Vancouver Referencing Generator
Create a numbered Vancouver reference list for nursing, medicine and health science, ordered by when you first cite each source. Our nursing assignment experts use Vancouver for care plans and case studies every week.
What are you referencing?
Details come from Crossref. Check them against the source before you use them.
Preview · Vancouver (NLM Citing Medicine)
Loading the Vancouver formatter…
Your reference list
References you add appear here, sorted the way Vancouver sorts them. They stay in this browser until you clear them.
Making a Vancouver reference list
- Add your sources in the order they first appear in your work. Each one takes the next number.
- Paste a DOI and press Look up, or fill in the details by hand.
- Put the number shown, for example (1), in your text where you use that source.
- Use that same number each time the source comes up again.
- Copy the numbered list into your document as the reference list.
How Vancouver works
Vancouver is the numbered style of medicine, nursing and the health sciences. A source gets its number the first time you cite it, and the reference list runs in number order rather than alphabetically. It dates back to the requirements agreed by medical journal editors who met in Vancouver in 1978.
Most universities base their detailed rules on Citing Medicine, a guide from the US National Library of Medicine. This tool follows Citing Medicine, 2nd edition.
Citing in the text
Show the source's number in round brackets, square brackets or superscript, whichever your university's guide says. Put it right after the fact or the author's name. When you cite a source again, reuse its first number.
- One source: Early mobilisation shortens hospital stays (1).
- More than one: (2,3), or a range (4-7)
- Naming the authors: Grady et al. (1) reported that…
Getting the details right
Authors are written surname first, then initials without full stops, such as Grady JS. Journal titles are usually shortened to their NLM abbreviation, such as J Adv Nurs for Journal of Advanced Nursing. If your guide wants abbreviations, find the journal in the NLM Catalog and enter the short form in the Journal name field.
The list must stay in citation order, so renumber if you delete a source while editing. For more support with nursing work, see our nursing assignment help.
Vancouver examples
Numbered references made with the generator, numbered in the order the sources were added.
Journal article
Reference list entry
1. Grady JS, Her M, Moreno G, Perez C, Yelinek J. Emotions in storybooks: A comparison of storybooks that represent ethnic and racial groups in the United States. Psychology of Popular Media Culture. 2019;8(3):207–217. doi:10.1037/ppm0000185
In-text number
(1)
Book
Reference list entry
1. Jackson LM. The psychology of prejudice: From attitudes to social action. 2nd ed. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association; 2019.
In-text number
(1)
Book chapter
Reference list entry
1. Dillard JP. Currents in the study of persuasion. In: Oliver MB, Raney AA, Bryant J, editors. Media effects: Advances in theory and research. 4th ed. New York: Routledge; 2020. p. 115–129.
In-text number
(1)
Web page
Reference list entry
1. Bologna C. HuffPost [Internet]. 2019 [cited 2026 Oct 27]. Why some people with anxiety love watching horror movies. Available from: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/anxiety-love-watching-horror-movies_l_5d277587e4b02a5a5d57b59e
In-text number
(1)
Report
Reference list entry
1. World Health Organization. Global tuberculosis report 2023 [Internet]. World Health Organization; 2023. Available from: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240083851
In-text number
(1)
Working on a care plan, reflection or case study?
Assignment Achievers nursing experts write evidence-based work referenced in Vancouver or APA. See our nursing assignment help and case study help.
Related guides from our blog
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about our nursing help services, from the ordering process to academic integrity.
Still have more questions? Chat on WhatsApp