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Referencing8 min readUpdated 1 October 2026

Citing clinical guidelines, NICE and drug formularies

Short answer

How to cite nice guidelines

Clinical guidelines are referenced with the issuing organisation as the author, not an individual. A NICE guideline in Vancouver reads: National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Depression in adults: treatment and management. London: NICE; 2022. Guideline No.: NG222. The two details students most often omit are the guideline number, which is how clinicians actually locate it, and the version or update date, because guidelines are revised and the version you read matters clinically.

Why these sources break generators

Citation generators are built around books, journal articles and web pages. A NICE guideline is none of those cleanly: it has a corporate author, a guideline number, a publication date, a separate last-updated date, and often a version history.

Paste one into a generator and you get a web page reference that omits the guideline number — which is the single most useful part, because it is how a clinician finds the document you are relying on.

NICE guidelines

Vancouver: National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Depression in adults: treatment and management. London: NICE; 2022. Guideline No.: NG222.

APA 7: National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. (2022). Depression in adults: Treatment and management (NICE Guideline NG222). https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng222

Harvard (Cite Them Right): National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (2022) Depression in adults: treatment and management. NG222. Available at: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng222 (Accessed: 1 October 2026).

Spell the organisation out in full on first use and give the abbreviation, then use NICE thereafter. Do not alphabetise a reference list under 'N' for 'NICE' if you have written the full name — file it under the full name you used.

The BNF and drug formularies

The BNF is updated continuously, so the access date genuinely matters here in a way it does not for a book. A dose you cite today may be revised next month.

Vancouver: Joint Formulary Committee. British National Formulary. London: BMJ Group and Pharmaceutical Press; 2026 [cited 2026 Oct 1]. Available from: https://bnf.nice.org.uk/

For a specific drug monograph, name it: Joint Formulary Committee. Amoxicillin. In: British National Formulary. London: BMJ Group and Pharmaceutical Press; 2026 [cited 2026 Oct 1].

Australian equivalents follow the same pattern with the Australian Medicines Handbook or the Therapeutic Guidelines; in New Zealand, the NZ Formulary; in Canada, the CPS.

WHO and government health documents

The organisation is the author even when named individuals appear on the cover — those are usually contributors, not authors.

Vancouver: World Health Organization. Global report on infection prevention and control. Geneva: WHO; 2024.

Where a report has an ISBN or a document number, include it. Health documents are frequently revised under the same title, and the number is what distinguishes editions.

Cochrane reviews

A Cochrane review is a journal article and is referenced as one, in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. The mistake students make is citing it as a web page because they read it online.

Vancouver: Smith AB, Jones CD. Antibiotics for acute otitis media in children. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2024;(3):CD000219. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD000219.pub5

Note the .pub number at the end of the DOI. It identifies the version of the review, and Cochrane reviews are updated — citing the wrong version can mean citing a superseded conclusion.

Local trust and hospital protocols

These are the hardest, because they are usually unpublished and not publicly retrievable. Most schools accept them cited as unpublished organisational documents, but check your own guide first.

Vancouver: [NHS Trust name]. Adult sepsis screening and action tool. [Place]: [Trust]; 2025. Unpublished internal protocol.

Two cautions. Anonymise where your assignment requires the placement site to be confidential — many programmes do, and naming the trust can identify the ward and therefore the patient. And never cite a protocol you have not read in full; summarising one from memory of a handover is not a citation.

The version problem

Clinical guidance changes. A reference to a 2019 NICE guideline in an essay submitted in 2026 is not automatically wrong — but you must have checked whether it has been superseded, and say so if you are deliberately discussing the older version.

Before you submit, re-check every guideline you cite for an update. Markers in clinical subjects do this, and citing withdrawn guidance as current is treated as a clinical error rather than a referencing one.

Frequently asked questions

How do I cite a NICE guideline?
Use the organisation as the author and include the guideline number. In Vancouver: National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Depression in adults: treatment and management. London: NICE; 2022. Guideline No.: NG222. The number is essential — it is how the document is located.
Do I need an access date for the BNF?
Yes. The BNF is updated continuously rather than published in fixed editions, so the access date establishes which version of the guidance you relied on. This matters more in clinical writing than in most other referencing.
Is a Cochrane review a journal article or a website?
A journal article, in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Include the CD number and the full DOI with its .pub version suffix, because reviews are updated and the version determines the conclusion you are citing.
Can I cite my placement's local protocol?
Usually yes, as an unpublished organisational document, but check your programme's guide. Anonymise the trust if your assignment requires placement confidentiality — naming it can identify the ward and therefore the patient.

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