Vancouver Figure / Chart / Graph Citation Generator

Citing a figure / chart / graph (visual data representation (chart, graph, or diagram)) under the National Library of Medicine / ICMJE (Vancouver Style) framework requires combining Vancouver's punctuation hierarchy with the specific metadata of the source. To construct a compliant entry, researchers must collect the creator of the figure, year, figure title or caption, the source container (journal article, book, or website) where it appeared, page/figure number, and URL/DOI. In the body of your paper, Vancouver utilizes parenthetical or superscript Arabic numbers assigned sequentially as sources appear in the clinical text, which links directly to an entry organized in sequential numerical order of appearance in the manuscript body.

When formatting a figure / chart / graph in Vancouver, pay close attention to contributor names and capitalization. Specifically, Vancouver enforces surname followed by up to two initials without spaces or periods (e.g., Pasteur L, Koch R), listing the first 6 authors before adding "et al.", and applies sentence case without italics or quotes for both book and article titles, paired with NLM-abbreviated journal titles without periods. Vancouver style uses compressed page ranges (e.g., 245–9 instead of 245–249) and places bracketed medium designators like [Internet] directly after the container title. Furthermore, if your figure / chart / graph does not display an individual creator, the rule is straightforward: attribute the figure to the authors of the overarching article or report in which the chart or graph was published.

For digital and online figure / chart / graph references, Vancouver stipulates adding "[Internet]" after the title/container, "[cited YYYY Mon DD]" after the publication date, and "Available from: URL" at the end. If you reproduce a chart or graph directly in your paper, most styles require a copyright attribution note underneath the figure in addition to a bibliography entry. Using the client-side Vancouver Figure / Chart / Graph generator below, you can automatically parse URLs, DOIs, or ISBNs and apply these exact Citation Style Language (CSL) rules locally in your browser with zero server tracking.