Convert your paper's entire reference list to Vancouver style
A reference list assembled from several sources is rarely consistent. Upload the DOCX and we touch only the in-text citations and the reference list - not a word of your body text.
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1,000 words costs 5 credits
Job files are kept for 7 days and then removed; the job record stays.
What this style looks like
- In-text citation
- … protein folding prediction (1).
- Reference list entry
- 1. Smith J, Lee A. Deep learning for protein folding. Nat Methods. 2023;20(3):245-58.
The three things people get wrong in Vancouver
Vancouver is the style recommended by the ICMJE, and essentially every medical journal expects it. Three of its rules run against most people’s habits, and they are the most common reason a manuscript comes back on formatting.
Numbering follows order of appearance, not the alphabet. If you are used to APA or Harvard, you will instinctively sort the reference list by author surname - Vancouver does not work that way. The first source cited in your text is [1], the next new one is [2], and so on. Reorder your text and the whole numbering scheme has to follow.
Journal names must be abbreviated, using NLM abbreviations. "Nature Methods" becomes "Nat Methods"; "Journal of Clinical Oncology" becomes "J Clin Oncol". Entries exported straight from Zotero, EndNote, or a database very often keep the full journal name, which is the single most common source of non-compliance.
Author lists are truncated, but not as early as people assume. Up to six authors, name all of them; beyond six, name the first six and close with et al. Medical papers routinely carry a dozen, and the common errors are listing everyone or truncating at three. One more detail: page ranges are abbreviated - "245-58", not "245-258". This differs from AMA, which writes them in full, while the two styles are otherwise nearly identical.
FAQ
Will it change my body text?
No. The body is frozen throughout; only in-text citations and the reference list are processed. That is also why it costs far less than humanizing - 5 credits per 1,000 words.
My references come from everywhere - some typed, some from Zotero, some copied from PubMed. Can they be unified?
Yes, that is exactly the job. Entries from different sources are brought under one consistent set of Vancouver rules, including journal abbreviation and author truncation.
Will my reference order be rearranged?
Numbering is handled per Vancouver rules, which order by first citation in the text. If your in-text citation order is still changing, finalize the body first - text changes affect the numbering.
Which abbreviation standard is used for journal names?
NLM (US National Library of Medicine) abbreviations, the standard used by the ICMJE and the overwhelming majority of medical journals. Check your target journal’s author guidelines before submitting.
What does it cost for one paper?
5 credits per 1,000 words - the cheapest of our four tools, because only the citations are processed. An 8,000-word paper runs about 40 credits (under $0.50). New accounts get 100 free credits.