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Introduction

Full Name: Citing Medicine: The NLM Style Guide for Authors, Editors, and Publishers, 2nd Edition

Citation System: Numeric

Typical Fields: Biomedical Research, Health Sciences, Library and Information Science, PubMed-indexed journals

Official Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7256

NLM (National Library of Medicine) Style is the citation standard used by the National Library of Medicine, PubMed, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It is closely related to Vancouver Style, as both derive from the ICMJE Recommendations, but NLM provides more comprehensive guidance, particularly for biomedical databases, government publications, and online resources. NLM is the foundational style for PubMed-indexed journals and NIH grant applications.

In-Text Citations

Situation	In-Text Example
Single reference	This was previously demonstrated (1).
Two references	These results were reported (1,2).
Consecutive range	Several trials confirmed this (1-4).
Non-consecutive	As previously noted (1,3,5).
Same reference repeated	(1) — reuse original number
Author named in sentence	Jones et al. (1) demonstrated that…
Direct quotation	"The data showed significance" (1, p. 45).

Note: NLM uses numbers in parentheses on the line, not superscript. This is the primary visual difference between AMA (superscript) and IEEE (square brackets). Follow the specific conventions of your target journal.

Reference List Examples

Source Type	Format	Example
Journal article	Author AA. Title. J Abbrev [Internet]. Year Mon;Vol(Issue):pp-pp. [cited Year Mon Day]. doi:xx	Petitti DB, Crooks VC, Buckwalter JG. Blood pressure levels before dementia. Arch Neurol [Internet]. 2005 Jan;62(1):112-6. [cited 2005 Feb 4]. doi:10.1001/archneur.62.1.112
Book	Author AA. Title. Edition. Place: Publisher; Year.	Gilman AG, Rall TW, Nies AS, Taylor P, editors. Goodman and Gilman's the pharmacological basis of therapeutics. 8th ed. New York: Pergamon Press; 1990.
Book chapter	Author AA. Chapter title. In: Editor AA, editor. Book title. Place: Publisher; Year. p. x-x.	Meltzer PS, Kallioniemi A, Trent JM. Chromosome alterations. In: Vogelstein B, editor. Genetic basis of cancer. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002. p. 93-113.
Government report	Organization. Title [Internet]. Place: Agency; Year [cited Date]. Available from: URL	National Cancer Institute. Cancer trends progress report [Internet]. Bethesda (MD): NCI; 2023 [cited 2024 Jan 10]. Available from: https://progressreport.cancer.gov
Database entry	Entry name. Database [Internet]. Place: Publisher; Year [updated Date; cited Date]. Available from: URL	MeSH. MEDLINE/PubMed [Internet]. Bethesda (MD): NLM; 2004 [updated 2024 Jan 3; cited 2024 Feb 1]. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh
Webpage	Organization. Title [Internet]. Place: Publisher; Year [updated Date; cited Date]. Available from: URL	National Library of Medicine. PubMed overview [Internet]. Bethesda (MD): NLM; 2023 [updated 2024 Jan 5; cited 2024 Feb 1]. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
YouTube	Creator. Title [Video on Internet]. YouTube; Date [cited Date]. Available from: URL	NLM. How to search PubMed [Video on Internet]. YouTube; 2022 Mar 15 [cited 2024 Jan 10]. Available from: https://youtu.be/xxx
AI tool	Developer. Tool name [Internet]. Version. Year [cited Date]. Available from: URL	OpenAI. ChatGPT [Internet]. GPT-4. 2023 [cited 2023 Nov 10]. Available from: https://chat.openai.com

Figures & Tables

Figures are numbered consecutively and labeled below: 'Figure 1. Description. Reproduced from reference [N] with permission.'
Tables are labeled above.
NLM places special emphasis on citing data sources for figures derived from clinical or epidemiological data.
Photographs of identifiable patients require written informed consent, stated explicitly in the caption.

Formatting Rules

Heading: 'References' — new page
Order: Numerical (order of first appearance in text)
Numbering: Arabic numerals in parentheses on the line — (1), (2), (3)
Authors: Surname + Initials, no punctuation; up to 6 authors then et al.
Journal names: Abbreviated (NLM / Index Medicus standard)
Online: Add [Internet], [updated Date], [cited Date], and Available from: URL
Key resource: NLM Catalog for journal abbreviations — https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog

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