AG-R02: Vancouver Referencing — Complete Guide to Citation Formats, DOI Requirements, and Submission Standards

12 Citation Types with Worked Examples and Common Mistake Annotations for GMJ

Abstract

The GMJ Author Toolkit (AG-R02) provides a structured, self-contained guide to Vancouver referencing in accordance with the Georgian Medical Journal’s submission standards. The guide defines the complete citation system used in biomedical publishing and ensures accuracy, consistency, and compliance with indexing requirements.

The document is organized into three components: (1) theoretical foundations describing the four core rules of Vancouver style, including in-text citation format, author listing conventions, journal name abbreviations, and mandatory DOI inclusion; (2) a comprehensive pre-submission checklist ensuring correct formatting, reference list order, and citation verification; and (3) a complete worked example demonstrating all 12 citation types, including journal articles, books, conference proceedings, theses, datasets, preprints, and software, each with annotated explanations.

Particular emphasis is placed on correct NLM journal abbreviations, DOI verification, and strict numbering of references in order of first appearance. The guide highlights common errors such as incorrect author truncation, missing DOIs, and alphabetical ordering.

This resource supports authors in producing accurate, consistent, and publication-ready reference lists for all manuscript types submitted to the Georgian Medical Journal.