广义的温哥华格式就是指所有的作者-序号体系。较为狭义的理解有认为符合ICMJE推荐格式(英语:ICMJE Recommendations)皆为温哥华格式。而ICMJE推荐格式过去也被叫做原稿统一要求(英語:Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts,简称URM)。不过,像AMA格式(英语:AMA Manual of Style)虽然采用了温哥华格式的作者-序号体系,且符合URM,属于广义上的温哥华格式,但是AMA在斜体使用和引用序号是否使用方括号等方面与NLM/PubMed[註 1]的格式有细微的差异,故而不被认为是更为狭义上的温哥华格式。
历史
作者-序号体系出现于百余年前,与哈佛格式在长期以来一直都是科学期刊的主要參考文獻格式之一。1978年,由各大医学期刊的编辑组成的国际医学期刊编辑委员会(英語:the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors,简写作ICMJE)在加拿大溫哥華举办会议,以制定统一的期刊文献要求。此次会议最终制定了《提交给生物医学期刊的原稿统一要求(英语:Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals)》(英語:Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals),简称《原稿统一要求》(英語:Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts),缩写为URM。在《原稿统一要求》(URM)中,国际医学期刊编辑委员会(ICMJE)选定了作者-序号体系作为统一的参考文献格式要求。
《原稿统一要求》(URM)的诞生比互联网出现早15年。在互联网在科研圈中普及前,《原稿统一要求》(URM)的各类版本在国际医学期刊编辑委员会(ICMJE)的成员期刊中以文章或者补充资料的形式不断重刊再版,如1991年《英国医学期刊》(BMJ)再版[5]、1995年《加拿大医学协会期刊(英语:CMAJ)》(CMAJ)再版[6]、1997年《内科学年刊(英语:Annals of Internal Medicine)》再版等[7]。1990年代晚期到2000年代早期,各期刊被要求在重刊《原稿统一要求》时以1997年《美国医学会杂志》版本为准。[8]
" Hypovolemia is a massive decrease in blood volume, and death by excessive loss of blood is referred to as exsanguination.[1] Typically, a healthy person can endure a loss of 10–15% of the total blood volume without serious medical difficulties."[註 2]
Leurs R, Church MK, Taglialatela M. H1-antihistamines: inverse agonism, anti-inflammatory actions and cardiac effects. Clin Exp Allergy. 2002 Apr;32(4):489-498.
Tashiro J, Yamaguchi S, Ishii T, Suzuki A, Kondo H, Morita Y, Hara K, Koyama I. Inferior oncological prognosis of surgery without oral chemotherapy for stage III colon cancer in clinical settings. World J Surg Oncol. 2014 May 10;12(1):145. [Epub ahead of print]
Guilbert TW, Morgan WJ, Zeiger RS, Mauger DT, Boehmer SJ, Szefler SJ, et al. Long-term inhaled corticosteroids in preschool children at high risk for asthma. N Engl J Med. 2006 May 11;354(19):1985-1997.
von Itzstein M, Wu WY, Kok GB, Pegg MS, Dyason JC, Jin B, et al. Rational design of potent sialidase-based inhibitors of influenza virus replication. Nature. 1993 Jun 3;363(6428):418-423. PMID8502295 (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆).
Rang HP, Dale MM, Ritter JM, Moore PK. Pharmacology. 5th ed. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone; 2003.
作品为编者共同撰写,则不需要加注“editors”。
编者非作者
Beers MH, Porter RS, Jones TV, Kaplan JL, Berkwits M, editors. The Merck manual of diagnosis and therapy. 18th ed. Whitehouse Station (NJ): Merck Research Laboratories; 2006.
编者若仅负责选文组合,则需要加注“editors”。
有署名选段
Glennon RA, Dukat M. Serotonin receptors and drugs affecting serotonergic neurotransmission. In: Williams DA, Lemke TL, editors. Foye's principles of medicinal chemistry. 5th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2002.
World Health Organization (WHO). Mortality country fact sheet 2006 [internet]. Geneva: WHO; 2006. Available from: www.who.int/whosis/mort_emro_pak_pakistan.pdf
^International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals.. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association. 1997;277(11):927–934. doi:10.1001/jama.277.11.927. PMID9062335.
^ Vancouver Community College. Vancouver Citation Style [archived 2015-02-09]. "The citation in brackets is placed after any commas and periods, and before any colons and semi-colons"