If you are on this page, it means only one thing:
You need to know how to write a book reference in Vancouver style.
And we’re ready to help.
Here’s the general format of any book:
Author AA. Title of the book. Location: Publisher; year. Total number of pages.
Note: no parts of the reference should be italicized.
In our citation examples, we use the following color coding:
- Red – Author
- Blue – Title of book/article/charter/webpage
- Pink – Date
- Orange – Website/Publisher
- Turquoise – Place of publication
- Violet – Editor/Translator
- Sienna – Pages
- Gray – URL/database/website where the source is retrieved
- Gold – Book, a part/chapter of which is being cited
- Peach – Additional information about the source (i.e. its type, specific features etc.)
- Light magenta – Dictionary entry
Book with a single author
Example:
1. Stroebe W. Dieting, overweight and obesity: self-regulation in a food-rich environment. London (UK): Routledge; 2022. 303 p.
Book with two to six authors
The author’s names are just listed one after another without using the word ‘and’ or the symbol ‘&’.
Example:
2. Robbins SP, Judge TA, Odendaal A, Roodt G. Organisational behaviour. Upper Saddle River (NJ): Pearson; 2020. 420 p.
Book with more than six authors
Note that ‘et al.’ is put after the name of the sixth author; the rest of the author names are omitted.
Example:
3. Johnson J, Nixon D, Stein G, Kaufmann A, George R, Powell, M, et al. Experimental medicine and its effects. New York (NY): McGraw Hill Publishers; 2024. 417 p.
Edited book
When an edited book is cited, the word ‘editor’ or ‘editors’ is added after the name(s) of the author(s).
Example:
4. Holt RI, Hanley NA, editors. Essential endocrinology and diabetes. New York (NY): John Wiley & Sons; 2021. 523 p.
eBook accessed from a library-subscribed database
Example:
5. Holt RI, Flyvbjerg A, editors. Textbook of diabetes [Internet]. New York (NY): John Wiley & Sons; 2024 [cited 2024 May 12]. 1014 p. Available from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781444324808
Book accessed from the Internet
Note that after the name of the publisher’s location, it is necessary to place the abbreviation of its state in brackets.
Example:
6. Rippe JM. Lifestyle medicine 16th ed. [Internet]. Boca Raton (FL): CRC Press; 2020 [cited 2024 May 12]. 200 p. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1201/9781315201108
Book authored by an organization
This section is for books written by various organizations, associations, and corporate or government bodies.
Example:
7. Joint Formulary Committee. British national formulary. London (UK): BMJ Group; 2021. 1830 p.
Note: capitalize words in the organization’s name as officially accepted by the organization itself (for example, on the official website and the cover of the cited book).
Note: omit “the” before the name of an organization in reference page entries.
Book authored by an organization’s part
In case a book is written by some agency or any other part of an organization, make sure to include the name of the organization’s part in your reference page entry after the full name of the organization separating them by a comma (or commas, if the book was authored by a department within another department).
Example:
8. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs. World social report 2021: reconsidering rural development. Geneva (Switzerland): UN DESA; 2021. 312 p.
Book authored by a government body
For government bodies, it is recommended to indicate the name of the country to which the body belongs in case the country or nationality is not mentioned in the organization’s name. The name of the country should appear in parentheses after the name of the organization.
Example:
9. Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources (AU). Australia’s emissions projections 2020. Canberra (Australia): Australian Government; 2020. 74 p.
Note: in the example above, the name of the country is indicated as AU. This is a standardized two-letter ISO code for Australia. In Vancouver citation style, if a country needs to be indicated in a reference page entry, ISO codes need to be used. See a list of country codes here.
Book authored by two or more organizations
If a book is written by two organizations, one of which is not part of the other one, separate their names with a semicolon (semicolons, if more than two organizations).
Example:
10. American Academy of Pediatrics; American Heart Association. Textbook of neonatal resuscitation. Elk Grove Village (IL): American Academy of Pediatrics; 2024. 213 p.
Chapter in an edited book
If a book includes texts by different authors, do not cite it as a single book. Instead, cite a certain section or chapter that you used. The reference page entry should include the name of the chapter’s author (or authors), the chapter’s title, the name of the book’s editor (or editors), and the name of the edited book.
Example:
11. Garai J, Li L, Zabaleta J. Biomarkers of gastric premalignant lesions. In: Ramirez AG, Trapido EJ, editors. Advancing the science of cancer in Latinos. Cham (Switzerland): Springer; 2020. p. 81-88.
Book without an author
If the author of a book is not mentioned, simply omit the author from the reference page entry. The same rules work for dictionaries.
Example:
12. Merriam-Webster dictionary new edition. Springfield (OR): Merriam-Webster; 2024. p. 1478.
Chapter or Part in an edited book (without known author)
The example presented below can also be applied when citing a contribution or a preface.
Example:
13. Hyperglycemic hyperosmolar nonketotic syndrome. In Hinkle JL, Cheever KH, editors. Brunner & Suddarth’s textbook of medical-surgical nursing. 14th ed. Philadelphia (PA): Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2024. p. 312-344.
Note: when the cited part of a book does not have an individual author, the author statement is simply omitted.
Edition other than the first
Example:
14. Hinkle JL, Cheever KH. Brunner and Suddarth’s textbook of medical-surgical nursing. 14th ed. Philadelphia (PA): Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2024. p. 2200.
Dictionary from a library-subscribed database
Example:
15. Mosby’s dental dictionary [Internet]. 3rd ed. Philadelphia (PA): Elsevier Health Sciences; 2023. Hebephrenia, [cited 2024 May 14]. [about 1 screen]. Available from: https://evolve.elsevier.com/cs/product/9780323546355?role=student
“Hebephrenia” is the term that is searched in the dictionary.