Skip to Main Content

Medicine: Vancouver in EndNote

Vancouver referencing using EndNote

In order to get EndNote to correctly display Vancouver referencing you will need to do two key things in EndNote first.

  • The first key thing is Vancouver is an abbreviated journal title style so you will need to download the Medical Terms list in order to get the NLM official journal title abbreviations. This is what a Vancouver reference looks like with the correct abbreviated journal title:

1.    Edmondson HA. Differential diagnosis of tumors and tumor-like lesions of liver in infancy and childhood. AMA Am J Dis Child. 1956;91(2):168-86.

If you can't find a particular journal title in the NLM catalogue you can try the CAS Source Index (CASSI) search tool or Index Medicus 

  • The second key thing is Vancouver abbreviated journal titles do not have full stops after the abbreviated journal title parts so you will need to change the Vancouver template in EndNote from Abbreviation 1 to Abbreviation 2.This shows the difference between Abbreviation 1 and Abbreviation 2 for the American Medical Association American Journal of Diseases of Children:

Abbreviated Journal titles

The CAS Source Index (CASSI) Search Tool contains publications indexed by Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) since 1907. Search for publication titles and abbreviations, CODEN, ISBN, or ISSN codes.

also known as Journals in NCBI databases, or the NLM Catalog

from Web of Science

ISO 4 (International Organization for Standardization. Information and documentation - rules for the abbreviation of title words and titles of publications. Geneva (Switzerland): The Organization; 1997.) is the recognized authority for abbreviating words in journal titles. The LTWA (List of Title Word Abbreviations) for this standard. Use the Word search box at the bottom.

multidisciplinary

Abbreviation listing and full title listing sections are included also in the Jan. issue of Index medicus, 1900 - 1985, and in Cumulated index medicus. Issues for the 1977 - 1979 include also special list journals being indexed in cooperation with other institutions. Citations from these journals appear in other MEDLARS bibliographies and in MEDLINE, but not in Index medicus.

Resource type

Journal article

Reference type - Journal article EndNote reference type: In EndNote you'll need to: Example:
Journal article - no author, 1 author, 2 authors, more than 6 authors Journal article

In the Year field enter the year and date (if available) - e.g. 2005 Apr 4

Note: Date format  is always YYYY Mmm D OR YYYY Mmm DD

 
Journal article  - 3-6 authors Journal article It's optional when there are 3-6 authors to add et al after the 3rd author, but EndNote adds et al after the 6th author  
Journal article - in press Journal article

In the Journal Title field enter Forthcoming and the expected publication year after the journal name - e.g. J Bacteriol. Forthcoming 2004

You can also include a date (if available) - e.g. J Bacteriol. Forthcoming 2004 Apr 19

Forthcoming is used instead of In press

 
Electronic journal article with DOI number Electronic article

In the Type of Work field enter Internet

In the DOI field enter the DOI number- e.g.10.10.16/j.tibtech.2022.12.005

Electronic article makes the DOI and URL fields show in the reference

 
Electronic article without a DOI number Electronic article

In the URL field enter the journal's website URL for subscription based journals or the URL of the article for open access articles

In the Date accessed field enter the date the site was accessed - e.g. 2008 May 12

In the Type of Work field enter Internet

 

Book

Reference type - Book EndNote reference type: In Endnote you'll need to: Example:

Book

- one author, two to six authors, more than six authors, no author, multiple books by the same author, different editions

Book    
Edited Book Edited book    
Chapter in an edited book Book section    
Chapter in a non-edited book Book In the Year field enter the year followed by the chapter number, chapter title and pages - e.g. 2016. Chapter 12, Ovarian Cancer; p. 234-45 (Include all the punctuation in the example. EndNote will put a fullstop after the page numbers).  
Chapter from an electronic Book Electronic book In the Year field enter the publication year followed by the chapter number and chapter title - e.g. 1927. Chapter 8, Tonsillitis. (Include all punctuation in the example).  
Electronic book from a full text database Electronic book

In the Type of medium field enter eBook

In the Year Cited and Date Cited fields enter the date parts the book was cited - e.g. 2018 Apr 23

In the URL field enter the name of the database - e.g. PubMed

 
Book in a series Book section

In the Title field enter the Title of the Series - e.g. Essential Public Health

In the Pages field enter the pages, series title and the volume number in brackets - e.g. 145-67. (Essential Public Health; vol 113)

 
Translation of a book Book In the Title field enter the title of the book and the name of the translator - e.g. Public Health issues in Russia. Nabokov, translator (EndNote will put a fullstop in after the page numbers).  

Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

Reference type - Dictionaries and Encyclopedias EndNote reference type: In EndNote you'll need to: Example:
Dictionary Book or Dictionary

In the Year feild enter the publication year, the word that is being defined and the page numbers - e.g. 2020. Anaphylaxis; p.220-21 (Include all the punctuation in the example. EndNote will put a fullstop in after the page numbers)

If you use Dictionary as the reference type enter in the Dictionary title feild the dictionary name - e.g. Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary

 
Online dictionary Electronic book In the Year feild enter the publication/copyright year, the word being defined, the date the dictionary was cited and the number of screens the definition fills - e.g. c2003. Measles; [cited 2004 Feb 8]; [about 1 screen]  
Encyclopedia article/chapter - multi volume set Book section    

Health resources

Reference Type - Health resource: EndNote reference type: In EndNote you'll need to: Example:
Bpac NZ Web Page

In the Author field enter Best Practice Advocacy Centre (bpac).

In the Title field enter the name of the drug or topic, e.g. HPV vaccination: getting the programme back on track

In the Type of Medium field enter Internet 

In the Place published enter Dunedin

In the Publisher enter bpac;

Enter Year, Last updated date, Year Cited and Date Cited, and URL e.g. 2019 Mar 29 [updated 2021 May 2; cited 2021 Jun 3]. Available from: https://bpac.org.nz/2019/hpv.aspx

 
BMJ Best Practice - evidence summary Electronic book section

In the Author field enter the author details at the bottom of the overview page

In the Title field enter the name of the evidence summary

In the Book Title field enter BMJ Best Practice [Internet]

In the URL field enter in the url

In the Access Date field enter the date accessed - e.g. cited 2020 Mar 19

 
BMJ Best Practice - publication type except evidence summary Reference according to its type - e.g. journal article, web page etc.    
Dynamed  Electronic database    
NZ Formulary Web Page

In the Author field enter New Zealand Formulary,

In the Year field enter it from that drug topic webpage

In the Title field enter the NZF version number found top left, then drug or topic as a subtitle

In the Type of Medium field add Internet 

In the Place published enter Dunedin

In the Publisher enter NZF

Also add Last updated date, Year Cited, Date Cited and the URL.

 
UpToDate Electronic book section In the Year field enter the year, updated date and cited date - e.g. 2018. [updated 2018 Mar 24; cited 2018 Dec 13] (Include all the punctuation in the example).  
British Pharmacopeia online Electronic book In the Year field enter the publication year, the title of the section/definition, updated date in year month day, the cited year month day - e.g. 2016. St John's Wort; [updated 2016; cited 2016 Jan 23]  
Cochrane Library Electronic article

In the Year field enter the publication year, and cited date - e.g. 2009 [cited 2010 Nov 5]; (Include all the punctuation in the example including the semicolon at the end)

In the Type of Work field enter Internet

In the Issue field enter the issue number - e.g. 9

In the Periodical Title field enter the database name as abbreviated. EndNote abbreviates the database name to Cochrane Database Syst Rev.

 

Personal communications

Clinical practice guideline

Appraisal checklist