Vancouver system of referencing

The Vancouver system is a way of writing references in academic papers. (It is also known as the author-number style.) It is popular in the physical sciences, and one of two referencing systems normally used in Medicine.[1] (The other is the author-date or 'Harvard' system.)

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 Bibliographic 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[3]

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).