Vancouver system
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Vancouver system is a way of writing references in academic papers. It is popular in the physical sciences, and one of two referencing systems normally used in Medicine. <ref name="BMA">British Medical Association, "Reference styles: Harvard and Vancouver", http://www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/content/LIBReferenceStyles accessed September 30 2006</ref> It is also known as the 'author-number' style.
[edit] History
The Vancouver system takes its name from a meeting in Vancouver in 1978 which led to the establishment of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).<ref name="BMA"/> This was further developed by the National Library of Medicine in the US which maintains a website<ref>http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html</ref> which "should be considered as the authoritative style" - British Medical Association (BMA). The slight variations in the style used by the BMA can be found at http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/advice/stylebook/basics.shtml
[edit] Description
In the Vancouver system, each source cited is allotted a number when first used. This number is identified in a List of References at the end of the paper being written, along with the full bibliographical details of the source. In the text being written, the label of the source each time it is cited is simply the number by which it is now identified, for example [1] - which may be marked (as here) by being enclosed in square brackets; or being superscripted1; or by being superscripted in round brackets (parentheses)(1). This would lead to an item in the list of the references which would read
- 1 BMA (British Medical Association) BMJ house style
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/advice/stylebook/basics.shtml (accessed September 30 2006
For further details, see one of the websites maintained by medical institutions, such as the guide at the University of Queensland<ref name = queensland> University of Queensland, 'References/Bibliography: Vancouver Style "How-to" Guide' http://www.library.uq.edu.au/training/citation/vancouv.pdf accessed September 30 2006</ref>
As in all systems of referencing, there are many variations. Different publishers, and different campuses, may have variants - for example, the way the label is used in the text (above).
