Sample Citation and Introduction to Citing Journal Articles Vancouver Style (Chapter 1: Journals: A)

«By tradition, the rules for formatting references to journal articles permit greater abbreviation compared to books:

»– Journal references omit information on place of publication and publisher, whereas book references carry these details.

»– The words "volume" and "number" (or their abbreviations) are usually omitted when citing journal articles, but are included when citing books.

»– Journal titles are abbreviated; book titles are not.

»– This brevity in citing journal articles stems from the need to conserve space in printed bibliographies and the early databases.

»Following are some important points concerning citing journal articles:

»– Cite the journal name that was used at the time of publication. For example, the British Medical Journal officially changed title to BMJ in 1988. Cite articles from 1987 and earlier as Br Med J, not BMJ.

»– Cite the version you saw. For example, do not cite the print version if you have used the Internet one.

»– Do not include a header, such as "news", "case report", or "clinical study", as part of the article title, unless the table of contents for the journal issue indicates that it is.

»– Use caution when employing typography, such as bold type and italics, to indicate parts of a journal article citation. Too many variations in type styles may actually make the reference harder to read.

»The source for journal title, volume, issue, and date information is, in order of preference: (1) the title page of the issue, (2) the issue cover, and (3) the masthead. Running headers or footers may not carry the official title of a journal and date and issue information may be missing from these locations.

»Citation Rules with Examples for Journal Articles

»Components/elements are listed in the order they should appear in a reference. An R after the component name means that it is required in the citation; an O after the name means it is optional.

»Author (R) | Author Affiliation (O) | Article Title (R) | Article Type (O) | Journal Title (R) | Edition (R) | Type of Medium (R) | Date of Publication (R) | Supplement/Part/Special Number to a Date (R) | Volume Number (R) | Supplement/Part/Special Number to a Volume (R) | Issue Number (R) | Supplement/Part/Special Number to an Issue (R) | Location (Pagination) (R) | Physical Description (O) | Language (R) | Notes (O)

»The general format for a reference to a journal article, including punctuation:»

Citing Medicine: The NLM Style Guide for Authors, Editors, and Publishers [Internet]. 2nd edition. Chapter 1: Journals