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Vancouver Referencing Style:  Books & eBooks

UON Library guide to Vancouver Style for UON students

Books & eBooks

 

  • Brochure, pamphlet, exhibition catalog, corporate report, and other freestanding publication is often published as a book and is cited as such.

 

General rules:

Author Names

  • List names in the order they appear on the publication
  • Initials follow the surname of authors, no spaces or full-stops appear between initials, eg. Smith CK
  • Capitalise surnames and enter spaces as they appear on the publication. For example, Van Den Hoffer or van der Hoffer
  • Where there are 6 or fewer authors, list all author names.
  • Where there are 7 or more authors, list the first six authors followed by “et al.”
  • Place a comma and space between each name.
  • Do not use “and” or “&” to separate the last two authors.
  • Omit "The" preceding an organizational name (corporate author).
  • A country code may be added after national bodies if needed for clarification, eg. National Academy of Sciences (US).
  • If there is no author, move secondary authors such as editors and translators to the author position in the reference.
  • For an edited book, place the editor's names in the author position followed by the label of editor/s
  • If the book does not have an author, editor or translator, just omit this element, and start the reference with the book title.

Book Titles

  • Capitalise only the first word of the book title (and words that normally begin with a capital letter).
  • Use a colon followed by a space to separate a title from a subtitle, unless some other form of punctuation (such as a question mark, etc.) is already present.
  • End a title with a period unless a question mark or exclamation point already ends it.
  • Do not italicize, underline or use quotation marks for book titles.

Edition

  • The edition other than the first is cited and placed after the title. The standard first edition is not cited. 
  • Terms of the edition are abbreviated, e.g. 2nd ed. (second edition), rev. ed. (revised edition), or 1st Aust. ed. (first Australian edition)
  • Remove any superscript from editions when typing - all letters should be on the same line (e.g. 2nd ed.).

Place of Publication

  • The place of publication appears after the title (and edition if included) and is followed by a colon. 
  • If the place of publication is not well known, include a state or country abbreviation.
  • If more than one place of publication is found, use the first one. Do not give multiple places.
  • If no place of publication can be found or inferred, use [place unknown].

Publisher

  • The publisher’s name may be given either in full or in an abbreviated form, but be consistent, eg. "John Wiley & Sons, Ltd." or simply "Wiley".
  • When a division of a publisher is given, enter the publisher name first, eg. University of Newcastle, School of Medicine.
  • Omit an initial "The" from a publisher’s name and add country code if needed, eg. National Cancer Institute (US)
  • List only the first publisher when there are multiple publishers. 
  • When the publisher is unknown, use [publisher unknown]

Year of Publication

  • For books, only the year is included in the publication date.
  • When an entire multi-volume, multiyear work is cited, the range of dates is given, e.g. 1955-1963.
  • Use forthcoming for books accepted for publication but not yet published.
  • When the publication date is unknown, use [date unknown].

eBooks

  • For books consulted on the web, include the DOI if available, or the URL of the book at the end of the citation.

Secondary Sources

For citations taken from secondary sources, see the Secondary Sources page

 

Books with 1-6 authors

 

  • Where there are 6 or fewer authors, list all author names in the reference

The following is the general format for a reference to a book with 6 or fewer authors.

See the general rules for books and ebooks for more details. 

 

Reference list entry: format and example

 

Citation No. 1-6 Author's Last Name Initials. Book title: subtitle. Edition. Place of Publication: Publisher; Year of publication.

 

1.          Janke T. True tracks: respecting Indigenous knowledge and culture. Sydney: NewSouth Publishing; 2021.

2.          Johnson WH, Moller JH. Pediatric cardiology: the essential pocket guide. 3rd ed. Chichester, UK: John Wiley; 2014.

3.          Belitz HD, Grosch W, Schieberle P. Food chemistry. 4th rev. ed. Burghagen MM, translator. Berlin: Springer; 2009.

4.          Seidel HM, Ball JW, Dains JE, Flynn JA, Soloman BS, Stewart RW. Student laboratory manual for Mosby’s guide to physical examination. 7th ed. Chatswood, NSW: Elsevier Australia; 2010.

 

Books with 7+ authors

 

  • Where there are 7 or more authors, list the first six authors followed by “et al.”

The following is the general format for a reference to a book with 7 or more authors.

See the general rules for books and ebooks for more details. 

 

Reference list entry: format and example

 

Citation No. 1-6 Author's Last Name Initials, et al. Book title: subtitle. Edition. Place of Publication: Publisher; Year of publication.

 

1.          Smith DR, Jones AB, Wells ERE, Webster F, Booth SD, Junction KL, et al. Mental health and professional education. New York: McGee; 2009.

 

Books with corporate authors

 

'Corporate authors' are groups, societies or organisations who have written publications. This includes universities, research groups, museums, government departments, professional associations, and so on.

  • Omit "The" preceding a corporate author name.
  • If the author is a division of an organization, cite it in descending hierarchical order, separated by commas
  • Use a semi-colon (;) to separate different corporate authors if there are more than one.
  • When a book is published by an organisation that is also its author, the publisher may be cited as "The Organisation" or in full name.

The following is the general format of a reference to a book by a corporate author.

See the general rules for books and ebooks for more details.

 

Reference list entry: format and example

 

Citation No. Corporate Author. Book title: subtitle. Edition. Place of Publication: Publisher; Year of publication. 

 

1.          United Nations. Consequences of rapid population growth in developing countries. Milton Park: Taylor and Francis; 1991.

2.          Institute of Medicine (US). Looking at the future of the Medicaid program. Washington: The Institute; 1992.

3.          Virginia Law Foundation, Committee on Continuing Legal Education. The medical and legal implications of AIDS. Charlottesville (VA): The Foundation; 1987.

4.          National Lawyer's Guild AIDs Network (US); National Gay Rights Advocates (US). AIDS practice manual: a legal and educational guide. 2nd ed. San Francisco: The Network; 1988.

Edited books

 

Edited books usually contain chapters written by different authors. In most cases you would actually want to reference the individual chapters you use from the edited book, not the whole edited book itself. See the Book chapters page for more information.

An edited work of one author is normally cited under the name of the author, and add the editor as a secondary author after the title.

The following is the general format of a reference to an edited book. The editor is listed in place of an author, followed by the descriptive label editor or editors if there are more editors.

See the general rules for books and ebooks for more details.

 

Reference list entry: format and example

 

Citation No.  Editor's Last Name Initials, editor/s. Book title: subtitle. Edition. Place of Publication: Publisher; Year of publication. 

 

1.          Peate I, Gormley-Fleming E, editors. Fundamentals of children’s anatomy and physiology: a textbook for nursing and healthcare students. Chichester, UK: John Wiley; 2015.

2.          Swiss Pharmaceutical Society, editor. Index nominum: international drug directory. 18th ed. Stuttgart (Germany): Medpharm Scientific Publications; 2004. 

3.          Advisory Committee on Existing Chemicals of Environmental Relevance, editor. Naphthalin. Hicks R, translator. Weinheim (Germany): VCH; c1992.

 

Books with no author or editor listed

 

Some books may not have an author or editor listed. If the author or editor is unknown, begin the reference with the title of the book. Do not use anonymous. 

The following is the general format of a reference to a print book with no author or editor. 

See the general rules for books and ebooks for more details.

 

Reference list entry: format and example

 

Citation No.  Book title: subtitle. Edition. Place of Publication: Publisher; Year of publication. 

 

1.           Handbook of geriatric drug therapy. Springhouse (PA): Springhouse; c2000.

2.           HIV/AIDs resources: a nationwide directory. 10th ed. Longmont (CO): Guides for Living; c2004. 

Books with no listed date of publication or copyright

 

If neither a date of publication nor a date of copyright can be found, but a date can be estimated because of material in the book itself or on accompanying material, insert a question mark after the estimated date and place date information in square brackets, e.g. [1080?].

If neither a date of publication nor a date of copyright can be found nor can the date be estimated, use [date unknown]

The following is the general format of a reference to a print book without a publication date.  

See the general rules for books and ebooks for more details.

 

Reference list entry: format and example

 

Citation No. Author's Last Name Initials. Book title: subtitle. Edition. Place of Publication: Publisher; [Date Info].

 

1.           Pathak L, editor. Echocardiography non invasive diagnosis. Bombay: Cardiological Society of India; [1980?].

2.           Southey, R. The life of Nelson. London: Blackie; [date unknown].

 

eBooks with a DOI

 

eBooks with a DOI follow the same formatting patterns as those of print books, but add [Internet] after the book title, the [cited date] after the date of publication, and the DOI to the end of the citation.

The following is the general format of a reference to an ebook by one author with a DOI. 

See the general rules for books and ebooks for more details. 

 

Reference list entry: format and example

 

Citation No. Author's Last Name Initials. Book title: subtitle [Internet]. Edition. Place of Publication: Publisher; Year of publication [cited Year Month Day]. DOI.

 

1.          Risjord M. Nursing knowledge: science, practice, and philosophy [Internet]. Chichester, UK: Wiley; 2010 [cited 2019 Jul 4]. doi:10.1002/9781444315516.

 

eBooks without DOI

 

eBooks without DOI follow the same formatting patterns as those of print books, but add [Internet] after the book title, the [cited date] after the date of publication, and the URL to the end of the citation. 

The following is the general format of a reference to an ebook without a DOI. 

See the general rules for books and ebooks for more details. 

 

Reference list entry: format and example

 

Citation No. Author's Last Name Initials. Book title: subtitle [Internet]. Edition. Place of Publication: Publisher; Year of publication [cited Year Month Day]. Available from:​ URL

 

1.          Dudgeon P, Milroy H, Walker R, editors. Working together: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health and wellbeing principles and practice [Internet]. 2nd ed. Barton, ACT: Australian Government Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet; 2014 [cited 2023 Jul 21]. Available from: https://www.telethonkids.org.au/globalassets/media/documents/aboriginal-health/working-together-second-edition/working-together-aboriginal-and-wellbeing-2014.pdf

2.          Barkway P. Psychology for health professionals [Internet]. 2nd ed. Sydney: Elsevier Australia; 2013 [cited 2019 Jul 4]. Available from: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

 

Notes:

  • Remove the University proxy (ezproxy.newcastle.edu.au) from any link used.
  • Do not insert a hyphen if you need to break a URL across lines. Break the URL before a slash or dash or at another logical division point.
  • Do not include a full-stop after the URL at the end of the reference.

 

Translated texts

 

Translated texts are republished works that have been translated from another original language. They can include ancient texts and modern works. 

A translated work is normally cited under the name of the author or editor, and list the translator as a secondary author. When there is no author or editor available, the work can be cited under the translator.

The following is the general format of a reference to a translated book without an author. The examples below include a translated book with an author or editor, and one without author. 

See the general rules for books and ebooks for more details.

 

Reference list entry: format and example

 

Citation No.  Translator's Last Name Initials, translator/s. Book title: subtitle. Edition. Place of Publication: Publisher; Year of publication. 

 

1.          Richer PM. Artistic anatomy. Hale RB, translator and editor. New York: Watson-Guptill; 1971.

2.          Celli L, editor. The elbow: traumatic lesions. Warr A, translator. Vienna (Austria): Springer-Verlag; c1991. 

3.          Flaws B, translator. The classic of difficulties: a translation of the Nan Jing. 3rd ed. Boulder (CO): Blue Poppy Press; 2004.

 

Reference works

 

Be sure to check with your lecturer if these kinds of resources are suitable for use in your assignments.

Reference books can be cited in the same way as citing books and edited books. 

For information on how to reference entries or chapters from reference works such as:

  • Dictionaries
  • Encyclopaedias
  • Thesaurii
  • Indexes, etc

see the Book chapters page.