Citation

Last Updated: May 2026

General Principles

The integrity of the scholarly record relies on the meticulous attribution of ideas and findings. Authors are under a strict mandate to cite all non-original ideas, whether they have been previously published or remain unpublished. To maintain consistency and clarity across our journals, we exclusively adopt the Vancouver citation style.

Under this system, references must be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text using Arabic numerals inside parenthesis, not bracket.

References cited within tables, figures, supplementary materials, appendices, or graphical abstracts must also follow the same citation sequence and formatting standards applied throughout the main manuscript.

The final manuscript must include a comprehensive reference list at the end of the document, organized in the same consecutive numerical order.

Recommended Tools

To assist authors in achieving precise formatting, we strongly recommend the use of reference management software, specifically the Mendeley Citation Manager. For users of this platform, a customized ETFLIN Vancouver Style is available for download to ensure seamless compliance with our specific layout requirements. Adhering to these standardized technical guidelines is essential for the indexing and discoverability of published research.

Examples

References should be formatted according to the following conventions:

Titles should follow sentence case style. Journal names may be provided in either their standardized abbreviated form or their full name. While the publication date and volume number are mandatory, the issue and page numbers are only required if applicable. For journals utilizing a continuous publication model, these numbers are not required. Providing a DOI is optional.

Books: Guyton AC, Hall JE. Textbook of Medical Physiology. 13th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier Saunders; 2016.

For books, the titles should follow title case style. 

Web Resources: National Institutes of Health. MedlinePlus. Available from: https://medlineplus.gov/diabetes.html. Accessed March 15, 2023.

For web page, title, url, and accessed date are mandatory.

Policy Enforcement

Plagiarism in any form, including the failure to properly attribute sources, is strictly prohibited and represents a grave breach of academic ethics. The editorial team rigorously monitors all submissions for compliance with this policy. Any identified violations will be addressed immediately and may result in the rejection of the manuscript or the revocation of future publishing privileges. All necessary corrections must be finalized before publication to ensure the integrity and authority of the journal.

The editorial office reserves the right to request revision, removal, or replacement of citations deemed inaccurate, unverifiable, misleading, outdated, or inconsistent with the scientific scope of the manuscript. Manuscripts containing substantial citation irregularities may undergo additional editorial assessment prior to peer review or final acceptance.

Any intentional misrepresentation of sources, fabricated references, manipulated citation patterns, or undisclosed use of non-retrievable materials constitutes a serious violation of publication ethics and may result in editorial sanctions in accordance with the journal’s ethical policies and international publishing standards.