g: References on p.15)
• NLM Samples of formatted references (2018). For more details see the  NLM Style Guide for Authors, Editors, and Publishers   Citing Medicine  (online, 2007 2nd edition, incl. foreword from 2015)

Vancouver: images

In the case of pictures, illustrations, diagrams, tables or photographs: in the text directly below the picture in question you briefly state where you have found it.

In your reading list you give the entire reference . The style you use depends on the  type  of source you consult!

Is the picture from a printed book, check the box about books, is the picture from a website, check the box about websites etc.

For instance: you include a diagram from a book by Monné and Jansen. If you do it correctly, you not only write down what the diagram represents, but you also give a brief reference. Example 1 in-text reference: 'Diagram representing the course of the average daytime temperature in Maastricht between 1900 and 2000 (Monné and Jansen, 2013: p.22)'. In your reading list you include the full reference: Example 1 full reference: Monné, M, Jansen T. Climate control in the Netherlands. 3rd ed. Noorbeek: Limburg Press; 2013.

If it is a picture from the internet, it may look as follows:

Example 2 full reference: McCourtie SD, World Bank. SDM-LK-179 [Internet]. 2009 Apr 13 [cited 2009 Jun 14]. Available from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/worldbank/3487488094

NB: When publishing a picture, please check if it is copyrighted!

More information about copyright can be found on the Copyright Information Office of Utrecht University .

Vancouver reading list: article from an (online) scientific journal

Last name  initial .  Title article:  Sub title.   Abbreviated journal title .  Year Month Day; volume (issue) ; page.

Example: Greenhalgh T. Publishing your medical research paper: What they don't teach you at medical school.  BMJ . 1999 Feb 27; 318(7183): 610.

Sometimes there is more than one author, volume and issue is not always known, in most cases there are more pages. That is why we give some extra examples:

Examples : ​​Jagosh J, Macaulay AC, Pluye P, Salsberg J, Bush PL, Henderson J, et al. Uncovering the benefits of participatory research: Implications of a realist review for health research and practice. Milbank Q. 2012 June; 90(2): 311-46.

Forooghian F, Yeh S, Faia LJ, Nussenblatt RB. Uveitic foveal atrophy: clinical features and associations. Arch Ophthalmol. 2009 Feb;127(2):179-86. PubMed PMID: 19204236.

NB1: Only the first six authors are given: the rest is summarised by; 'et al.'

NB2: If there is a DOI (Digital Object Identfier) or a PubMed ID present, you could add it as a last element.

Vancouver reading list: books

Author  initial(s)  [no dots].  Book title.   Edition.   Place of publication :  publisher;   year of publication.

Example: ​ Wolf K, Allen R, Saavedra AP.  Fitzpatrick's color atlas and synopsis of clinical dermatology.  7th ed .  New York: McGraw-Hill; 2013.

In the case of books there may be no authors but you will see an organisation responsible for the publication. For instance: American Veterinary Medical Association. This comes instead of the author(s).

Or there is no author at all. For instance: The Oxford concise medical dictionary. In that case you leave out the authors.

NB1:  No edition is given of first editions.

NB2:  In the case of ebooks: put  the word [internet] after the title . Put after publication year: [Accessed on: year-month-day]. Then put: Available via: ... (URL).

Vancouver reading list: Edited volume

Last name   initial(s) .  Title of artice .  In: Last name initial(s), editors .  Title of edited volume.   Place of publication :  publisher ;  year of publication.   page numbers.

Example: ​ Meltzer PS, Kallioniemi A, Trent JM. Chromosome alterations in human solid tumors. In: Vogelstein B, Kinzler KW, editors. The genetic basis of human cancer. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2012. p.93-113.

NB1: Of first editions no edition is given

NB2:  In the case of ebooks: Put [Internet] after the chapter title. Put after the page numbers at the end; [ Accessed on: year-month-day]. Then put; Available via: ... (URL).

Vancouver reading list: website

Publishing body .  Title. [Internet].   Available from: URL . [Accessed Date of access].

Example 1: European Space Agency. ESA: Missions, Earth Observation: ENVISAT. [Internet]. Available from:  http://envisat.esa.int/ . [Accessed 3rd July 2008].

Example 2:  Nederlands Huisartsen Genootschap. Samenvattingskaart Anemie, in herziening 2003. [Internet]. Available from: http://www.nhg.org/standaarden/samenvatting/anemie . [Accessed 11th September 2013].

NB.  Make sure that the links you include are working links! The best thing to do is to use a permanent hyperlink, for instance the  DOI (Digital Object Identifier). Never use hyperlinks from searches. They often come with a (search) session code. Once the search session is over, the hyperlink no longer works.

Vancouver reading list: blogposts

Last name   Initial.   Title of blogpost.   Tittle of weblog. [Online].  Available from: URL   [Accessed date of consultation].

Example: Goldacre B. Trivial Disputes. Bad Science. Weblog. [Online]. Available from:  http ://www.badscience.net/2008/02/trivial- disputes-2/ [Accessed 19th June 2008].

Characteristics Vancouver citation style

Special characteristics of the Vancouver style:

• The Vancouver style is a numerical citation style . : the references are numbered consecutively in order of appearance in the text
• The reading list is presented in ascending numbers
• The Vancouver style does not use the full title of the journal but uses an abbreviation instead:

Example: "New England Journal of Medicine" is abbreviated as "N Engl J Med".

The abbrevations that are used are the same as in Pubmed;

• Search in the  list  used by PubMed.
• Enter the full title of the journal and put it between inverted commas.
• Select the matching journal
• Another useful tool is the  ISI abbreviations list

The Vancouver citation style is a numerical citation style .

• The numbers are put in the text between (square) brackets or in superscript:

Vancouver reading list: tweets

Tweets are so short that it is possible to include them in their entirety - between inverted commas - in the reading list. Close with "Tweet". 

Example: UCL Libraries "Take care on ice as 19th Century Newspapers reported loss of many lives after it broke in Regent's Park on 15 Jan.1867". 15 Jan 2013, 3:19pm. Tweet.

NB: The date and time of a message on Twitter reflect the time zone of the reader.

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Vancouver Style Guide: Home

Introduction to vancouver.

The Vancouver Style is formally known as  Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals  (ICMJE Recommendations). It was developed in Vancouver in 1978 by editors of medical journals and well over 1,000 medical journals (including ICMJE members BMJ, CMAJ, JAMA & NEJM) use this style. This user guide explains how to cite references in Vancouver Style, both within the text of a paper and in a reference list, and gives examples of commonly used types of references.

Refer to the left hand column for written directions about how to cite Vancouver and refer to the right hand column for examples and formatting.

ICMJE Recommendations has many optional areas. This guide has been created for The Michener Institute and may differ from styles at other educational institutes and those required by individual journals.

• APA Citation Guide While Vancouver is one citation style, your professor may request that you use APA style for citations instead. Please see the Michener LRC APA Citation guide for information about using this citation style.
• Zotero A helpful tool for collecting resources and creating citations is Zotero software. Please see the Michener LRC Zetero guide to learn more.
• Plagiarism: How to Avoid it For more information on avoiding plagiarism and using other sources in your work, please visit the LRC's Plagiarism guide.

In-Text Citations

• Placement of citations:  In-text citation numbers should be placed after the relevant part of a sentence. The original Vancouver Style documents do not discuss placement of the in-text citation in regards to punctuation, so it is acceptable to place it before or after the period. Be consistent.
• References are numbered  consecutively in the order they are first mentioned. Place each reference number in parentheses or square brackets throughout the text, tables, and legends. Superscripts may also be used instead of square brackets or parentheses. Be consistent. If the same reference is used again, re-use the original number. To cite multiple references in one sentence, separate the numbers using a comma, eg. (2, 7), for non-consecutive reference numbers, and a hyphen, eg. (3-5), for consecutive reference numbers.
• Tables are numbered  consecutively. Supply a brief title for each table and give each column a short heading. Be sure that the table is mentioned in the text. If the data is taken from another source, include the source in the list of references at the end of the paper. Place explanatory matter in a note, not in the heading.
• Personal communication  used as a reference should be avoided, unless it provides essential information not available from a public source. These can be emails, personal interviews, telephone conversations, class notes, class handouts that are not posted, etc. Do not include them in the reference list as they are not recoverable by others; instead cite the name of the person, the type of communication, and the date of communication in parentheses in the text, eg. "In a conversation with A. Jones (January 2020)..."
• Internet sources  may, in time, be deleted, changed, or moved, so it is a good idea to keep a hard copy for your records. Also, take care to critically evaluate the reliability of the information.

Reference Page

• The last page  of your paper is entitled References. References are single spaced, with double-spacing between references.
• Numbering : List all references in order by number, not alphabetically. Each reference is listed once only, since the same number is used throughout the paper.
• Authors : In the order they appear on the resource, list each author’s last name followed by a space and then initials without any periods; there is a comma and space between authors and a period at the end of the last author. If the number of authors exceeds six, give the first six followed by “et al.” For edited books, place the editors’ names in the author position and follow the last editor with a comma and the word editor (or editors). For edited books with chapters written by individual authors, list the authors of the chapter first, then the chapter title, followed by “In:”, the editors’ names, and the book title.
• Title : Capitalize the first letter of the first word in the title. The rest of the title is in lower-case, with the exception of proper names. Do not underline the title; do not use italics. If there is an edition for a book, it appears after the title, abbreviated and followed by a period, for example: 3rd ed.
• Publication information: Books:  After the title (and edition if applicable), place a period and space, then enter the cit y. If the city is not well known or there could be confusion,  enter the postal abbreviation for the state (U.S.) or province (Canada), or enter the country (elsewhere) of publication, followed by a colon. Give the name of the publisher as it appears in the publication followed by a semicolon. If the author is also the publisher, it is acceptable to use part of the name as the publisher, e.g., The Association for publisher if the author is Canadian Medical Association. Give the year of publication followed by a period. If no date of publication can be found, but the publication contains a date of copyright, use the date of copyright preceded by the letter “c”, e.g. c2015.
• Publication information: Journals : List the abbreviated journal title, place a period and a space, year, (and abbreviated month and day if applicable), semi-colon, volume, issue number in parentheses, colon, page range, and a period. For example, Brain Res. 2002;935(1-2):40-6. (The issue number may be omitted if the journal is paginated continuously through the volume.) To find the journal title abbreviation, go to  Medline’s Journals Database  and search by journal title. If the title is not found, abbreviate according to the style used for similar titles in Medline.
• Pages : For journals, the entire page range of an article is given,  not  the specific page on which the information was found; usage is 124-7 (pages 124 to 127) or 215-22 (pages 215 to 222). For books, no page numbers are given, with two exceptions: the page number of a dictionary entry is included, as well as the page range of a chapter with its own author.
• Place the word Internet in square brackets after the book title or abbreviated journal title.
• Indicate date of retrieval, preceded by the word “cited”, in square brackets after the date of publication. When possible, include the most recent update date before the date of retrieval within the square brackets, followed by a semicolon and a space.
• Add retrieval information at the end of the citation using the full URL. There is no punctuation at the end of the URL unless it ends with a slash or if additional information such as a DOI follows it in the entry, in which case a period is added.
• If a DOI exists, it is optional to add it after the retrieval information.
• Include a short note after the URL if special access information is required.

Citation Examples

Journal article, up to 6 personal author(s):

1. Al-Habian A, Harikumar PE, Stocker CJ, Langlands K, Selway JL. Histochemical and immunohistochemical evaluation of mouse skin histology: comparison of fixation with neutral buffered formalin and alcoholic formalin. J Histotechnol. 2014 Dec;37(4):115-24.

Electronic journal article:

2. Poling J, Kelly L, Chan C, Fisman D, Ulanova M. Hospital admission for community-acquired pneumonia in a First Nations population. Can J Rural Med [Internet]. 2014 Fall [cited 2015 Apr 27];19(4):135-41. Available from: http://www.srpc.ca/14fal.html by selecting PDF link in table of contents.

Electronic journal article, 7 or more personal authors, optional DOI information:

3. Aho M, Irshad B, Ackerman SJ, Lewis M, Leddy R, Pope T, et al. Correlation of sonographic features of invasive ductal mammary carcinoma with age, tumor grade, and hormone-receptor status. J Clin Ultrasound [Internet]. 2013 Jan [cited 2015 Apr 27];41(1):10-7. Available from: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jcu.21990/full. DOI: 10.1002/jcu.21990

Book, personal author(s):

4. Buckingham L. Molecular diagnostics: fundamentals, methods and clinical applications. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: F.A. Davis; c2012.

Book or pamphlet, organization as both author and publisher:

5. College of Medical Radiation Technologists of Ontario. Standards of practice. Toronto: The College; 2011.

Book, editor(s):

6. Kumar V, Abbas AK, Aster JC, editors. Robbins basic pathology. 16th ed. Philadelphia: Elsevier Saunders; c2013.

Book,editor(s), specific chapter with individual author(s) :

7. Altobelli N. Airway management. In: Kacmarek R, Stoller JK, Heuer AJ, editors. Egan’s fundamentals of respiratory care. 10th ed. St. Louis: Saunders Mosby; c2013. p. 732-86.

Electronic book, personal author(s), requiring password :

8. Martin A, Harbison S, Beach K, Cole P. An introduction to radiation protection [Internet]. 6th ed. London: Hodder Arnold; 2012 [cited 2015 May 28]. Available from: http://lrc.michener.ca:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=466903&site=ehost-live&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_iii with authorized username and password.

Electronic book, organization as author, freely available:

9. OpenStax College. Anatomy & physiology [Internet]. Version 7.28. Houston: The College; 2013 Apr 25 [Updated 2015 May 27; cited 2015 May 28]. Available from: http://cnx.org/content/col11496/latest/.

Dictionary entry:

10. Stedman’s medical dictionary for the health professions and nursing. 7th ed. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; c2012. Hematoma; p. 756.

Entry in a print reference work:

11. Canadian Pharmacists Association. CPS 2013: compendium of pharmaceuticals and specialties. 48th ed. Ottawa: The Association; c2013. Atropine: Systemic; p. 297-9.

Entry in an online reference work:

12. Canadian Pharmacists Association. eCPS. [Internet]. Ottawa: The Association; 2015. Methimazole; [revised 2012 Mar; cited 2015 May 28]; [about 6 screens]. Available from: http://lrc.michener.ca:2048/login/ecps with authorized username and password.

Wiki entry:

13. Wikipedia: the free encyclopedia [Internet]. St. Petersburg (FL): Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2001 –   Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa; [modified 2015 May 28; cited 2015 May 28]; [about 34 screens]. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_virus_epidemic_in_West_Africa

Newspaper article:

14. Carville O. Health ‘snooping’ cases on the rise. Toronto Star. 2015 May 27;Sect. GT:1 (col. 3).

Electronic newspaper article:

15. Wisniewski M. Five babies at Chicago daycare diagnosed with measles. Globe and Mail [Internet]. 2015 Feb 5 [cited 2015 Feb 6];Life:[about 2 screens]. Available from: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health/five-babies-at-chicago-daycare-diagnosed-with-measles-report/article22805944/.

Legal material (note: this is not addressed in Vancouver Style):

16. Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, S.O. 2005, c.11 [Internet]. 2009 Dec 15 [cited 2015 May 29]. Available from: http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_05a11_e.htm

Report available on a web page:

17. Canadian Institute for Health Information. Depression among seniors in residential care [Analysis in brief on the Internet]. Ottawa: The Institute; 2010 [cited 2015 May 29]. 18 p. Available from: https://secure.cihi.ca/free_products/ccrs_depression_among_seniors_e.pdf

Page on a website:

18. Alzheimer Society of Canada [Internet]. Toronto: The Society; c2015. Benefits of staying active; 2013 Jan 28 [cited 2015 May 29];[about 1 screen]. Available from: http://www.alzheimer.ca/en/kfla/Living-with-dementia/Day-to-day-living/Staying-active/Benefits-of-staying-active

Streaming video:

19. Allen S, Waerlop I. The Gait Guys talk about great toe dorsiflexion [video on the Internet]. [place unknown]: The Gait Guys; 2014 May 11 [cited 2015 May 29]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8O8TLtunUQ

Electronic image:

20. Bickle I. Swallowed foreign body [radiograph]. 2014 Jul 14 [cited 2015 May 29]. Available from: http://radiopaedia.org/cases/swallowed-foreign-body-1

Blog post (no given name, so screen name used as author):

21.  Munkee. In-111 pentetreotide imaging. 2013 Mar 19 [cited 2015 May 29]. In: Nuclear Munkee [Internet]. [place unknown]:[Munkee]; [date unknown] [about 3 screens]. Available from:  http://nuclearmunkee.blogs pot.ca/2013/03/in-111-p entetreotide-imaging.html

Poster presentation/session presented at a meeting or conference:

22. Chasman J, Kaplan RF. The effects of occupation on preserved cognitive functioning in dementia. Poster session presented at: Excellence in clinical practice. 4th Annual Conference of the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology; 2006 Jun 15-17; Philadelphia, PA.

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• Last Updated: Aug 23, 2022 9:19 AM
• URL: https://guides.hsict.library.utoronto.ca/vancouver-style

Vancouver Referencing Generator

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• Chapter of an edited book
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• Government publication
• Music or recording
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What is Vancouver referencing?

Vancouver referencing is an author-number citation style used widely in the scientific and medical disciplines. The Vancouver system was created in 1978 as a way of standardising and clarifying the formatting in its related fields, to make things as clear as possible for the reader.

How to Vancouver reference

There are many variations within the Vancouver style, so it’s important to find out exactly which version your academic institution expects. In Vancouver citation, a number is assigned to each reference as it is used. The original number assigned to the reference is used each time that reference is cited in the text.

References are also listed in numerical order in a bibliography at the end of the essay. The number can be placed either outside or inside the text punctuation and you’ll need to check with your academic institution to find out which style they prefer.

When it’s time to complete your Vancouver referencing, why not give Cite This For Me a try? We’ll have the whole thing done for you in moments using our mobile app or web tool. Free yourself up to work on other things and save yourself the worry of incorrect referencing with Cite This For Me.

Vancouver referencing example

Popular vancouver style citation examples, how to cite a book in vancouver style.

Use the following template to cite a book using the Vancouver citation style.

Reference List

Place this part in your bibliography or reference list at the end of your assignment.

In-text citation

Place this part right after the quote or reference to the source in your assignment.

How to cite a Journal in Vancouver style

Use the following template to cite a journal using the Vancouver citation style.

How to cite Film or Movie in Vancouver style

Use the following template to cite a film or movie using the Vancouver citation style.

How to cite an Online image or video in Vancouver style

Use the following template to cite an online image or video using the Vancouver citation style.

How to cite a Website in Vancouver style

Use the following template to cite a website using the Vancouver citation style.

Additional Vancouver style Citation Examples

How to cite a blog in vancouver style.

Use the following template to cite a blog using the Vancouver citation style.

How to cite a Court case in Vancouver style

Use the following template to cite a court case using the Vancouver citation style.

” “

How to cite a Dictionary entry in Vancouver style

Use the following template to cite a dictionary entry using the Vancouver citation style.

How to cite an E-book or PDF in Vancouver style

Use the following template to cite an e-book or pdf using the Vancouver citation style.

How to cite an Edited book in Vancouver style

Use the following template to cite an edited book using the Vancouver citation style.

How to cite an Email in Vancouver style

Use the following template to cite an email using the Vancouver citation style.

How to cite an Encyclopedia article in Vancouver style

Use the following template to cite an encyclopedia article using the Vancouver citation style.

How to cite an Interview in Vancouver style

Use the following template to cite an interview using the Vancouver citation style.

How to cite a Magazine in Vancouver style

Use the following template to cite a magazine using the Vancouver citation style.

How to cite a Newspaper in Vancouver style

Use the following template to cite a newspaper using the Vancouver citation style.

How to cite a Podcast in Vancouver style

Use the following template to cite a podcast using the Vancouver citation style.

How to cite a Song in Vancouver style

Use the following template to cite a song using the Vancouver citation style.

How to cite The Bible in Vancouver style

Use the following template to cite The Bible using the Vancouver citation style.

How to cite a TV Show in Vancouver style

Use the following template to cite a TV Show using the Vancouver citation style.

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Vancouver referencing conventions

Vancouver uses numbers in the text and a references list.

In-text citation

At every point in the text where a particular work is referred to by quoting or paraphrasing, include the number which identifies the reference used, in brackets. References are numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first cited in the text. 

References list

References are presented in numerical order by the order in which they appear in the document.

You should only include sources that you have referenced in your work. 

If you are asked to include a bibliography (in addition to, or in place of, a references list) you can include further items that were read that informed your research and thinking for the assignment, in addition to those that you directly referenced . 

How to reference using Vancouver style

Examples on how to reference particular sources using Vancouver style:

Act of Parliament

Book chapter from an edited book.

• Conference proceeding

Journal article

Newspaper article, radio broadcast, television broadcast, thesis or dissertation.

• Website / webpage

Country. Title of Act and year. Chapter. Place of Publication: Publisher.

Great Britain. Environment Act 1995. Chapter 25. London: The Stationery Office.

Author(s) surname Initial(s). Title of blog entry. Date blog entry written. Title of blog [online]. Year. [Accessed date]. Available from: URL.

Welle K. Impressions from the Stockholm World Water Week. 25 August. ODI blog: commentary from leading development experts [online]. 2006. [Accessed 9 July 2007]. Available from:  http://blogs.odi.org.uk/blogs/main/archive/category/1020.aspx

Author surname Initial(s). Title: subtitle. Edition (if it is not the first edition). Place of publication: Publisher; Year of publication.

Cooke A. A guide to finding quality information on the Internet: selection and evaluation strategies. 2nd ed. London: Library Association Publishing; 2001.

Two to six authors:

First author surname Initial(s), second author surname Initial(s), third author surname Initials. Title: subtitle. Edition (if it is not the first edition). Place of publication: Publisher; Year of publication.

Feldman RS, Meyer JS, Quenzer LF. The American Psychiatric Press textbook of psychopharmacology. 2nd ed. Washington DC: American Psychiatric Association; 1998.

Seven or more authors/editors:

If there are 7 or more authors/editors, only the first 6 are listed followed by et al.

First author surname Initial(s), second author surname Initial(s), third author surname Initial(s), fourth author surname Initial(s), fifth author surname Initial(s), sixth author surname Initial(s), et al., editors.  Title: subtitle. Edition (if it is not the first edition). Place of publication: Publisher; Year of publication.

Fauci AS, Braunwald E, Isselbacher KJ, Wilson JD, Martin JB, Kasper DL, et al., editors. Harrison's principles of internal medicine. 14th ed. New York: McGraw Hill; 1998.

Book with organisation as author:

SCONUL Advisory Committee on Information Literacy.   Learning outcomes and information literacy. London: SCONUL; 2004.

Edited book:

Editor(s) surname Initial(s), editor(s). Title: subtitle. Edition (if it is not the first edition). Place of publication: Publisher; Year of publication.

Ennis F, editor. Infrastructure provision and the negotiating process. Aldershot: Ashgate; 2003.

Editors should have editor or editors after their name or list of names. If there are no authors or editors given, the title should be listed first, followed by place of publication.

Author(s) surname Initial(s). Title of chapter: subtitle. In: Author(s) surname Initial(s). Title of book. Place of publication: Publisher; Year of publication. p. page numbers.

Haefner H. Negative symptoms and the assessment of neurocognitive treatment response. In: Keefe RSE, McEvoy JP, editors. Negative symptom and cognitive deficit treatment response in schizophrenia. Washington DC: American Psychiatric Association; 2004. p. 85-110.

When the author's name is the same for the chapter as for the book it does not need to be repeated.

Greenhalgh T. Checklists for finding, appraising, and implementing evidence. In:   How to read a paper: the basics of evidence based medicine. London: BMJ Publishing Group; 2000. p. 177-9.

Page numbers should be preceded by p.

Conference proceedings

Individual conference paper.

Author(s) Initial(s). Title of contribution. In: Editor(s) surname Initial(s). editor(s). Title of conference proceedings, date, place of conference. Place of publication: publisher; Year. p. page numbers.

Nelmes G. Container port automation. In : Corke P., Sukkarieh S. editors. Field and service robotics: results of the 5th international conference, 29-31 July 2005, Port Douglas. Berlin: Springer; 2006. p. 3-8.

If conference proceedings are published in a journal, the article/contribution should be cited as for a journal article.

If the proceedings have been published as chapters in a book, treat the entire proceedings as a book, and individual presentations as a book chapter. Add details of the conference to the book title.

Conference proceedings as a whole

Editor(s) surname Initial(s). editor(s). Title of conference proceedings, date, place of conference. Place of publication: publisher; Year.

Corke P., Sukkarieh S. editors. Field and service robotics: results of the 5th international conference, 29-31 July 2005, Port Douglas. Berlin: Springer; 2006

Title. [DVD]. Place of production: Production company; year.

Acland's DVD atlas of human anatomy: the lower extremity. [DVD]. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2004.

Author(s) surname Initial(s). Title: subtitle [online]. Edition (if not the first edition). Place of publication: Publisher; Year of publication [Accessed Date]. Available from: URL of database / location in which the book is held

Greenhalgh T. How to read a paper: the basics of evidence based medicine [online]. London: BMJ Publishing Group; 2000 [Accessed 8 September 2008]. Available from:  http://www.netlibrary.com/AccessProduct.aspx?ProductId=66703

e-book reader format, e.g. Kindle

Author(s)/Editor(s) surname Initials(s). Title: subtitle. Edition (if not the first edition). [Name of e-book reader]. Place of publication: Publisher; Year of publication.

Llewelyn H, Ang HA, Lewis KE, Al-Abdullah A. Oxford handbook of clinical diagnosis. 2nd ed. [Kindle DX e-book]. Oxford: OUP; 2009.

Title of film. [film]. Directed by: Full name of director. Place of production: Production company; year.

An inconvenient truth. [film]. Directed by: Davis Guggenheim. USA: Paramount; 2006.

If the film is a video recording (on DVD or VHS) use the same format but change [film] to the relevant media.  This is because video recording may contain extra footage not shown in the film.

Journal article (print)

Author(s) surname Initial(s). Title of article. Abbreviated title of journal. Year of publication;volume number(issue number):page numbers.

Meric F, Bernstam EV, Mirza NQ, Hunt KK, Ames FC, Ross M I, et al. Breast cancer on the world wide web: cross sectional survey of quality of information and popularity of websites. BMJ. 2002;324(7337):577-81.

Journal article (electronic)

Author(s) surname Initial(s). Title of article. Abbreviated title of journal [online]. Year of publication;volume number(issue number):page numbers. [Accessed date]. Available from: URL

Ross CTF. A conceptual design of an underwater vehicle. Ocean engineering [online]. 2006;33(16):2087-2104. [Accessed 6 July 2007]. Available from:  http://www.sciencedirect.com/

When citing online journal articles, it is now widely preferred to include a DOI (Direct Object Identifier) where available rather than a URL.

De Pinto M, Jelacic J, Edwards WT. Very-low-dose ketamine for the management of pain and sedation in the ICU. Acute Pain [online]. 2008;10(2):100. [Accessed 8 September 2008]. Available from:<doi:10.1016/j.acpain.2008.05.023>

Author(s) surname Initial(s). Title of article: subtitle of article. Newspaper title (in full) Year Month and date of publication; section name (if applicable):page numbers of contribution.

Rowbottom M. The Big Question: how prevalent is the use of drugs in sport, and can it be defeated? The Independent 2006 Aug 1;Sect. Sport:5

Title of programme/Series title, Episode number, Episode title. Transmitting organisation/channel. Date and year, Time of transmission.

Desert island discs, Lily Allen. BBC Radio 4. 29 June 2014, 11:15.

Yes, Prime Minister, Episode 1, The Ministerial Broadcast. BBC2. 16 January 1986, 20:30.

News at ten. ITV. 27 January 2001. 22:00.

Author's surname Initial(s). Title: subtitle. Award level of thesis, Awarding institution; Year of publication.

Deb S. Psychopathology of adults with a mental handicap and epilepsy. MA thesis, University of Leicester; 1991.

Croser C. Biochemical restriction of root extension under mechanical impedance. PhD thesis, University of Birmingham; 1997.

Surname(s), Initial(s) (or organisation). Full text of tweet. [Twitter]. Date and year tweet posted [Date accessed]. Available from: URL

Cruciform Library. MedTech Week 2014 at UCL Institute of Biomedical Engineering (IBME)16-20 June via @UCL_IBME  http://bit.ly/1pbWe53   pic.twitter.com/pzXx3P4DlP [Twitter]. 9 June 2014 [Accessed 2 July 2014]. Available from:  https://twitter.com/ucl_crucitwit

Website or webpage

Author(s)/Editor(s) surname Initial(s). Title. [online]. Publisher: place of publication; Year [Accessed date]. Available from: URL

SukYin A. Catechol-O-Methyltransferase (COMT) gene and breast cancer. [online]. Human Genome Epidemiology Network, National Office of Public Health Genomics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Atlanta GA; 2002 Jun [Accessed 8 September 2008]. Available from:  http://www.cdc.gov/genomics/hugenet/factsheets/FS_COMT.htm

Year can include month if preferred.

If a specific author cannot be found, attribute to the organisation or corporation.

Overseas Development Institute, Humanitarian Policy Group. Welcome to HPG. [online]. ODI: London; 2007 [Accessed 9 July 2007]. Available from:  http://odi.org.uk/hpg/index.html

Wiki name. Title of article .  [online]. Year [Date accessed]. Available from: URL

Wikipedia. Jeremy Bentham .  [online]. 2014 [Accessed 2 July 2014]. Available from:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_bentham

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Referencing guide at the University of Manchester: Vancouver

• Harvard Manchester Updated
• American Psychological Association APA
• Modern Humanities Research Association MHRA
• Referencing Software
• EndNote online

The information contained within these pages is intended as a general referencing guideline.

Please check with your supervisor to ensure that you are following the specific guidelines required by your school.

Vancouver Citations within the text

This guide provides you with examples of how to correctly cite references in the Vancouver style within the text of your assignments.

The Vancouver system does allow for some variations in style, but you must remain consistent throughout your document. The Vancouver system is most commonly used in medical and clinical sciences.

Citations you include in the main body of your writing should only provide a number that refers to the reference that you are citing. These citations will then link to a fully detailed reference, which will be included in your list of references / bibliography.

The way in which you refer to a source within the text of your work should always follow this format:

• The number of the reference appears in brackets outside of the sentence (i.e. after the full stop). * This is not the case for many science based journals that include them inside the full stop. Please clarify this with your student handbook or supervisor as to how they would like you to set it out.
• The number can be in superscript.
• The number remains the same throughout the paper.
• Use a hyphen where there are more than 3 consecutive references being referred to.

Direct citations

If the author’s name forms a natural part of your sentence, then the surname should be followed by the number indicating the order that it appears in the document (in brackets), eg.

Albanese refers to problem based learning as...(1)

Albanese refers to problem based learning as... (1)

Indirect citations

If you do not mention the author’s name within your text, you should place the number in brackets at the end of the sentence, eg.

There are six distinctive conditions, which need to be satisfied, in order for a whistle-blowing case to be justified. (2)

In-text citations

You can always cite within the sentence structure providing it does not interfere with the flow of the sentence, eg.

There have been efforts to replace mouse inoculation testing with in vitro tests, such as enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (23) or polymerase chain reaction (6), however these remain experimental.

Multiple authors

Provide the numbers in brackets as they appear in the text after these sentence, eg.

Several drug trials proved that the antibody was released immediately. (2, 3, 9- 12)

Page numbers

There is currently no agreement among citation authorities as to the use of page numbers with in-text citations in Vancouver style. If you have been asked to include page numbers for direct quotations by your school, we recommend using one the following formatting methods: Peterson (1, p. 20) discusses two examples of... Or Peterson 1 (p. 20) discusses two examples of...

Setting out quotations

Any quotations used should be relevant to the argument you are making. Short quotations (1-2 lines) can be set in quotation marks and included within the body of the text.

Vancouver Reference lists/bibliographies

Your reference list links with your in-text citations, enabling readers to easily trace the sources cited within your work. It is a list of the documents from which any direct quotations or examples have been taken.

N.B. A bibliography (where you give credit to sources that were used for background reading, but were not quoted within the body of the text), is not usually required. You should however always check this first, with the person who will be assessing your work.

Your reference list (and bibliography if you choose to provide one) should be arranged numerically in the order that the citations appear in the text.

Multiple authors:

If you have up to six authors for a reference then you list all the authors in your reference list, If you have more than six than six, list the first six authors followed by the term 'et al,' .

Different types of publication require different amounts of information. The Vancouver system lays down standards for the amount of information required for each document type; these are detailed below.

Example Reference list

• Albanese MA. Problem-based learning. Edinburgh: ASME; 2007.
• Gilstrap LC 3rd, Cunningham FG, VanDorsten JP, editors. Operative obstetrics. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002.
• Meltzer PS, Kallioniemi A, Trent JM. Chromosome alterations in human solid tumors. In: Vogelstein B, Kinzler KW, editors. The genetic basis of human cancer. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002. p. 93-113.
• Foley KM, Gelband H, editors. Improving palliative care for cancer [Internet]. Washington: National Academy Press; 2001 [cited 2002 Jul 9]. Available from: Available from: https://www.nap.edu/catalog/10149/improving-palliative-care-for-cancer

Acts of parliament

Citation order.

• Title of Act,
• Year of Act,
• Statute details
• [cited year month day]
• Available from:URL

Reference list entry

2. Equality Act 2010, c.15 . [cited 2018 Dec 10].  Available from:  https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/pdfs/ukpga_20100015_en.pdf  

Printed books

• Number : as it appears in the text.
• Author/Editor : Surname with a capital letter, followed by a comma.
• Initials : In capitals with no full stops.
• Title : Full title with only the first word and proper nouns should be capitalised. Follow with a full stop (unless there is a subtitle).
• Sub-title : Follows a colon at the end of the full title. Only proper nouns should be capitalized. Followed by a full stop.
• Edition : Only include if it is not a first edition. Use the relevant number followed by “ed.” eg. 4th ed.
• Place of publication : Give town or city, and country if there is possible confusion with the UK. Follow with a colon.
• Year : Year of publication.

1. Albanese MA. Problem-based learning. Edinburgh: ASME; 2007.

N.B. For a book with multiple authors provide details of all the first 6 authors in the Reference list, followed by et al.

Edited books

• Initial(s). editors.
• (Year of publication)
• Title of book. Edition (if not 1st edition).
• Place of publication:

2. Gilstrap LC 3rd, Cunningham FG, VanDorsten JP, editors. Operative obstetrics. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002.

Chapter from an edited book

• Chapter author(s) surname(s),
• Initial(s).
• 'Title of chapter'.
• Name of editors,
• Title of book.
• Place of publication: publisher;
• Page numbers preceded by p.

3. Meltzer PS, Kallioniemi A, Trent JM. Chromosome alterations in human solid tumors. In: Vogelstein B, Kinzler KW, editors. The genetic basis of human cancer. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002. p. 93-113.

• (editors if required).
• Edition (if not 1 st edition).
• Place of publication;
• [cited year month date].
• [Available from: URL].

4. Foley KM, Gelband H, editors. Improving palliative care for cancer [Internet]. Washington: National Academy Press; 2001 [cited 2002 Jul 9]. Available from: https://www.nap.edu/books/0309074029.html/

Journal articles (printed)

• Author(s) surname.
• Title of article
• Abbreviated title of journal.
• Year, first 3 letters of month, date;
• Volume (issue):
• Page numbers (without p).

5. Endres M, Engelhardt B, Koistinaho J, Lindvall O, Meairs S, Mohr JP, et al. Improving outcome after stroke: Overcoming the translational roadblock. Cerebrovasc Dis. 2008, Feb, 22;25(3):268-78.

Journal articles (electronic)

• Author(s) surname
• Abbreviated title of journal
• [cited year month date];
• Volume number (Issue number):
• Available from: URL or DOI

1. Fanta CH. Asthma. N Engl J Med. [Internet] 2009 [cited 2013 Jan 9]; 360(10):1002-14. Available from: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056.NEJMra0804579

2. Fanta CH. Asthma. N Engl J Med. [Internet] 2009 [cited 2013 Jan 9]; 360(10):1002-14. Available from: doi: 10.1056/NEJMra0804579

Things to note

• The recognised abbreviation of the journal title can be found here .
• In the title of the article, only the first letter and proper nouns should be capitalised.
• If the journal you are citing has continuous pagination it is unnecessary to cite the month and date of publication.
• Where an organisation is the author simply replace the author with the name of the organisation.

Newspaper articles

Required information.

• Author (If no author provided use the title of the newspaper in italics).
• Title of article.
• Title of newspaper.
• Year month date;
• Page reference

6. Tynan T. Medical improvements lower homicide rate: study sees drop in assault rate. The Washington Post. 2002 Aug 12;Sect. A:2 (col. 4).

• Author / Organisation
• [Internet].
• [updated year month date; cited year month date].
• Available from: URL.

It can often be difficult to identify the author of a web-page. If this is the case use the organisation (e.g. BBC) in place of the author. If a website has no discernible author or organisation you may want to strongly consider whether it is suitable for inclusion in a piece of academic writing! Again it is probably best to check with the person who will be assessing your work, if you find yourself in this situation.

Cancer-Pain.org [Internet]. New York: Association of Cancer Online Resources, Inc.; c2000-01 [updated 2002 May 16; cited 2002 Jul 9]. Available from: https://www.cancer-pain.org/ .

Wikipedia.org. Introduction to general relativity [Internet]. 2021 [updated 2021 May 28; cited 2021 July 13]. [9 screens]. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introduction_to_general_relativity.

Mantone J. Head trauma haunts many, researchers say. 2008 Jan 29 [cited 2009 Feb 13]. In: Wall Street Journal. HEALTH BLOG [Internet]. New York: Dow Jones & Company, Inc. c2008 -. [about 1 screen]. Available from: https://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/01/29/head-trauma-haunts-many-researchers-say/ .

Government reports (printed)

• Organisation name.
• Paper number.

Department of Health. Choosing Health: making healthier choices easier, CM6374. London: Stationery Office; 2001.

Government reports (online)

• [cited date]
• Available from: URL

Department of Health. Equity and excellence: liberating the NHS, CM7881. [Internet]. 2010 [cited 2013 Jan 9] .Available from: https://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_117353

Reports from organisations (online)

• Paper number. (if available)
• Edition. (if available and not the first)

General Medical Council. Good medical practice: working with doctors working for patients. Rev ed. [Internet]. 2014 [cited 2013 2018 Nov 19] .Available from: https://www.gmc-uk.org/-/media/documents/Good_medical_practice___English_1215.pdf_51527435.pdf

• Author's name and initials.
• Level (PhD etc).
• Educational establishment.

Nixon, H. Families, Parenting and Asthma. PhD Thesis. The University Of Manchester; 2011.

Conference proceedings

• Author's name(s) and initials.
• Title of paper,
• Full title of conference (capitalise all words);
• If published, add details of place and publisher

• Harnden P, Joffe JK, Jones WG, editors. Germ cell tumours V. Proceedings of the 5th Germ Cell Tumour Conference; 2001 Sep 13-15; Leeds, UK. New York: Springer; 2002.

• Distribution company

The Shining.DVD.Stanley Kubrick. Warner Bros.1980.

Articles not in English

Citation order - as per journal articles in english:.

Forneau E, Bovet D. Recherches sur l'action sympathicolytique d'un nouveau dérivé du dioxane. Arch Int Pharmacodyn. 1933;46:178-191. French.

The National Library of Medicine adds an English translation of the title enclosed in square brackets right after the title. The language is specified in full after the paginiation (page location), followed by a 'full stop'.

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Website: how to cite in Vancouver Style?

Create a spot-on reference in vancouver, general rules.

Citing Medicine – the manual of Vancouver Style – provides different templates for referencing the homepage and any other page of a website. For the homepage, the following template should be used:

Author(s) . Website Title [Internet]. City where the website was created : Publisher ; date of the website’s creation [cited date cited ]. Available from: URL

For any other webpage, apply the following template:

Website Title [Internet].  City where the website was created : Publisher ; date of the website’s creation . Page title ; page publication date [cited date cited ]. Available from: URL

However, the above requirements may hinder significantly the creation of bibliographic references. Thus, the development of the Internet leads to the fact that the city of the website’s creation and the publisher lose their relevance as reference elements: usually, you cannot determine where the website was created, and the publisher’s name is in most cases the same as the name of the company or is missing as well. Taking into account the above and the recommendations of universities from different countries, the web service Grafiati offers a simplified Vancouver template for individual pages of a website:

Author(s) . Website Title [Internet]. Page title ; page publication date [cited date cited ]. Available from: URL

N . B .  Put a full stop after the URL only if the URL ends with a slash (‘/’).

If the page features the date last updated in addition to the publication date, give the former in square brackets before the date cited:

[updated date updated ; cited date cited ]

Examples in a list of references

In accordance with the requirements of vancouver style:.

Med Uni Graz [Internet]. Graz (Austria): Med Uni Graz; c2021 [cited 2021 Mar 26]. Available from: https://www.medunigraz.at/en/ .

Any other page:

BBC News [Internet]. [London]: BBC, c2021. Is Europe's AstraZeneca jab decision-making flawed?; 2021 Mar 15 [cited 2021 Jun 26]. Available from:  https://www.bbc.com/news/health-56360646

In accordance with the simplified template offered:

Triggle   N. BBC News [Internet]. Is Europe's AstraZeneca jab decision-making flawed?; 2021 Mar 15 [cited 2021 Jun 26]. Available from: https://www.bbc.com/news/health-56360646

Referencing style - Vancouver (based on Citing Medicine): Introduction

• Introduction
• Book contribution (chapter/section/part)
• Databases & EBP resources
• Indirect citations/secondary sources
• Journal article
• Lecture notes
• Personal communications
• Tables/figures/images
• Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI)
• Quotes and page numbers
• Example text

Introduction to the Vancouver Style based on Citing Medicine (2nd edition)

The  Vancouver style is a numerical system.   This guide to Vancouver is based on  Citing medicine: the NLM style guide for authors, editors & publishers   and the   Recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

• Try it! Vancouver exercises and answer key

Understanding referencing

There are two main elements in the Vancouver citation style: in-text citations in your paper and the reference list at the end of your paper.

The in-text citation 

Notes on use of unique reference number

An Arabic numeral in parentheses is inserted in your text at the point where you refer to (cite) your source of information.

See this example:

An unhealthy diet, obesity and physical inactivity play a role in the onset of Type 2 diabetes,(1) but it has been shown that increased physical activity substantially reduces the risk,(2) and participation in regular physical activity is one of the major recommendations of the evidence based guidelines for the primary prevention of diseases.(1) 

A consecutive number is then allocated to each source as it is referred to for the first time. This number becomes the unique identifier of that source and is re-used each time that particular reference is cited in the text.

Use Arabic numerals within parentheses, outside full stops and commas, but inside colons and semicolons. 

When multiple references are cited at the same place in the text, use commas without spaces to separate non-inclusive numbers.

            Example:  Multiple studies have indicated… (1,3,5,10)  

If multiple references cited at the same place in the text are inclusive, use a hyphen to join the first and last numbers.

            Example:  Multiple studies have indicated that…(1-3)  

Note on author/editor names

Examples with author names in the text of the document:

One author : Doe(7) reported on the survey...

Two authors : Avery and Williams(5) research demonstrates...

More than two authors, or authors and a group: include the first author’s surname followed by “et al.” or “and others”:

Doe et al.(9) reported on the survey....

Note : Do not use the possessive form 'et al's' - rephrase the sentence.

The reference list 

Every source which has an in-text citation should also be listed in the reference list at the end of your document. Reference list entries contain all the information that someone needs to follow up your source.

References are listed numerically at the end of the body of work. Agreed abbreviations for journal titles must be used and can be searched for from the National Library of Medicine's (US) PubMed website within their  NLM catalog: Journals referenced in the NCBI database . 

If using EndNote you can   install the Medicine Journal Terms List , which will includes over 14,000 journal title abbreviations. 

Citing Medicine states that all authors (regardless of the number) should be listed, but notes that if space is a consideration, the number of authors may be limited to a specific number, such as the first three authors or the first six authors. The last named author is then followed with a comma and "et al." or "and others".  

One to six authors/editors : List all in the reference list:

1. Avery M, Williams F. The importance of pharmacist providing patient education in oncology. J Pharm Pract [Internet]. 2015 [cited 2016 Jan 27];28(1):26-30. Available from: https://journals-sagepub-com.ezproxy.library.uwa.edu.au/doi/10.1177/0897190014562382

More than six authors/editors : List the first six authors/editors then et al.:

2. de Lima M, McNiece I, Robinson SN, Munsell M, Eapen M, Horowitz M, et al. Cord-blood engraftment with ex vivo mesenchymal-cell coculture. N Engl J Med.[Internet]. 2012;367(24):2305-15. Available from: https://www-nejm-org.ezproxy.library.uwa.edu.au/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1207285

No author or editor : List the title first:

3. Prevention strategies for asthma: secondary prevention. CMAJ [Internet]. 2005 [cited 2016 Feb 3];173(6) Suppl:s25-7. Available from: http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/ 173/6_suppl/S25

Note on electronic resources 

All electronically sourced formats must include details of the type of medium, [Internet], and the date the material was cited, together with the full web address or DOI address.  

In the  Vancouver examples  section of this library guide there is an EndNote column which specifies the relevant fields and information to add for various material types. Hover over the 'Vancouver Examples' tab to see a drop down of different materials.

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Vancouver Style Citations: Introduction

The Vancouver Island University (VIU) Dental Hygiene Program, like most dental hygiene programs, uses the ‘Vancouver Style’ referencing style for citing sources within academic work. The complete guide to the Vancouver style referencing is  Citing Medicine  by the National Library of Medicine (NLM).

Giving credit to the origin of the information is a sign of respect and an expectation of your academic integrity and professionalism. Additionally, citations allow the reader the ability to find the article quickly and easily. The VIU Dental Hygiene Program uses a modified version of the 2 nd edition of Citing Medicine. VIU dental hygiene students should follow the guidelines and examples provided below.

Please keep in mind each scholarly journal or publisher sets standards for referencing expectations. Modifications in style may occur for reasons such as editorial board preferences or limitations in publication space. As such, when seeking publication always refer to the specific guidelines for the journal or publisher.

Vancouver Style: In-text References

The Vancouver style uses the citation-sequence system, meaning that references at the end of your paper are numbered in the order in which the corresponding citations appear in your text, rather than listed alphabetically by author. 

In-text references consist of consecutive numbers formatted in superscript  and placed after the period.

Let's say the first citation in your research paper is a sentence paraphrasing this online article .  In Vancouver style, your in-text reference would look like this: 

Recent analysis suggests that  marijuana use is associated with increases in oropharyngeal cancer cases, but decreases in oral tongue cancer. 1

The corresponding entry in the reference list at the end of your paper would look like this:

• Marks MA, Chaturvedi AK, Kelsey K, Straif K, Berthiller J, Schwartz SM, Smith E, Wyss A, Brennan P, Olshan AF, Wei Q, Sturgis EM, Zhang ZF, Morgenstern H, Muscat J, Lazarus P, McClean M, Chen C, Vaughan TL, Wunsch-Filho V, Curado MP, Koifman S, Matos E, Menezes A, Daudt AW, Fernandez L, Posner M, Boffetta P, Lee YC, Hashibe M, Souza G. Association of marijuana smoking with oropharyngeal and oral tongue cancers: pooled analysis from the INHANCE Consortium. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2014 Jan;23(1):160-71.

If your text requires the citing of more than one source, separate the numbers with a comma (no spaces), or indicate a range by separating the first and last numbers in the range with a hyphen, e.g.:

Recent analysis suggests that marijuana use is associated with increases in oropharyngeal cancer cases, but decreases in oral tongue cancer. 1,2

Recent analysis suggests that marijuana use is associated with increases in oropharyngeal cancer cases, but decreases in oral tongue cancer. 3-5

If you are quoting directly from your source, include the page number for the quoted passage in brackets following the reference number, and precede the page number with "p", e.g.:

Marks et al. "observed that marijuana use was strongly inversely associated with oral tongue cancer specifically, which is similar to what has been reported previously among oral cavity cancers in general." 1(p167)

Vancouver Style References: Journal Articles

Journal article references contain the following elements in order: Author(s), Article title, Journal Title Abbreviation, Date of Publication, Volume and Issue number, Location (Pagination).

• List names in the order they appear in the text
• Convert given (first) names and middle names to initials, for a maximum of two initials following each surname
• Include all the authors listed for the article
• Article title in  sentence case  followed by a period.
• Journal title abbreviation  followed by a period.
• Four-digit year of publication followed by semi-colon.
• Journal volume number followed by issue number in brackets, followed by a colon.
• Page range, hyphenated, followed by a period. (Page numbers are not repeated. For example, 452-468 would become 452-68 or 241-248 would become 241-8).

Loesche WJ, Bromberg J, Terpenning MS, Bretz WA, Dominguez BL, Grossman NS, Langmore SE. Xerostomia, xerogenic medications and food avoidances in selected geriatric groups. J Am Geriatr Soc. 1995;43(4):401-7.

Abrams AP, Thompson LA. Physiology of aging of older adults: systemic and oral health considerations. Dent Clin North Am. 2014;58(4):729–38.

Batchelor P. The changing epidemiology of oral diseases in the elderly, their growing importance for care and how they can be managed. Age Ageing. 2015;44(6):1064–70.

Vancouver Style References: Books

Entire book, written or compiled by the same author(s).

Author(s). Title of book. Edition. Place of Publication: Publisher; Date.

• List all author names in the order they appear in the text
• Include all author(s) contributors listed for the chapter
• Book title in  sentence case  followed by a period.
• Edition number (if applicable) followed by "ed." 
• Place of publication (if more than one city is listed, use the first one) followed by a colon and a space.
• Publisher name followed by a semi-colon and a space.
• Four-digit year of publication followed by a period.

Malamed SF. Handbook of local anesthesia. 7 th ed. St. Louis: Elsevier; 2020.

Chapter of book compiled by an editor with various chapter contributors

Author(s) of Contribution. Title of contribution. Connective Phrase: Editor(s) of Book. Title of book. Place of Publication. Edition. Place of Publication: Publisher; Date of Publication. Location of Contribution (page numbers).

• Title of chapter in  sentence case  followed by a period.
• Connector phrase followed by a colon and a space ‘In: ’
• List all editor(s) names in the order they appear in the text
• Include all editor(s) of the book.
• Edition number (if applicable) followed by period "ed." 
• Place of publication (if more than one city is listed, use the first one) followed by a colon and a space
• Publisher name followed by a semi-colon and a space
• Page range, hyphenated, followed by a period. (Page numbers are not repeated. For example, 452-468 would become 452-68 or 241-248 would become 241-8)

Forrest JL, Miller SA. Evidence-based decision making. In: Bowen DM, Pieren JA, editors. Darby and Walsh dental hygiene theory and practice. 5 th ed. Maryland Heights: Elsevier; 2020. p. 25-33.

Vancouver Style References: Websites

Website references contain the following elements in order: Author(s). Title [Internet]. Place of Publication: Publisher; Date of Publication [Date of Citation]. Available from: URL

• If a personal author(s), list last name(s) and initial(s) separated by commas and ending with a period.  If a corporate author, provide the organization name followed by a period.
• Title in  sentence case  followed by [Internet], ending with a period.
• Place of publication, if available, followed by a colon.
• Publisher (this will often be the same as the corporate author) followed by a semi-colon.
• Date of Publication - Four-digit year of publication, Month, Day (if available) as follows YYYY Month DD (use three-letter month abbreviations rather than the full month name). 
• Followed by the date you referenced the material as follows: [cited YYYY Month DD] (use three-letter month abbreviations rather than the full month name).  End with a period.
• Available from: URL

Marchildon GP, DiMatteo L. Health care cost drivers: the facts [Internet]. Canadian Institute for Health Information; 2011 Oct [cited 2015 Jan 15]. Available from: https://secure.cihi.ca/free_products/health_care_cost_drivers_the_facts_en.pdf

Statistics Canada. The Canadian population in 2011: age and sex [Internet]. Ottawa: Statistics Canada; 2015 [cited 2016 Dec 30]. Available from: https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/censusrecensement/2011/as-sa/98-311-x/98-311-x2011001-eng.cfm

Canadian Dental Hygienists Association. Our history [Internet]. Ottawa: CDHA; 2018 [cited 2019 Sep 16]. Available from: https://www.cdha.ca/cdha/About_folder/History_folder/CDHA/About/History.aspx?hkey=065b136f-72d3-4a84-a7aa-51cc7b519cd5

Journal Title Abbreviations

Another characteristic of Vancouver style references is the use of  journal title abbreviations  rather than full titles.  Journal title abbreviations are standardized and can be looked up in the  NLM Catalogue  or the  Web of Science List of Journal Title Abbreviations .  

Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention is abbreviated as  Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev

Clinical Advances in Periodontics is abbreviated as  Clin Adv Periodontics

Vancouver Style: Resources

Examples and help for using Vancouver style:

• Citing Medicine: The NLM Style Guide for Authors, Editors, and Publishers (2nd Edition)
• Journal Title Abbreviations from the National Library of Medicine
• Web of Science List of Journal Title Abbreviations
• << Previous: CSE Style
• Next: Citing Gov & Legal Docs >>
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NCBI Bookshelf. A service of the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.

Citing Medicine , 2nd edition

Karen Patrias ; Dan Wendling , Technical Editor.

Contributors

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• Copyright and Permissions

Citing Medicine provides assistance to authors in compiling lists of references for their publications, to editors in revising such lists, to publishers in setting reference standards for their authors and editors, and to librarians and others in formatting bibliographic citations.

• About this Book
• Introduction
• 2015 Foreword
• Chapter 1. Journals [ PDF Version ] Created: October 10, 2007; Last Update: May 18, 2018.
• Chapter 2. Books [ PDF Version ] Created: October 10, 2007; Last Update: August 11, 2015.
• Chapter 3. Conference Publications [ PDF Version ] Created: October 10, 2007; Last Update: August 5, 2020.
• Chapter 4. Scientific and Technical Reports [ PDF Version ] Created: October 10, 2007; Last Update: August 11, 2015.
• Chapter 5. Dissertations and Theses [ PDF Version ] Created: October 10, 2007; Last Update: August 11, 2015.
• Chapter 6. Bibliographies [ PDF Version ] Created: October 10, 2007; Last Update: August 11, 2015.
• Chapter 7. Patents [ PDF Version ] Created: October 10, 2007; Last Update: August 11, 2015.
• Chapter 8. Newspaper Articles [ PDF Version ] Created: October 10, 2007; Last Update: August 11, 2015.
• Chapter 9. Maps [ PDF Version ] Created: October 10, 2007; Last Update: August 11, 2015.
• Chapter 10. Legal Documents [ PDF Version ] Created: October 10, 2007; Last Update: January 14, 2009.
• Chapter 11. Forthcoming ("in press") [ PDF Version ] Created: October 10, 2007; Last Update: May 18, 2018.
• Chapter 12. Papers and Poster Sessions Presented at Meetings [ PDF Version ] Created: October 10, 2007; Last Update: August 5, 2020.
• Chapter 13. Letters and Other Personal Communication [ PDF Version ] Created: October 10, 2007; Last Update: March 17, 2017.
• Chapter 14. Manuscripts and Preprints [ PDF Version ] Created: October 10, 2007; Last Update: March 17, 2017.
• Chapter 15. Books and Other Individual Titles in Audiovisual Formats [ PDF Version ] Created: October 10, 2007; Last Update: August 11, 2015.
• Chapter 16. Journals in Audiovisual Formats [ PDF Version ] Created: October 10, 2007; Last Update: August 11, 2015.
• Chapter 17. Prints and Photographs [ PDF Version ] Created: October 10, 2007; Last Update: August 11, 2015.
• Chapter 18. Books and Other Individual Titles on CD-ROM, DVD, or Disk [ PDF Version ] Created: October 10, 2007; Last Update: August 11, 2015.
• Chapter 19. Journals on CD-ROM, DVD, or Disk [ PDF Version ] Created: October 10, 2007; Last Update: May 18, 2018.
• Chapter 20. Databases on CD-ROM, DVD, or Disk [ PDF Version ] Created: October 10, 2007; Last Update: August 11, 2015.
• Chapter 21. Computer Programs on CD-ROM, DVD, or Disk [ PDF Version ] Created: October 10, 2007; Last Update: August 10, 2016.
• Chapter 22. Books and Other Individual Titles on the Internet [ PDF Version ] Created: October 10, 2007; Last Update: August 11, 2015.
• Chapter 23. Journals on the Internet [ PDF Version ] Created: October 10, 2007; Last Update: May 18, 2018.
• Chapter 24. Databases/Retrieval Systems/Datasets on the Internet [ PDF Version ] Created: October 10, 2007; Last Update: May 18, 2018.
• Chapter 25. Web Sites [ PDF Version ] Created: October 10, 2007; Last Update: August 11, 2015.
• Chapter 26. Electronic Mail and Discussion Forums [ PDF Version ] Created: October 10, 2007; Last Update: August 11, 2015.
• Appendix A. Abbreviations for Commonly Used English Words in Journal Titles [ PDF Version ] Created: October 10, 2007; Last Update: October 2, 2015.
• Appendix B. Additional Sources for Journal Title Abbreviations [ PDF Version ] Created: October 10, 2007; Last Update: October 2, 2015.
• Appendix C. Abbreviations for Commonly Used English Words in Bibliographic Description [ PDF Version ] Created: October 10, 2007.
• Appendix D. ISO Country Codes for Selected Countries [ PDF Version ] Created: October 10, 2007.
• Appendix E. Two-Letter Abbreviations for Canadian Provinces and Territories and U.S. States and Territories [ PDF Version ] Created: October 10, 2007.
• Appendix F. Notes for Citing MEDLINE® /PubMed® [ PDF Version ] Created: October 10, 2007; Last Update: August 11, 2015.
• Appendix. Content Updates [ PDF Version ] Created: December 21, 2009; Last Update: August 5, 2020.

Suggested citation:

Patrias K. Citing medicine: the NLM style guide for authors, editors, and publishers [Internet]. 2nd ed. Wendling DL, technical editor. Bethesda (MD): National Library of Medicine (US); 2007 -    [updated 2015 Oct 2; cited Year Month Day ]. Available from: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/citingmedicine

• Cite this Page Patrias K, author; Wendling D, editor. Citing Medicine: The NLM Style Guide for Authors, Editors, and Publishers [Internet]. 2nd edition. Bethesda (MD): National Library of Medicine (US); 2007-.
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Cite a Website

Don't let plagiarism errors spoil your paper, citing a website in apa.

Once you’ve identified a credible website to use, create a citation and begin building your reference list. Citation Machine citing tools can help you create references for online news articles, government websites, blogs, and many other website! Keeping track of sources as you research and write can help you stay organized and ethical. If you end up not using a source, you can easily delete it from your bibliography. Ready to create a citation? Enter the website’s URL into the search box above. You’ll get a list of results, so you can identify and choose the correct source you want to cite. It’s that easy to begin!

If you’re wondering how to cite a website in APA, use the structure below.

Author Last Name, First initial. (Year, Month Date Published). Title of web page . Name of Website. URL

Example of an APA format website:

Austerlitz, S. (2015, March 3). How long can a spinoff like ‘Better Call Saul’ last? FiveThirtyEight. http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-long-can-a-spinoff-like-better-call-saul-last/

Keep in mind that not all information found on a website follows the structure above. Only use the Website format above if your online source does not fit another source category. For example, if you’re looking at a video on YouTube, refer to the ‘YouTube Video’ section. If you’re citing a newspaper article found online, refer to ‘Newspapers Found Online’ section. Again, an APA website citation is strictly for web pages that do not fit better with one of the other categories on this page.

Social media:

When adding the text of a post, keep the original capitalization, spelling, hashtags, emojis (if possible), and links within the text.

Facebook posts:

Structure: Facebook user’s Last name, F. M. (Year, Monday Day of Post). Up to the first 20 words of Facebook post [Source type if attached] [Post type]. Facebook. URL

Source type examples: [Video attached], [Image attached]

Post type examples: [Status update], [Video], [Image], [Infographic]

Gomez, S. (2020, February 4). Guys, I’ve been working on this special project for two years and can officially say Rare Beauty is launching in [Video]. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/Selena/videos/1340031502835436/

Life at Chegg. (2020, February 7) It breaks our heart that 50% of college students right here in Silicon Valley are hungry. That’s why Chegg has [Images attached] [Status update]. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/LifeAtChegg/posts/1076718522691591

Twitter posts:

Structure: Account holder’s Last name, F. M. [Twitter Handle]. (Year, Month Day of Post). Up to the first 20 words of tweet [source type if attached] [Tweet]. Twitter. URL

Source type examples: [Video attached], [Image attached], [Poll attached]

Example: Edelman, J. [Edelman11]. (2018, April 26). Nine years ago today my life changed forever. New England took a chance on a long shot and I’ve worked [Video attached] [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/Edelman11/status/989652345922473985

Instagram posts:

APA citation format: Account holder’s Last name, F. M. [@Instagram handle]. (Year, Month Day). Up to the first 20 words of caption [Photograph(s) and/or Video(s)]. Instagram. URL

Example: Portman, N. [@natalieportman]. (2019, January 5). Many of my best experiences last year were getting to listen to and learn from so many incredible people through [Videos]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/BsRD-FBB8HI/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

If this guide hasn’t helped solve all of your referencing questions, or if you’re still feeling the need to type “how to cite a website APA” into Google, then check out our APA citation generator on CitationMachine.com, which can build your references for you!

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Vancouver referencing style

• About Vancouver referencing style
• Additional referencing information
• EndNote and Vancouver referencing
• Reference list / Bibliography

In-text citations

• Indirect citation / Secondary source
• ChatGPT and other generative AI tools
• Dictionaries / Encyclopaedias
• Specialised health resources
• Journal articles
• Conferences
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• Theses / Dissertations
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• Personal communication
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• Tables / Figures / Images / Appendices
• A citation is an acknowledgement in your text of references that support your work.  It is in the form of a number that correlates with a source in your reference list.
• In the Vancouver Style, citations within the text of the essay/paper are identified by Arabic numbers in round brackets or Arabic numbers in superscript with no brackets.  This applies to references in text, tables and figures.
• The identification of references within the text of the essay/paper may vary according to the preferred style of the journal or the preferred style of the department or lecturer.  For example superscript may be preferred when referencing. eg. Example 2 ;
• The Vancouver sequential number system assigns a number to each reference as it is cited.  A number must be used even if the author(s) is named in the sentence/text. e.g. Smith 10 has argued that...
• A number is allocated to a source in the order in which it is first cited in the text. If the source is referred to again, the same reference number is reused. For example, if a reference by Moir is the first one to be referred to in the text, then Moir's reference number is number 1 in the list. If you refer to this work by Moir again later in the text, you reuse number 1. You can add a page number to your reference number to indicate the exact location in the original source. 
• For citing and/or reproducing/adapting charts, tables, figures, maps and other illustrative materials from a source, please refer to this guide's  Tables/Figures/Images/Appendices section .
• When multiple references are cited at a given place in the text, use a hyphen to join the first and last numbers that are inclusive. Use commas (without spaces) to separate non‐inclusive numbers in a multiple citation e.g. (2,3,4,5,7,10) is abbreviated to (2‐5,7,10).
• Do not use a hyphen if there are no citation numbers in between that support your statement e.g. (1‐2). Use instead (1,2)
• should be placed outside full stops and commas
• should be placed inside colons and semicolons
• the citation number can be place next to the author name where emphasis is placed on the author eg. Smith 2
• check with your faculty/school or journal publisher to determine their requirements

Examples without page numbers:

• There have been efforts to replace mouse inoculation testing with invitro tests, such as enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (57,60) or polymerase chain reaction.
• Numerous studies 20‐22 have.....
• Moir and Jessel maintain “that the sexes are interchangeable”.(1)
• Moir and Jessel maintain “that the sexes are interchangeable”. 1

Examples with page numbers:

• Patients showed no signs of diabetes. 1(p23),9
• Smithers 2(pp3,6) reported no sign of... (more than one page cited)
• Jones (10 pp23‐27) states that...

Examples with authors names in the text of the document

• Smith's research ....... 21
• Smith and Jones 22 research .....
• Up to 3 authors eg. Smith, Jones and McDonald reported that ......... 23
• More than 3 authors eg. Smith et al 24  reports ..
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• Last Updated: May 8, 2024 1:31 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.uq.edu.au/referencing/vancouver

Home / Guides / Citation Guides / MLA Format / MLA Website Citation

How to Cite a Website in MLA

If you are a student faced with creating an MLA website citation for the first time, you may be confused about where to begin. This guide is here to answer all of your questions and take the guesswork out of creating an MLA citation for websites.

All academic fields require students and researchers to document their sources. Those studying the humanities, including fields in language literature, will typically follow MLA format when structuring their papers as well as when documenting sources.

Citing your sources is a necessary part of any research paper or project. This element serves both to give credit to the researchers and authors whose work informed yours, as well as to preserve academic integrity. Any source that provided you with ideas or information that you have included in your work and which are not considered common knowledge must be included, including websites.

The Modern Language Association is not associated with this guide. All of the information, however, is based on the MLA Handbook, Ninth Edition as well as the MLA website, and is presented as guidance for students writing in this style.

If you are looking for help with APA format , our reference library can provide you with guidance for this and more styles .

What You Need

To cite a website, you should have the following information:

• Title of source.
• Title of the container ,
• Other contributors (names and roles),
• Publication date,
• Location of the source (such as DOI, URL, or page range).

The Modern Language Association refers to these guidelines as “core elements” on page 105 of the Handbook. If your teacher has asked you to cite your sources in this format, these elements will form the foundation for each MLA website citation included in your MLA Works Cited list, as well as the entries for sources in any other format.

If one of the elements does not apply, students may omit it. Supplemental items may also be included when necessary. In addition to the supplemental details discussed below, a list of additional supplemental components can be found on the MLA website.

If it’s an APA citation website page or an APA reference page you need help with, we have many other resources available for you!

Table of Contents

This guide includes the following sections:

• MLA9 Changes
• Citing websites with an author
• Citing websites with no author
• Citing websites with no formal title
• Citing social media websites
• In-text citations

Changes to MLA Citation for Websites in Ninth Edition

In previous editions, students and researchers creating an MLA website citation were not required to include the URL. However, beginning with MLA 8, it is recommended that you include the URL when creating a citation for a website unless your teacher instructs you otherwise. Even though web pages and URLs can be taken down or changed, it is still possible to learn about the source from the information seen in the URL.

When including URLs in a citation, http:// and https:// should be omitted from the website’s address ( Handbook 195). Additionally, If you are creating a citation that will be read on a digital device, it is helpful to make the URL clickable so that readers can directly access the source themselves.

If the website’s publisher includes a permalink or DOI (Digital Object Identifier), these are preferable as they are not changeable in the same manner as URLs. Whether you include a URL, permalink, or DOI, this information should be included in the location portion of your citation.

Another change that occurred with the eighth edition that impacts how to cite a website in MLA is the removal of the date the website was accessed. While you may still find it useful to include this information or your teacher may request it, it is no longer a mandatory piece of your citation. Should you choose to add this optional information, you may list it after the URL in the following manner:

• Accessed Day Month Year.
• Accessed 2 May 1998.
• Accessed 31 Apr. 2001.
• Accessed 17 Sept. 2010.

For an overview of additional formatting changes in the ninth edition, including resources to help with writing an annotated bibliography , check out the rest of EasyBib.com’s writing and citation guides, and try out our plagiarism checker for help with grammar and to avoid unintentional plagiarism.

MLA 9: Citing Websites With an Author

To make an MLA 9 citation for a website, you will need the following pieces of information:

• author’s name
• title of the article or page
• title of the website
• name of the publisher (Note: Only include the name of the publisher when it differs from the name of the website.)
• date the page or site was published (if available)

Citing a Website in MLA

Place the author’s name in reverse order, the last name first, followed by a comma, and then the first name followed by a period. The title of the web page or article is placed in quotation marks, with a period before the end quotation. The title of the website is written in italics followed by a comma. If the name of the publisher differs from the name of the website, include it after the title. Immediately following the publisher is the date that the page or article was published or posted. Finally, end with the URL, permalink, or DOI, followed by a period.

View Screenshot | Cite your source

In-text website citation with one author

The in-text citation for a website with an author is reflected as the author’s last name in parentheses, followed by a period. Unless the website includes numbered paragraphs or sections, you should not include any additional information. For the website used in the example above, the in-text citation would be written as follows:

Cite your source

An APA parenthetical citation is similar, except it also includes the year the source was published.

To learn more about formatting MLA in-text & parenthetical citations , be sure to check out the rest of EasyBib.com’s resources and citation guides.

How to cite a website with two authors in MLA 9

According to Section 5.7 of the Handbook , for a website with two authors, place the authors’ names in the same order as the source (similar to an APA citation ). The first name should be formatted in reverse order as was done for a single author. The second name, however, is written as First Name Last Name and is followed by a period, as demonstrated in the template that follows:

In-text website citation with two authors

The in-text citation for a website with two authors should include both authors’ last names, in the order in which they are listed in the source and your works cited:

How to cite a website with three or more authors in MLA 9

For a source with three or more authors, you should place the authors’ names in the same order as the source. The first name is listed in reverse order and is followed by a comma and et al. Et al is the abbreviation for et alia, a gender-neutral Latin phrase meaning “and others.”

In-text website citation with 3+ authors

The in-text citation for a website with three or more authors should contain only the first author’s last name, followed by et al. ( Handbook 232):

Click on this page if you’re looking for information on how to create an APA in-text citation .

MLA 9 Citation for Websites with No Author

Sometimes, websites do not state who wrote the information on the page. When no author is listed, you may omit the author information from the MLA citation for the website and begin, instead, with the title ( Handbook 108).

Note about web pages by organizations/corporations:  Often, web pages are published by organizations or corporations with no author indicated. In these cases, you can assume that the publisher also authored the web page (like the example above). Since the author and publisher are the same in these cases, you can skip showing an author and just indicate the organization /corporation as the publisher ( Handbook 119 ).

In-text website citation with no author

The in-text citation for a website without an author is noted with the first noun phrase or words in the title in quotations and parenthesis, followed by a period. Unless the website includes numbered paragraphs or sections, you should not include any additional information. For the website used in the example above, the in-text citation would be written as follows:

MLA 9 Citation for Websites Without a Formal Title

When citing a web page that does not include a formal title, it is acceptable to include a description of the page. Do not place the description in italics or quotation marks. Follow the description with the name of the website.

In-text website citation without a title

The in-text citation for a website without a formal title uses a shortened version of the webpage description for the in-text citation. Use the first noun phrase of the description from your Works Cited citation in parenthesis, followed by a period. For the website used in the example above, the in-text citation would be written as follows:

MLA 9 Citation for Social Media Websites

In an increasingly digital world, social media platforms have become one of the most popular sources students turn to when writing a research paper. From Black history facts , to quotes from notable people, such as Martin Luther King and Winston Churchill , social media has become a mega influence in our world.

When citing social media in your work,  follow the same format as an MLA citation for a website. Here are some examples of ways you can cite various social media platforms in your work:

How to cite Twitter in MLA 9

Many notable individuals use Twitter as a platform to share intriguing ideas. It’s a shame Twitter was unavailable to long-gone scientists, authors, and presidents such as Albert Einstein , Mark Twain , and Abraham Lincoln . Luckily, we have the Twitter profiles of today’s great minds at our fingertips!

To cite a tweet, you will begin with the account holder’s name and their Twitter handle in square brackets, followed by a period ( Handbook 118). After this, in quotations, you should enter the full text of the tweet, including any hashtags. The publisher, Twitter, is then listed in italics, followed by the date the tweet was posted in day, month, year format. Finally, include a URL to the tweet followed by a period.

Note:  When the account name and username are similar, the username can be excluded from the citation. For example, if the account’s username was @FirstNameLastName or @OrganizationName.

In-text website citation of a Twitter post

The in-text citation for a Twitter post is reflected as the author’s last name in parentheses, followed by a period. For the tweet used in the example above, the in-text citation would be written as follows:

How to cite Instagram in MLA 9

To cite an Instagram post, begin with the account holder’s name and their username in square brackets. In quotations, list the title of the photo, if it is given. If there is no title, write a brief description of the picture but do not place it in italics or quotation marks. The publisher, Instagram, is then listed in italics. Any other contributors (such as the photographer, if it is not the same as the account holder) are then listed, after which you will add the date the photo was published and the URL.

In-text website citation of an Instagram post

The in-text citation for an Instagram post is reflected as the author’s last name or the name of the account in parentheses, followed by a period. For the Instagram post used in the example above, the in-text citation would be written as follows:

How to cite Facebook in MLA 9

To cite a Facebook post, begin with the account holder’s name or username. In quotations, list the title or caption of the post, if it is given. If there is no title or caption, write a brief description of the post, but do not place it in italics or quotation marks. Examples: Image of Malcolm X, or, Muhammed Ali headshot.

The publisher, Facebook, is then listed in italics, after which you will add the date posted and URL.

In-text website citation of a Facebook post

The in-text citation for a Facebook post is reflected as the author’s last name or the name of the account in parentheses, followed by a period. For the Facebook post used in the example above, the in-text citation would be written as follows:

Social media and website comments

Citing the comments left on social media or a website begins with the commenter’s name or username. To indicate that you are citing a comment, follow the name with a period and then the words Comment on , followed by the title of the source (for example, the name of the article) in quotation marks. This is then followed by the title of the website in italics, and the publisher, if applicable. The date is then listed, followed by the URL, permalink, or DOI.

In-text citation of a social media comment

The in-text citation for a social media comment is reflected as the author’s last name in parentheses, followed by a period. For the post used in the example above, the in-text citation would be written as follows:

In-text Citations for Websites

In-text citations generally consist of parentheses and the last names of the authors or the first few words of the web page title.

Since there are no page numbers, unless the web page includes numbered paragraphs or sections, you don’t need to include any additional information.

When you have multiple authors, place them in the same order they are listed in the source.

If what you really need is an APA book citation or a reference for an APA journal , there are more guides on EasyBib.com for you to explore.

Visit our EasyBib Twitter feed to discover more citing tips, fun grammar facts, and the latest product updates.

Troubleshooting

Solution #1: when and how to reference entire websites versus specific pages in mla.

Reference an entire website when your information comes from multiple pages or if you are describing the entirety of the website. If your information is only from one page, only cite the singular page.

Whole website, author known

• Write the author’s name in last name, first name format with a period following.
• Next, write the name of the website in italics.
• Write the contributing organization’s name with a comma following.
• List the date in day, month, year format with a comma following.
• Lastly, write the URL with a period following.

Works cited example:

Night, Samuel. Food Creations , International Hypothetical Chefs’ Club, 21 May 2021,                 www.foodcreationshypotheticalwebsite.com/best_macaroni_recipe.

In-text example:

Whole website, author unknown

• If there is no specific author, begin the citation by writing the website name in italics.

Food Creations , International Hypothetical Chefs’ Club, 21 May 2021, www.foodcreationshypotheticalwebsite.com/best_macaroni_recipe.

( Food Creations )

Webpage, author known

If information is from only a few pages or the pages cover multiple topics, reference each page

• If an author is named, write the author’s name in last name, first name format.
• If a title is not provided, create your own description of the page.
• List the title of the website in italics with a comma following.
• Write the date that the page was created followed by a comma.
• Lastly, list the URL followed by a period.

Blake, Evan. “Best Southern Macaroni Recipe.” Food Creations , International Hypothetical Chefs’ Club, 21 May 2021, www.foodcreationshypotheticalwebsite.com/best_macaroni_recipe.

Webpage, author unknown

If an author is not named, write the name of the page in quotation marks with a period following.

“Best Southern Macaroni Recipe.” Food Creations , International Hypothetical Chefs’ Club, 21 May 2021, www.foodcreationshypotheticalwebsite.com/best_macaroni_recipe.

(“Best Southern Macaroni Recipe”)

Solution #2: Referencing a conversation on social media in MLA

The in-text citation should identify the author and talk about the format (e.g., video, post, image, etc.) in prose.

Lilly West’s photo of traditional Japanese sweets shows an example of nature influencing Japanese design.

The basic structure of a works-cited reference for social media stays the same no matter the format or the social media service (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.). Here are works- cited-list entry guidelines:

• The name is listed in last name, first name format with a period following. If an organization, just write the organization’s name as it’s usually presented.
• If the username is very different from the author’s real name, include it in brackets after the user’s real name but before the period.
• Write the title, post text, or description of the post in quotation marks. End it with a period.
• Write the website name in italics with a comma afterward.
• List the day, month, and year that the post was created followed by a comma.
• List the URL followed by a period. Leave out “https://” and “http://”.

Facebook example:

West, Lily. “Kyoto Japanese sweets.” Facebook , 30 May 2021, www.facebook.com/hypotheticalexample/thispostisnotreal.

Twitter reference example:

West, Lily [@lilianhypotheticalwestbest]. “Kyoto Japanese sweets.” Twitter, 30 May 2021, www.twitter.com/hypotheticalexample/thispostisnotreal.

Instagram reference example:

West, Lily [@lilianhypotheticalwestbest]. “Kyoto Japanese sweets.” Instagram , 30 May 2021,            www.instagram.com/hypotheticalexample/thisphotoisnotreal.

Solution #3: How to cite a social media post without a title or text

If there is no text or title where the title element usually goes, instead describe the post without quotation marks. Example:

West, Lily [@lilianhypotheticalwestbest]. Photo of traditional Japanese sweets on a green plate. Instagram , photographed by Bethany Lynn, 30 May 2021,   www.instagram.com/hypotheticalexample/thisphotoisnotreal.

Solution #4: How to cite a social media post with a long title or text

If the text is very long, you can shorten it by adding ellipsis at the end of the text. Example:

West, Lily [@lilianhypotheticalwestbest]. “Nothing is better in life than feeling like all of the effort you’ve invested has finally. . . .” Twitter, 17 Feb. 2021, www.twitter.com/hypotheticalexample/thispostisnotreal.

• Works Cited

MLA Handbook . 9th ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2021.

Published October 31, 2011. Updated June 5, 2021.

Written and edited by Michele Kirschenbaum and Elise Barbeau. Michele Kirschenbaum is a school library media specialist and the in-house librarian at EasyBib.com. Elise Barbeau is the Citation Specialist at Chegg. She has worked in digital marketing, libraries, and publishing.

MLA Formatting Guide

MLA Formatting

• Annotated Bibliography
• Bibliography
• Block Quotes
• et al Usage
• In-text Citations
• Paraphrasing
• Page Numbers
• Sample Paper
• MLA 8 Updates
• MLA 9 Updates
• View MLA Guide

Citation Examples

• Book Chapter
• Journal Article
• Magazine Article
• Newspaper Article
• Website (no author)
• View all MLA Examples

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It’s 100% free to create MLA citations. The EasyBib Citation Generator also supports 7,000+ other citation styles. These other styles—including APA, Chicago, and Harvard—are accessible for anyone with an EasyBib Plus subscription.

No matter what citation style you’re using (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.), the EasyBib Citation Generator can help you create the right bibliography quickly.

Yes, there’s an option to download source citations as a Word Doc or a Google Doc. You may also copy citations from the EasyBib Citation Generator and paste them into your paper.

Creating an account is not a requirement for generating MLA citations. However, registering for an EasyBib account is free, and an account is how you can save all the citations you create. This can help make it easier to manage your citations and bibliographies.

Yes! Whether you’d like to learn how to construct citations on your own, our Autocite tool isn’t able to gather the metadata you need, or anything in between, manual citations are always an option. Click here for directions on using creating manual citations.

If any important information is missing (e.g., author’s name, title, publishing date, URL, etc.), first see if you can find it in the source yourself. If you cannot, leave the information blank and continue creating your citation.

It supports MLA, APA, Chicago, Harvard, and over 7,000 total citation styles.

If there is no author, the title becomes the website page’s identifier.

In-text example (no author): ( Honey Bee Medley )

Works cited example (no author): Honey Bee Medley . Hivemind Press, 2018, www.hivebees.com/honey-bees.

If there is no publication date, include an accessed date instead.

Works cited example (no author, no date): Honey Bee Medley . Hivemind Press, www.hivebees.com/honey-bees. Accessed 17 Nov. 2020.

If there is no title, briefly describe the source.

Works cited example (no author, no date, no title): Collage of honey bees. Hivemind Press, www.hivebees.com/honey-bees. Accessed 17 Nov. 2020.

To cite a website that has no page number in MLA, it is important that you know the name of the author, title of the webpage, website, and URL. The templates for an in-text citation and works-cited-list entry of a website that has no page number, along with examples, are given below:

In-text citation template and example:

You can use a time stamp if you are referring to an audio or video. Otherwise, use only the author’s surname.

(Author Surname)

Works-cited-list entry template and example:

Author or Organization Name. “Title of the Webpage.” Website Name . Publication Date, URL.

Dutta, Smita S. “What is Extra Sensory Perception?” Medindia . 16 Nov. 2019, www.medindia.net/patients/patientinfo/extra-sensory-perception.htm#3 .

Abbreviate the month in the date field.

MLA Citation Examples

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Vancouver referencing guide (Online): NICE Guidelines

• Referencing in the text
• The use of page numbers
• Reference List
• Referencing Tools
• Secondary Referencing
• Journal Title Abbreviations
• Place of Publication
• Date of publication
• Page numbers
• Cited Dates
• Volume/Issue Number
• Available from
• Book with one author
• Book with more than one author
• Edited book
• Chapter in an edited book
• Chapter in an edited E-book
• Journal article (print or pdf)
• Online journal articles
• Charts/tables/figures taken from a journal article
• Epubs or ‘online first’ articles
• Book review in an online journal
• Online newspaper article
• Online magazine
• Conference Proceedings
• Website format
• Individual webpage(s) within a website
• Government Report (printed)
• Government Report (online)
• British Standard (printed)
• British Standard (online)
• Official publication
• Devolved legislation from Wales
• European Union publications

NICE Guidelines

• Bill (either House of Commons or Lords)
• Statutory instruments
• House of Commons and House of Lords Papers
• Command Papers – Green and White Papers
• Cochrane Review
• Online Patient Information Leaflet
• British National Formulary (BNF)
• Tips for Referencing Images
• Image/Table/Figure/Chart in a Book
• Image/Chart/Table/Figure in an E-book
• Tables/figures taken from an online journal article
• Charts/tables/images/database within a website
• Combining Multiple Sources to create a chart
• Individual Webpage(s)/charts/tables/images/database within a website
• Personal communication

Author. e.g. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

Title: subtitle [Internet].

Place of publication:

Name of publisher;

Year of publication

[Date of update/revision (if applicable); Date of citation].

(Series & Series number).

Available from:

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Depression in adults: treatment and management [Internet]. [London]: NICE; 2022 [cited 2024 Mar 14]. (NICE guideline [ NG222]). Available from: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng222

• << Previous: European Union publications
• Next: Bill (either House of Commons or Lords) >>
• Last Updated: May 29, 2024 9:51 AM
• URL: https://libguides.swansea.ac.uk/Vancouver

• Free Tools for Students
• Harvard Referencing Generator

Free Harvard Referencing Generator

Generate accurate Harvard reference lists quickly and for FREE, with MyBib!

🤔 What is a Harvard Referencing Generator?

A Harvard Referencing Generator is a tool that automatically generates formatted academic references in the Harvard style.

It takes in relevant details about a source -- usually critical information like author names, article titles, publish dates, and URLs -- and adds the correct punctuation and formatting required by the Harvard referencing style.

The generated references can be copied into a reference list or bibliography, and then collectively appended to the end of an academic assignment. This is the standard way to give credit to sources used in the main body of an assignment.

👩‍🎓 Who uses a Harvard Referencing Generator?

Harvard is the main referencing style at colleges and universities in the United Kingdom and Australia. It is also very popular in other English-speaking countries such as South Africa, Hong Kong, and New Zealand. University-level students in these countries are most likely to use a Harvard generator to aid them with their undergraduate assignments (and often post-graduate too).

🙌 Why should I use a Harvard Referencing Generator?

A Harvard Referencing Generator solves two problems:

• It provides a way to organise and keep track of the sources referenced in the content of an academic paper.
• It ensures that references are formatted correctly -- inline with the Harvard referencing style -- and it does so considerably faster than writing them out manually.

A well-formatted and broad bibliography can account for up to 20% of the total grade for an undergraduate-level project, and using a generator tool can contribute significantly towards earning them.

⚙️ How do I use MyBib's Harvard Referencing Generator?

Here's how to use our reference generator:

• If citing a book, website, journal, or video: enter the URL or title into the search bar at the top of the page and press the search button.
• Choose the most relevant results from the list of search results.
• Our generator will automatically locate the source details and format them in the correct Harvard format. You can make further changes if required.
• Then either copy the formatted reference directly into your reference list by clicking the 'copy' button, or save it to your MyBib account for later.

MyBib supports the following for Harvard style:

🍏 What other versions of Harvard referencing exist?

There isn't "one true way" to do Harvard referencing, and many universities have their own slightly different guidelines for the style. Our generator can adapt to handle the following list of different Harvard styles:

• Cite Them Right
• Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU)
• University of the West of England (UWE)

Daniel is a qualified librarian, former teacher, and citation expert. He has been contributing to MyBib since 2018.

Defining the Role of Authors and Contributors

Page Contents

• Why Authorship Matters
• Who Is an Author?
• Non-Author Contributors
• Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Assisted Technology

1. Why Authorship Matters

Authorship confers credit and has important academic, social, and financial implications. Authorship also implies responsibility and accountability for published work. The following recommendations are intended to ensure that contributors who have made substantive intellectual contributions to a paper are given credit as authors, but also that contributors credited as authors understand their role in taking responsibility and being accountable for what is published.

Editors should be aware of the practice of excluding local researchers from low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) from authorship when data are from LMICs. Inclusion of local authors adds to fairness, context, and implications of the research. Lack of inclusion of local investigators as authors should prompt questioning and may lead to rejection.

Because authorship does not communicate what contributions qualified an individual to be an author, some journals now request and publish information about the contributions of each person named as having participated in a submitted study, at least for original research. Editors are strongly encouraged to develop and implement a contributorship policy. Such policies remove much of the ambiguity surrounding contributions, but leave unresolved the question of the quantity and quality of contribution that qualify an individual for authorship. The ICMJE has thus developed criteria for authorship that can be used by all journals, including those that distinguish authors from other contributors.

2. Who Is an Author?

The ICMJE recommends that authorship be based on the following 4 criteria:

• Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
• Drafting the work or reviewing it critically for important intellectual content; AND
• Final approval of the version to be published; AND
• Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

In addition to being accountable for the parts of the work done, an author should be able to identify which co-authors are responsible for specific other parts of the work. In addition, authors should have confidence in the integrity of the contributions of their co-authors.

All those designated as authors should meet all four criteria for authorship, and all who meet the four criteria should be identified as authors. Those who do not meet all four criteria should be acknowledged—see Section II.A.3 below. These authorship criteria are intended to reserve the status of authorship for those who deserve credit and can take responsibility for the work. The criteria are not intended for use as a means to disqualify colleagues from authorship who otherwise meet authorship criteria by denying them the opportunity to meet criterion #s 2 or 3. Therefore, all individuals who meet the first criterion should have the opportunity to participate in the review, drafting, and final approval of the manuscript.

The individuals who conduct the work are responsible for identifying who meets these criteria and ideally should do so when planning the work, making modifications as appropriate as the work progresses. We encourage collaboration and co-authorship with colleagues in the locations where the research is conducted. It is the collective responsibility of the authors, not the journal to which the work is submitted, to determine that all people named as authors meet all four criteria; it is not the role of journal editors to determine who qualifies or does not qualify for authorship or to arbitrate authorship conflicts. If agreement cannot be reached about who qualifies for authorship, the institution(s) where the work was performed, not the journal editor, should be asked to investigate. The criteria used to determine the order in which authors are listed on the byline may vary, and are to be decided collectively by the author group and not by editors. If authors request removal or addition of an author after manuscript submission or publication, journal editors should seek an explanation and signed statement of agreement for the requested change from all listed authors and from the author to be removed or added.

The corresponding author is the one individual who takes primary responsibility for communication with the journal during the manuscript submission, peer-review, and publication process. The corresponding author typically ensures that all the journal’s administrative requirements, such as providing details of authorship, ethics committee approval, clinical trial registration documentation, and disclosures of relationships and activities are properly completed and reported, although these duties may be delegated to one or more co-authors. The corresponding author should be available throughout the submission and peer-review process to respond to editorial queries in a timely way, and should be available after publication to respond to critiques of the work and cooperate with any requests from the journal for data or additional information should questions about the paper arise after publication. Although the corresponding author has primary responsibility for correspondence with the journal, the ICMJE recommends that editors send copies of all correspondence to all listed authors.

When a large multi-author group has conducted the work, the group ideally should decide who will be an author before the work is started and confirm who is an author before submitting the manuscript for publication. All members of the group named as authors should meet all four criteria for authorship, including approval of the final manuscript, and they should be able to take public responsibility for the work and should have full confidence in the accuracy and integrity of the work of other group authors. They will also be expected as individuals to complete disclosure forms.

Some large multi-author groups designate authorship by a group name, with or without the names of individuals. When submitting a manuscript authored by a group, the corresponding author should specify the group name if one exists, and clearly identify the group members who can take credit and responsibility for the work as authors. The byline of the article identifies who is directly responsible for the manuscript, and MEDLINE lists as authors whichever names appear on the byline. If the byline includes a group name, MEDLINE will list the names of individual group members who are authors or who are collaborators, sometimes called non-author contributors, if there is a note associated with the byline clearly stating that the individual names are elsewhere in the paper and whether those names are authors or collaborators.

3. Non-Author Contributors

Contributors who meet fewer than all 4 of the above criteria for authorship should not be listed as authors, but they should be acknowledged. Examples of activities that alone (without other contributions) do not qualify a contributor for authorship are acquisition of funding; general supervision of a research group or general administrative support; and writing assistance, technical editing, language editing, and proofreading. Those whose contributions do not justify authorship may be acknowledged individually or together as a group under a single heading (e.g. "Clinical Investigators" or "Participating Investigators"), and their contributions should be specified (e.g., "served as scientific advisors," "critically reviewed the study proposal," "collected data," "provided and cared for study patients," "participated in writing or technical editing of the manuscript").

Because acknowledgment may imply endorsement by acknowledged individuals of a study’s data and conclusions, editors are advised to require that the corresponding author obtain written permission to be acknowledged from all acknowledged individuals.

Use of AI for writing assistance should be reported in the acknowledgment section.

4. Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Assisted Technology

At submission, the journal should require authors to disclose whether they used artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted technologies (such as Large Language Models [LLMs], chatbots, or image creators) in the production of submitted work. Authors who use such technology should describe, in both the cover letter and the submitted work in the appropriate section if applicable, how they used it. For example, if AI was used for writing assistance, describe this in the acknowledgment section (see Section II.A.3). If AI was used for data collection, analysis, or figure generation, authors should describe this use in the methods (see Section IV.A.3.d). Chatbots (such as ChatGPT) should not be listed as authors because they cannot be responsible for the accuracy, integrity, and originality of the work, and these responsibilities are required for authorship (see Section II.A.1). Therefore, humans are responsible for any submitted material that included the use of AI-assisted technologies. Authors should carefully review and edit the result because AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete, or biased. Authors should not list AI and AI-assisted technologies as an author or co-author, nor cite AI as an author. Authors should be able to assert that there is no plagiarism in their paper, including in text and images produced by the AI. Humans must ensure there is appropriate attribution of all quoted material, including full citations.

Next: Disclosure of Financial and Non-Financial Relationships and Activities, and Conflicts of Interest

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In-Text Citations

In scholarly writing, it is essential to acknowledge how others contributed to your work. By following the principles of proper citation, writers ensure that readers understand their contribution in the context of the existing literature—how they are building on, critically examining, or otherwise engaging the work that has come before.

APA Style provides guidelines to help writers determine the appropriate level of citation and how to avoid plagiarism and self-plagiarism.

We also provide specific guidance for in-text citation, including formats for interviews, classroom and intranet sources, and personal communications; in-text citations in general; and paraphrases and direct quotations.

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