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The Iranian Rehabilitation Journal (IRJ) uses the Vancouver referencing style. References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first cited in the manuscript. The same reference number should be used whenever a source is cited again.
References cited for the first time in tables or figure legends should follow the numbering sequence established by the first citation of that table or figure in the main text. The reference list should therefore be arranged numerically, not alphabetically.
Authors are responsible for the accuracy, completeness, and relevance of all references. Every reference listed at the end of the manuscript must be cited in the text, and every reference cited in the text must appear in the reference list.
Journal titles should be abbreviated according to the NLM Catalog/Index Medicus conventions. Where available, the DOI should be included in the reference. Authors are encouraged to verify bibliographic information against the original source before submission.
Reference-management software such as EndNote, Zotero, or Mendeley may be used to prepare references. However, authors remain responsible for checking the accuracy and formatting of the final reference list.
References should be identified in the text using Arabic numerals in parentheses and numbered according to the order of their first appearance.
Single reference:
Rehabilitation interventions may improve functional outcomes in patients after stroke (1).
Two references:
Several studies have examined the effects of exercise on balance and mobility (2, 3).
Three or more consecutive references:
Previous studies have reported similar findings (4-7).
Non-consecutive references:
Several rehabilitation approaches have been investigated (2, 5, 8).
Reference used as part of a sentence:
Smith et al. (9) reported significant improvement in functional mobility following the intervention.
When a reference is cited again later in the manuscript, the original reference number should be used. A new number should not be assigned.
References should be presented at the end of the manuscript in numerical order according to their first citation in the text.
Authors’ names should generally be presented as surname followed by initials without periods between the initials. Journal titles should use the standard NLM abbreviation.
For journal articles with six or fewer authors, all authors should be listed. For articles with more than six authors, list the first six authors followed by “et al.”
Where available, the DOI should be presented at the end of the reference. Authors should use the DOI assigned to the final published article rather than a temporary or intermediary link.
Format:
Author AA, Author BB, Author CC. Title of article. Abbreviated Journal Title. Year;volume(issue):pages. DOI
Example:
Akbari MR, Khorrami-Nejad M, Kangari H, Baghban AA, Pazouki MR. Ocular abnormal head posture: A literature review. J Curr Ophthalmol. 2021;33(4):379-87. DOI: 10.4103/joco.joco_82_21
2. Journal Article With More Than Six Authors
Format:
Author AA, Author BB, Author CC, Author DD, Author EE, Author FF, et al. Title of article. Abbreviated Journal Title. Year;volume(issue):pages. DOI
Example:
Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL, et al. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002;347(4):284-7.
When a DOI is available, it should be included at the end of the reference.
Format:
Author AA, Author BB. Title of article. Abbreviated Journal Title. Year;volume(issue):pages. DOI: xx.xxxx/xxxxx
Authors should verify the DOI before submission and should not include an incorrect or unrelated DOI.
4. Article Published Online Ahead of Print
Format:
Author AA, Author BB. Title of article. Abbreviated Journal Title. Year [cited date]. [Epub ahead of print]. DOI
If complete volume, issue, and page or article-number information has subsequently become available, authors should cite the final published version instead of the ahead-of-print version.
Format:
Author AA. Title of book. Edition. Place of publication: Publisher; Year.
Example:
Morin CM. Insomnia: Psychological assessment and management. New York: Guilford Press; 1993.
For editions other than the first edition, the edition number should be included.
Format:
Author AA, Author BB, Author CC. Title of book. Edition. Place of publication: Publisher; Year.
Format:
Editor AA, Editor BB, editors. Title of book. Edition. Place of publication: Publisher; Year.
Format:
Author AA. Title of chapter. In: Editor BB, Editor CC, editors. Title of book. Edition. Place of publication: Publisher; Year. p. xx-xx.
Example:
Meltzer PS, Kallioniemi A, Trent JM. Chromosome alterations in human solid tumors. In: Vogelstein B, Kinzler KW, editors. The genetic basis of human cancer. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002. p. 93-113.
9. Conference Paper Published in Proceedings
Format:
Author AA, Author BB. Title of paper. In: Editor AA, editor. Title of conference proceedings; date of conference; place of conference. Place of publication: Publisher; Year. p. xx-xx.
When a DOI or other persistent identifier is available for the conference paper, it should be included.
Format:
Author AA. Title of thesis [dissertation/thesis]. Place: University; Year.
Example:
Borkowski MM. Infant sleep and feeding: A telephone survey of Hispanic Americans [dissertation]. Mount Pleasant: Central Michigan University; 2002.
For online theses or dissertations, a stable URL or DOI may be provided where appropriate.
Web sources should be used selectively. Whenever possible, authors should cite the original scholarly publication, official report, guideline, dataset, or other primary source rather than a secondary webpage.
Format:
Author/Organization. Title of webpage [Internet]. Place of publication: Publisher/Organization; publication or update year [cited Year Month Day]. Available from: URL
Example:
World Health Organization. Rehabilitation [Internet]. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2024 [cited 2026 Aug 29]. Available from: the official World Health Organization website.
Authors should provide the direct and functional URL for the cited webpage in the submitted manuscript.
12. Report Published by an Organization
Format:
Organization/Author. Title of report. Place of publication: Publisher; Year.
If the report is available online, the URL and date of access may be included where appropriate.
13. Clinical Practice Guideline
Format:
Author/Organization. Title of guideline. Place of publication: Publisher/Organization; Year.
For guidelines available online, authors should cite the current authoritative version and include the DOI or stable URL where available.
When a dataset is independently accessible and relevant to the study, it may be cited as a reference.
Format:
Creator(s). Title of dataset [dataset]. Publisher/Repository; Year. DOI or persistent identifier.
Authors should preferentially use persistent identifiers such as DOI when available.
Preprints may be cited when scientifically necessary and when a peer-reviewed version is not available.
Format:
Author AA, Author BB. Title of manuscript [Preprint]. Repository; Year. DOI
Authors should clearly identify the source as a preprint and should update the reference to the peer-reviewed publication if the final article becomes available before publication of the IRJ article.
References published in languages other than English should be presented in Roman script. When an official English title is available, it should be used. If no official English title is available, an English translation of the title may be provided in square brackets, followed by an indication of the original language where appropriate.
Authors are responsible for ensuring that translated bibliographic information accurately represents the original publication. Journal titles should follow the journal’s official title or accepted bibliographic abbreviation.
Unpublished Material and Personal Communications
Personal communications, private correspondence, and unpublished data that are not publicly retrievable should generally not be included in the numbered reference list.
When such information is essential to the manuscript, it may be described in the text in accordance with accepted scholarly practice and with appropriate permission from the individual concerned.
Manuscripts submitted for publication but not yet accepted should not normally be cited as published references. Articles formally accepted for publication may be cited as “in press” when appropriate and when sufficient bibliographic information is available.
Reference Quality and Relevance
Authors should select references on the basis of their relevance, scientific quality, and ability to support the statements made in the manuscript. References should accurately represent the existing literature surrounding the research question.
Authors should ensure that each cited source actually supports the statement for which it is cited. Primary sources should be cited where appropriate, particularly when reporting original findings, diagnostic criteria, measurement properties, clinical recommendations, or specific numerical information.
Authors should avoid relying unnecessarily on secondary sources when the original publication is available. References should not be added solely because they are recent, highly cited, published in a particular journal, or authored by particular researchers.
IRJ does not permit citation manipulation. Excessive self-citation, citation padding, citation stacking, coercive citation, unnecessary citation of articles from IRJ or another specific journal, and citation of irrelevant sources for the purpose of influencing citation metrics are not acceptable.
Authors should not add references solely in response to a reviewer or editor request when the suggested reference is not scientifically relevant to the manuscript. Reviewers and editors should recommend additional references only when they materially improve the accuracy, context, or completeness of the manuscript.
References generated or suggested by artificial intelligence tools must be independently verified by the authors against the original sources. Authors remain fully responsible for the existence, accuracy, relevance, and bibliographic details of every reference included in the manuscript.
As a general guide, IRJ applies the following reference limits:
-
Original Research Articles: up to 25 references
-
Brief Reports: up to 15 references
-
Case Reports: up to 15 references
-
Review Articles: up to 50 references
Additional references may be accepted when scientifically justified. Authors should prioritize relevant and authoritative sources rather than increasing the number of references unnecessarily.
Before submission, authors should verify that all references are accurate and complete; references are numbered according to their first appearance in the manuscript; the same number is used for repeated citations; every in-text citation has a corresponding entry in the reference list; and every reference in the reference list is cited in the manuscript.
Authors should also verify journal abbreviations, publication years, volume and issue numbers, page ranges or article numbers, DOIs, and URLs where applicable. Particular attention should be paid to ensuring that a DOI belongs to the cited article and that online links lead to the intended source.
The reference list should be checked carefully after using reference-management software because automatically imported bibliographic records may contain incorrect capitalization, journal abbreviations, author names, page numbers, or DOI information.
Copyright © The Author(s);
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 (CC-By-NC 4.0), which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.
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