No date: If there is no year of publication, use [date unknown].
Publication date: The month (3 letter abbreviation), date may be included with the year.
Journal title: The titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the style used for PubMed/MEDLINE (see NLM Journal title abbreviations). If no abbreviated title exists, use the full journal title. Do not abbreviate journal titles consisting of a single word, e.g. Chest
Electronic article: For electronic articles, include [Internet] after the journal title.
Page numbers: If there are no page numbers, calculate the number of pages or screens, e.g. [about 2 p.] or [about 4 screens].
For more information on reference list format and style, see General information - basics of referencing.
1. Author. Title of article. Abbreviated journal title [Internet]. Year of publication [cited date];volume(issue):page numbers. Available from: URL
2. Author. Title of article. Abbreviated journal title [Internet]. Year of publication Abbreviated month date [cited date];volume(issue):page numbers. Available from: URL
3. Author. Title of article. Abbreviated journal title. Year of publication;volume(issue):page numbers.
4. Author. Title of article. Abbreviated journal title. Year of publication Abbreviated month date;volume(issue):page numbers.
1. Clarkson PM. Exertional rhabdomyolysis and acute renal failure in marathon runners. Sports Med [Internet]. 2007 [cited 2017 Nov 30];37(4-5):361-3. Available from: https://link.springer.com/article/10.2165/00007256-200737040-00022
2. Poole P. Nature and nurture: shaping New Zealand’s medical workforce. N Z Med J [Internet]. 2016 May 6 [cited 2017 Nov 30];129(1434):6-8. Available from: https://www.nzma.org.nz/journal/read-the-journal/all-issues/2010-2019/2016/vol-129-no-1434-6-may-2016/6876
3. Clarkson PM. Case report of exertional rhabdomyolysis in a 12-year-old boy. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2006;38(2):197-200.
4. Beasley R. A historical perspective of the New Zealand asthma mortality epidemics. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2006 Jan;117(1):225-8.
1. Author One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six. Title of article. Abbreviated journal title [Internet]. Year of publication [cited date];volume(issue):page numbers. Available from: URL
2. Author One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six. Title of article. Abbreviated journal title [Internet]. Year of publication Abbreviated month date [cited date];volume(issue):page numbers. Available from: URL
3. Author One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six. Title of article. Abbreviated journal title. Year of publication;volume(issue):page numbers.
4. Author One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six. Title of article. Abbreviated journal title. Year of publication Abbreviated month date;volume(issue):page numbers
1. Lavonas EJ, Gerardo CJ. Prospective study of recovery from copperhead snake envenomation: an observational study. BMC Emerg Med [Internet]. 2015 [cited 2017 Nov 30];15:9. Available from: https://bmcemergmed.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12873-015-0033-6
2. Happell B, Hoey W, Gaskin CJ. Community mental health nurses, caseloads, and practices: a literature review. Int J Ment Health Nurs [Internet]. 2012 Apr [cited 2017 Nov 30];21(2):131-7. Available from: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1111/j.1447-0349.2011.00777.x/full
3. Gluckman PD, Hanson MA, Mitchell MD. Developmental origins of health and disease: reducing the burden of chronic disease in the next generation. Genome Med. 2010;2(2):14.
4. Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002 Jul 25;347(4):284-7.
List the first six authors followed by et al.
1. Author One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, et al. Title of article. Abbreviated journal title [Internet]. Year of publication [cited date];volume(issue):page numbers. Available from: URL
2. Author One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, et al. Title of article. Abbreviated journal title [Internet]. Year of publication Abbreviated month date [cited date];volume(issue):page numbers. Available from: URL
3. Author One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, et al. Title of article. Abbreviated journal title. Year of publication;volume(issue):page numbers.
4. Author One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, et al. Title of article. Abbreviated journal title. Year of publication Abbreviated month date;volume(issue):page numbers.
1. Wood AE, Prins A, Bush NE, Hsia JF, Bourn LE, Earley MD, et al. Reduction of burnout in mental health care providers using the provider resilience mobile application. Community Ment Health J [Internet]. 2017 [cited 2017 Nov 30];53(4):452-9. Available from: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10597-016-0076-5
2. Shuker C, Bohm G, Bramley D, Frost S, Galler D, Hamblin R, et al. The health quality and safety commission: making good health care better. N Z Med J [Internet]. 2015 Jan 30 [cited 2017 Nov 30];128(1408):97-109. Available from: https://www.nzma.org.nz/journal/read-the-journal/all-issues/2010-2019/2015/vol-128-no-1408/6419
3. Clarkson PM, Hoffman EP, Zambraski E, Gordish-Dressman H, Kearns A, Hubal M, et al. ACTN3 and MLCK genotype associations with exertional muscle damage. J Appl Physiol. 2005;99(2):564-9.
4. Rose ME, Huerbin MB, Melick J, Marion DW, Palmer AM, Schiding JK, et al. Regulation of interstitial excitatory amino acid concentrations after cortical contusion injury. Brain Res. 2002 May;935(1-2):40-6.
Note: Group could be an organisation, association, government department, study group, etc.
List the first six authors, followed by et al.
1. Name of Organisation/Group. Title of article. Abbreviated journal title [Internet]. Year of publication [cited date];volume(issue):page numbers. Available from: URL
2. Name of Organisation/Group. Title of article. Abbreviated journal title [Internet]. Year of publication Abbreviated month date [cited date];volume(issue):page numbers. Available from: URL
3. Name of Organisation/Group. Title of article. Abbreviated journal title. Year of publication;volume(issue):page numbers.
4. Name of Organisation/Group. Title of article. Abbreviated journal title. Year of publication Abbreviated month date;volume(issue):page numbers.
1. The PLOS Medicine Editors. Getting closer to a fully correctable and connected research literature. PLoS Med [Internet]. 2013 [cited 2019 May 28];10(3):e1001408. Available from: https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1001408
2. National Institutes of Health Medical Rehabilitation Coordinating Committee. National Institutes of Health research plan on rehabilitation. Rehabil Psychol [Internet]. 2017 Aug [cited 2017 Nov 30];62(3):397-400. Available from: http://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2017-29518-001.html
3. World Allergy Organization. [The outline of World Allergy Organization (WAO) Diagnosis and Rationale for Action against Cow's Milk Allergy (DRACMA) guideline]. Zhonghua Er Ke Za Zhi. 2012;50(7):510-5.
4. Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group. The prevalence of retinopathy in impaired glucose tolerance and recent-onset diabetes in the Diabetes Prevention Program. Diabet Med. 2007 Feb;24(2):137-44.
If the author is unknown, place the title in the author position followed by the journal name.
1. Title of article. Abbreviated journal title [Internet]. Year of publication[cited date];volume(issue):page numbers. Available from: URL
2. Title of article. Abbreviated journal title [Internet]. Year of publication Abbreviated month date[cited date];volume(issue):page numbers. Available from: URL
3. Title of article. Abbreviated journal title. Year of publication;volume(issue):page numbers.
4. Title of article. Abbreviated journal title. Year of publication Abbreviated month date;volume(issue):page numbers.
1. When hiring execs, context matters most. Harv Bus Rev [Internet]. 2017 [cited 2017 Nov 30];95(5):20-2. Available from: https://hbr.org/2017/09/when-hiring-execs-context-matters-most
2. Drug-resistance tuberculosis among the foreign-born in Canada. Can Commun Dis Rep [Internet]. 2005 Feb 15 [cited 2017 Nov 30];31(4):46-52. Available from: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/reports-publications/canada-communicable-disease-report-ccdr/monthly-issue/2005-31/drug-resistant-tuberculosis-among-foreign-born-canada.html
3. 21st century heart solution may have a sting in the tail. BMJ. 2002;325(7357):184.
4. New accreditation product approved for systems under the ambulatory and home care programs. Jt Comm Perspect. 2005 May;25(5):8.
For articles published online ahead of the print edition, use Epub ahead of print.
1. Author(s). Title. Abbreviated Journal Title [Internet]. Year of publication Abbreviated month date placed online [cited Year Month Date]:[about number of pages p.]. Available from: URL Epub ahead of print.
1. Massi D, Laurino M. Machine versus man in skin cancer diagnosis. Lancet Oncol [Internet]. 2019 Jun 11 [cited 2019 Jun 12]:[about 2 pages]. Available from: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/article/PIIS1470-2045(19)30391-2/fulltext doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(19)30391-2 Epub ahead of print.
When using another person's ideas or words, include an Arabic numeral in brackets (consecutively numbered). If the reference is referred to again, the same number is used.
... has been recently identified (1). There is a need to be cautious with giving aspirin to children as overdosing can lead to mortality (1).
If you are expressing ideas that have originated from more than one source, separate the numbers with commas or use a hyphen if referring to a range of numbers (references).
... in alkyl sulphates such as sodium lauryl sulphate (3,5-6) and diethyl sulphate (7). Other compounds showing promise were those in the C12 - C14 range (3-4).