MGP house style guide Drafted by: Gemma Lambert, Alistair Scott, and Nina Buchan Version: June 2021

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Contents About this guide 3 Punctuation 4 Full stops 4 Commas 4 Semi-colons 4 Colons 5 Bullet points 5 Brackets (parentheses) 5 Hyphens 6 Em and en rules 7 Quotation marks 8 Apostrophes 8 Ellipses 8 Case and capitalisation 9 Case 9 Use of capitals 9 Post-nominal letters 9 Abbreviations and contractions 10 Abbreviations 10 Contractions 11 Numbers, units, and symbols 12 Dates and times 12 Mathematical/medical notation 12 Footnotes 13 Presentation 14 Gene and protein nomenclature 14 Species 14 When else to use italic 14 Written style 15 Spellings 15 Article use 15 Tense 15 Grammar 16 Clarity 18 Speaking respectfully 18 Discussing medications and medical devices 18 References 20 In the text 20 In the References section 20

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About this guide The MGP house style guide is designed to ensure consistency across all MGP publications. It is grouped into sections to help you find what you are looking for. You can also search for specific terms using the keyboard shortcuts Cmd+F (Mac) or Ctrl+F (PC).

This style guide is updated periodically (see cover for version), and is based on:

• Fowler’s Modern English Usage

• Butcher’s Copy-editing

• New Hart’s Rules

• Collins English Dictionary

• Oxford Dictionary for Writers & Editors

• Royal Society of Medicine’s Units, Symbols and Abbreviations

• NICE Style Guide.

Please refer to these texts for further information. Return to the top

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Punctuation Full stops

• Double spaces should not be inserted after full stops (full points)

• Do not use full stops in abbreviations (NICE, NHS), contractions (Dr), or initials (Dr A Smith)

• NB should be used when making an important point, not NB. or N.B.

Commas • In a list, the final ‘and’ and ‘or’ should be preceded by a comma (a serial comma)

Examples

We had tea, biscuits, and cake. Fred, James, or John …

• Words such as ‘however’, ‘moreover’, and ‘therefore’ should be followed by a comma when used at the beginning of a sentence, and should carry a pair of commas when used within a sentence

Examples

However, I will have to pay for it myself. The doctors, therefore, will be in charge of their own funds.

• Addresses should be written without commas.

Example

MGP House East Street Chesham HP5 1DG

Semi-colons • Semi-colons are used to separate two or more clauses that are of equal importance

and are linked—a semi-colon binds two sentences more closely than a full stop

Example

A significant reduction in total plaque has been shown with dentifrice containing xylitol; plaque pH is prevented from falling to a level that is considered to be carcinogenic.

• Semi-colons are also used to separate elements in a list in which some of the items contain internal punctuation, such as commas

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Example

Funding of prevention programmes is decreasing because: firstly, the disease is no longer seen as a major problem; secondly, these schemes are difficult to organise because people with healthy teeth do not see the need to participate; thirdly, ...

• If words such as ‘however’, ‘moreover’, and ‘therefore’ are used to introduce a new clause in the middle of a sentence, they should be preceded by a semi-colon.

Example

I went to the meeting in London; however, I forgot to take my presentation.

Colons • Use a colon to introduce a word or clause that explains or amplifies what has gone

before

• A colon can also be used to introduce a list.

Bullet points • Level 1 bullets (i.e. that do not lead on from an introductory sentence) should start

with a capital letter

• Sub bullets (i.e. to level 1 bullets or lead-in text) should start with a lowercase letter

• Bullets should not contain more than one sentence

• Only the end bullet point in a list has any punctuation at the end—a full stop.

Examples

• This is a level-1 bullet—it starts with a capital letter and does not follow anything o this is a level-2 bullet; it starts with a lowercase letter and leads on from a

level-1 bullet or introductory sentence

• This is the last bullet in the list.

Brackets (parentheses) • If an entire sentence is within parentheses, put the full stop inside the parentheses;

if brackets contain only a few words, they should be inside sentence punctuation

Example

(This is an example of a full sentence in brackets.) This is an example (of a clause within brackets) positioned within sentence punctuation.

• Sets of brackets should not touch/be positioned next to one another

• When it is necessary to use multiple sets of brackets within each other, use the following hierarchy:

o ( [ { } ] )

Example

(This is an example [in which this is an aside] of bracket hierarchy.)

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• Square brackets should be placed around any missing words in a quote.

Example

‘ … and [the editor] said that it was correct.’

Hyphens • Hyphens should be used in the following scenarios (see Table 1):

o when two identical letters would be adjacent without a hyphen—for example, anti-inflammatory, night-time

o in fractions/numbers expressed in words—for example, two-thirds, forty-one o in certain words by convention—for example, half-life (if unsure, check

Collins English Dictionary) o when it would look strange without a hyphen—for example, genitourinary

Table 1: Examples of hyphenated and non-hyphenated words (important changes in bold)

Hyphenated words Non-hyphenated words

anti-inflammatory beta-blocker cyclo-oxygenase genito-urinary half-life intra-articular night-time meta-analysis micro-organism self-care self-harm self-management 2-year-old two-thirds

3-day week X-ray

anticoagulant autoimmune birth weight breastfeeding case finding contraindication cooperation coordination comorbidity daytime dropouts end point everyday evidence based[A]

face to face[A] follow up[A] first line[A] front line[A] full time[A] gall bladder gastroesophageal healthcare helpline high risk[A] inpatient intraventricular

lifelong lifestyle long acting[A] low dose[A] maybe multidisciplinary mild to moderate[A] nonsteroidal outpatient overmedicate overprescribe postmenopausal postoperative practice based[A] readmission relicensing sevenfold side effects subcutaneous transurethral under treated underestimate undifferentiated up to date[A] washout wellbeing

[A]Unhyphenated unless it is an affiliated compound adjective—for example, up-to-date magazine

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• Hyphens should not follow words ending in ‘-ly’

• When preceding adjectives are associated with a right-hand component, they are known as a 'compound adjective' and should be hyphenated; if they follow the component they should not be hyphenated

Examples

Compound adjective: Cost-effective drug Equivalent: The drug is cost effective Compound adjective: Mild-to-moderate asthma Equivalent: The patient’s asthma was mild to moderate

• Exceptions to the compound adjective rule include: o end of life care o stop smoking services

• Hanging hyphens are a way to avoid repetition of the second half of a hyphenated term

Example

once- or twice-daily medication

• Hyphens may also be included as part of some abbreviations by convention.

Example

Full name: dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor Hyphenated abbreviation: DPP-4i

Em and en rules

En rules

• The en rule (so called because it is the width of N) is used to denote span in page ranges, unit values, and dates

• It is also used between two equally weighted nouns.

Examples

pp.236–238 5–10 ml Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium dose–response relationship

Em rules

• An em rule (a parenthetical dash) occupies the width of a capital M and is used in place of parentheses or to introduce an afterthought or summary statement.

Example

Guidelines for Pharmacy—summarising clinical guidelines for community pharmacy

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Quotation marks • Always use single quote marks except when there is a quote within a quote, when

double quotation marks are used—the correct sequence of quotation marks is ‘ “ ” ’

• Always make sure that the full point is correctly placed when using quotation marks—partial quotes vs. quoting whole sentences

• Present quoted material in italic; words already in italic become Roman

• Set large quoted passages apart from the text using right and left indents.

Example

‘Mr Hobbs read a paper entitled “Understanding Editorial Departments”.’

Apostrophes • Use an apostrophe before ‘s’ to indicate possession.

Examples

A clinician’s assessment Multiple clinicians’ cases

• An apostrophe can also be used to indicate omission.

Examples

it’s (it is) Two years’ treatment (Two years of treatment)

Ellipses • Use three full stops to indicate the omission of one or more words, lines, or

paragraphs from quoted material—a space should be added on either side of the ellipsis.

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Case and capitalisation Case

• Sentence case is used for the titles of publications—for example, Management of asthma

• Title case is used for the names of professional bodies—for example, NHS England and NHS Improvement

• Camel case is used for URLs cited outside of the References section—for example, GinP.co.uk (NB https:// and www. should be omitted from the start of URLs, and URLs should be presented in bold outside of the References section).

Use of capitals • Only use initial capitals for:

o the first letters of sentences o proper nouns (names)—for example, Gemma, Microsoft, Down’s syndrome o job titles—for example, Specialist Registrar—but not when speaking

generally about a group of specialist registrars o place names—but note the difference between Northern Ireland (a province)

and northern England (an area in general terms) o X-ray o initiatives, questionnaires, programmes, and policies—for example, Quality

and Outcomes Framework o the UK Government, but not governments in general

• The following do not need initial capital letters: o definitions of abbreviations o the names of seasons o the word ‘caesarean’

• For pharmaceuticals, use lowercase for generic names, but match capitalisation of brand names to client materials

• MGP’s convention is ‘eLearning’.

Post-nominal letters • Tip: check the conventional capitalisation of letters denoting degrees, memberships

of professional bodies, and honours that appear after an individual’s name

• There is an established order in which these letters should be presented—here are some examples in the order that they should be listed:

o British orders and decorations—for example, OBE o Crown appointments—for example, Honorary Surgeon to the Queen o bachelor’s degree(s) o master’s degree(s) o doctorates and medical degrees o fellowships and memberships of professional bodies—for example, FRCOG.

Example

Professor Dame Jo Smith DBE MBS MD FRCPsych

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Abbreviations and contractions Abbreviations

• To aid the reader, abbreviations should be defined at first use if used multiple times in a text—for example, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

• To pluralise an abbreviation, use a lowercase ‘s’—for example, ECGs

• If an abbreviation is used only once in a text, it should be replaced with the full term

• Although abbreviations can be used in headings after they have been defined, abbreviations should not be defined for the first time in headings

• The abbreviations ‘etc.’ and ‘vs.’ should not be used (replace with full terms)

• The abbreviation ‘e.g.’ should be replaced with ‘for example’, except in figures, tables, and boxes

• The abbreviations T1D/T1DM and T2D/T2DM should be replaced with the full terms

• Summary of Product Characteristics should be abbreviated to SPC, not SmPC

• Common abbreviations used in medical texts are shown in Table 2

Table 2: Common abbreviations used in medical texts

Abbreviation Definition

a.c. AUC b.d. bpm BP Bp conc. cpm ELISA Hb i.m. i.p. i.v. max. min. mol. mol. wt o.d. o.m. o.n. p.c. p.o. p.r.n. q.d.s. q.q.h. s.c. t.i.d.

before food area under the concentration–time curve twice daily beats per minute blood pressure boiling point concentration counts per minute enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay haemoglobin intramuscular intraperitoneal intravenous maximum minimum mole molecular weight every day every morning every night after food oral when required four times daily every four hours subcutaneous three times daily

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• For a list of terms that can be used without definition, see Box 1

• For MGP’s preferred presentation of certain abbreviations, see Box 2.

Box 1: Terms that can be used without definition AIDS BMA CCG DH DHSC GP HIV NICE NHS UK US

Box 2: MGP’s preferred presentation of certain abbreviations and their definitions dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor (DPP-4i) glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) immunoglobulin E (IgE) long-acting muscarinic antagonist (LAMA) long-acting beta2 agonist (LABA) novel oral anticoagulant (NOAC) sodium–glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitor (SGLT2i)

Contractions • Contractions are abbreviations formed by omitting letters—for example, Dr for

Doctor

• Professor should be given in full

• Contractions such as don’t (do not) and it’s (it is) should not be used in formal text.

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Numbers, units, and symbols Dates and times

• Dates use the following formats: o Monday 6 January 2020 (no commas) o 2018–2019 (en rule, no spaces, do not elide) o 1990s (no apostrophe)

• In times, a full stop should be used in preference to a colon—for example, 14.45 not 14:45

• Use the 24-hour clock—for example, 13.00 not 1.00 p.m.

Mathematical/medical notation • Mathematical signs and symbols should be used without spacing (see Table 3)

• If in doubt, use the SI (Système Internationale) abbreviation and unit

Table 3: Correct use of numbers, units, and symbols

Scenario Examples

The numbers one to nine are always written in full in text Million and billion are written in full and not abbreviated

Two patients 11 billion people

Numerals are used for numbers over nine, when accompanied by units (including measures of time) or symbols, and when a span includes a number greater than nine

1 mg; 3% 1 day; 3 weeks 5 working days

Numbers at the beginning of a sentence should be spelled out; however, if this results in an unwieldy number of words, then restructure the sentence where possible

Fifty percent of patients …

There should be a space between a numeral and its unit or symbol, except for %, =, <, and > NB < and > should only be used in tables and short copy such as bullets, and should be written in full in text

10 mg; 87%; p=0.001; <5 minutes

Second, minute, hour, and week should not be abbreviated except in tables or when part of a compound unit Other units should be abbreviated—see the Royal Society of Medicine’s Units, Symbols and Abbreviations for further information

second: s minute: min hour: h ml/min/1.73m2

Do not repeat the unit of measure in a numerical span 1–2 mg 1–2%

Microgram is abbreviated using letters rather than a symbol 6 mcg

‘l’ should be used for litre, not ‘L’ 1.2 l; 1.2 mcg/l

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A comma should be used to separate the thousands in numbers over 9999, but not in numbers 1000–9999

9000 11,000

‘First’ to ‘ninth’ should be spelled out, but numerals should be used for 10th onwards—use superscript for ordinal indicators

Third, Eighth 10th, 22nd

Fractions should be spelled out in text, but numerical in tables text: two-thirds table: 2/3

Specific time points during a study should be referred to using numerals

…at weeks 1, 2, and 4

The ‘1c’ in the abbreviated form of glycated haemoglobin should be subscript

HbA1c

The Greek alphabet should be presented as words rather than symbols

beta-blocker

Genuine multiplication and minus signs should be used instead of ‘x’ and hyphens/dashes

5 × 4 cm −1.5

Primes (´) are used to denote derivations of mathematical symbols (a and a´) and are often used in chemical formulae

3,4-dihydroxy-4´-methyl-5-nitrobenzophenone

Statistical notation, like ‘n’ and ‘p’, should be lowercase and Roman

n=100 (p<0.05)

The following scheme of asterisks is the accepted notation for significance in tables and figures—use daggers (†, ‡) for other p values

*p<0.05 **p<0.01 ***p<0.001

Ampersands (&) should not be used unless they are part of the name of an organisation or publication.

The Obstetrician & Gynaecologist journal

Footnotes • Use of symbols for footnotes has been replaced by use of uppercase letters in square

brackets—for example, [A], [B,C], or [D–F]

• In the text, footnotes should be indicated by superscript uppercase letters in square brackets positioned outside of sentence punctuation

• The associated footnote should then be listed next to the same uppercase (but not superscript) letter in square brackets in a Footnotes section.

Examples

The prevalence of cardiovascular disease has risen, as shown in Figure 1.[A]

[A] These data were recorded between 2010 and 2015.

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Presentation Gene and protein nomenclature

• Gene symbols are not the abbreviated forms of gene names, so it unnecessary to ‘define’ them by giving the full term followed by the symbol in parentheses at first use—either form can be used

• Human gene names should be presented in sentence case and italic—for example, Epidermal growth factor

• Human gene symbols should be presented in uppercase italic—for example, BRCA

• Human protein names should be presented in sentence case and Roman—for example, Tumour necrosis factor

• Human protein symbols should be presented in uppercase and Roman—for example, IL6

• mRNA and cDNA should be presented in lowercase italic

• hormones, antibodies, viruses, and amino acids do not need initial capitals or italic.

Species • Latin names of bacteria and fungi should appear in italic with an initial capital

• Write out in full in the first instance, then abbreviate—for example, Helicobacter pylori, then subsequently H. pylori.

When else to use italic • Italic should be used for:

o quoted text o the titles of published works o non-English words and phrases

• It is MGP’s preference not to use italic for Latin other than species names.

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Written style Spellings

• All spellings should follow Collins English Dictionary

• Although ‘-ize’ spellings are favoured by Collins English Dictionary, a decision has been made by MGP to use ‘ise’ spellings (see Box 3 for MGP’s spelling preferences)

Box 3: MGP’s spelling preferences Acknowledgement not acknowledgment Ageing not aging Among not amongst Benefiting not benefitting Combating not combatting Dietitian not dietician Fetus/fetal not foetus/foetal Focusing not focussing Flu not influenza Judgement not judgment Labelling not labeling Oestrogen not estrogen Payer not payor Preventative not preventive Referring not refering Regimen not regime Sulfonylurea not sulphonylurea Targeting not targeting While not whilst

• Use UK English terms, not US English terms: o the adjectives biological, pharmacological, and pathological should be used,

and not biologic, pharmacologic, and pathologic o similarly, use radiotherapy not radiation therapy

• Take care with similar-sounding words o use practice not practise to describe a GP practice or the practice of medicine o use ‘specialty’ not ‘speciality’ when describing branches of medicine.

Article use • Ensure articles are used—for example, ‘the menopause’ rather than ‘menopause’

• Is it ‘a’ or ‘an’ before a word starting with ‘h’? Use ‘a’ if you pronounce the ‘h’—for example, ‘a holistic care pathway’—but use ‘an’ if you don’t—for example, ‘an hour’.

Tense • Methods used and results should be described using the past tense.

Examples

Mice were given two types of grain Mice in group A ate 50 mg of grain

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Grammar

Could or can?

• Use ‘can’ to talk about something that is possible

• ‘Could’ is used to talk about something that was possible in the past.

Examples

Diabetes can increase your risk of developing certain types of cancer. I could have caught the bus this morning if I’d got up earlier.

Might or may?

• Use ‘may’ to talk about something that, while possible, is not guaranteed to happen

• ‘Might’ is used to talk about something like this in the past.

Examples

It may rain later today. Viral infection might have contributed to her death.

Which or that?

• Use ‘which’ after a comma in a subordinate clause

• Replace ‘which’ with ‘that’ if it is not used in a subordinate clause.

Examples

The dog, which had run away, was bought in November. It was the same dog that had run away.

Due to

• Use ‘due to’ if you can switch the words for ‘attributable to’ without changing the meaning

• Switch ‘due to’ for ‘owing to’ or ‘because of’ if the above doesn’t work.

Examples

The patient’s hypertension was due to underlying renal disease. Many children are absent from school because of illness.

Compared with or compared to?

• Use ‘compared to’ when comparing two contrasting things

• Use ‘compared with’ when the things being compared are alike.

Examples

The results compared favourably with those of Hickmott et al. The incidence of hyperglycaemia was higher in group A compared to group B.

Different from or different to?

• MGP’s preference is to use ‘different from’.

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Less or fewer?

• Use ‘fewer’ when talking about something that's plural and countable—for example, ‘Fewer people adhered to the treatment’

• Use less when talking about percentages or things that cannot be counted—for example, 'More than 30%'

Into or on to?

• ‘Into’ is used in preference to ‘in to’ when a definite action is taking place

• ‘On to’ is always written as two words.

Examples

She put the china into the box. As we move in to the 21st century. He put the magazines on to the desk.

Balancing a sentence

• It is important to ensure that a sentence balances on either side of certain pairs of words that emphasise similarity or contrast and that are used in parallel:

o both + and o either + or o neither + nor o not only + but also o between + and o whether + or.

• ‘Former’ and ‘latter’ should not be used when there are more than two names or items mentioned beforehand

• ‘Neither’ and ‘either’ should not be used with more than two items

• ‘Between’ is used with two items; ‘among’ is used with more than two items.

Number agreement

• Collective nouns, such as ‘group’, ‘team’, or ‘family’ should be treated as singular—for example, ‘The team is…’ rather than ‘The team are…’

• Professional bodies such as NICE should be treated as singular—for example, ‘NICE has published…’ rather than ‘NICE have published…’

• Ensure that plurals nouns are not accidentally treated as singular in a sentence.

Example

Incorrect: Many prestigious companies will reject a large proportion of candidates applying for a job to maintain the high calibre of its staff Correct: Many prestigious companies will reject a large proportion of candidates applying for a job to maintain the high calibre of their staff

Dangling participles

• Avoid dangling participles, which modify the wrong noun in a sentence and change its meaning.

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Example

Incorrect: Walking through the kitchen, the smoke alarm was going off. (Implies the smoke alarm was walking.) Correct: As I was walking through the kitchen, the smoke alarm was going off.

Adverbial phrases

• Ensure that adverbial phrases (which modify a verb to describe how an action took place) are positioned so that it is clear which verb they are modifying.

Examples

He ate slowly. Tomorrow, I’m going to clean the house. We sometimes have friends to stay. I’m not staying long.

Clarity • Avoid, as far as possible, sentences beginning with ‘There is/are’, or ‘It is/They are’

• Use plain language over convoluted wording wherever possible.

Speaking respectfully • Do not describe people as ‘cases’ or ‘service users’—say ‘individuals’ or ‘people’

• Refer to people as ‘men’ and ‘women’, not ‘males’ and ‘females’ o however, consider whether it would be more appropriate to use gender-

neutral language in circumstances that may be applicable to transgender individuals

o do not confuse gender and sex o do not confuse sexual orientation and gender identity

• Do not define people by their medical conditions—say ‘people with diabetes’ rather than ‘diabetic people’ or ‘diabetics’

• Do not say that people ‘suffer’ with medical conditions—say instead that they ‘have’, ‘experience’, or ‘live with’ them

• Diseases are treated or monitored, not people; treatments are unsuitable for patients rather than patients are unsuitable for treatments

• Use ‘family background’ instead of ‘race’, and avoid nonspecific terms like BAME

• Avoid faith-specific terms that could alienate some groups—for example, use ‘first name’ instead of ‘Christian name’

• Do not say ‘the elderly’ to describe the older population—elderly is an adjective and should not be used in this way; say ‘elderly people’.

Discussing medications and medical devices • If possible, ensure that coverage of a topic is not biased to favour any particular

medication or medical device, but gives the full range of options available

• Use the generic name in preference to using the brand name—unless there is a good reason to use the brand name, such as to avoid confusion when prescribing

• Ensure that the generic name is given in brackets after the first use of the brand name, and that the black triangle follows the brand name if applicable

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• Include a registered trademark at first mention of a drug or device in line with client materials

• Understand the difference between ‘dose’ and ‘dosage’—‘dose’ refers to the amount of a drug, whereas ‘dosage’ refers to both the amount and frequency

• If an article discusses a use for certain medications that is off-licence, include the following statement: Please note that not all of the treatments discussed in this article currently [date] have UK marketing authorisation for the indications mentioned. The prescriber should follow relevant professional guidance, taking full responsibility for all clinical decisions. Informed consent should be obtained and documented. See the General Medical Council’s guidance on Good practice in prescribing and managing medicines and devices for further information.

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References In the text

• Use Vancouver style

• References should be numbered consecutively in order of first citation in the text, and indicated by superscript figures positioned outside of punctuation and quotes

• If two references are cited, separate them using a superscript comma without spaces; if more than two consecutive references are cited, use a superscript en dash without spaces between the first and last reference numbers to create a range.

Examples

Hobbs1 found that... Other studies2,3 show ...inconsistent results within studies.4–10

• When citing the names of authors of publications: o for a single author, use the author’s surname o for two authors, use both authors’ surnames separated by ‘and’ o for three or more authors, use the first author’s surname followed by ‘et al.’

Examples

One author: See Smith11 for more information on… Two authors: In their recent article, Smith and Jones12 discuss… Three or more authors: These results are consistent with the findings of Jones et al. in their study on…13

• When citing the titles of published works, present the title in sentence case and italic, duplicating the spelling, punctuation, and abbreviations of the original exactly.

Example

NHS England outlines its ambitions for the next decade in the NHS long term plan.14

In the References section • Use Vancouver style

• Number references consecutively in order of first citation in the text

• List up to four authors; if there are more than four, list the first three followed by et al. Where groups/professional bodies are listed as authors, list all involved

• Include only authors’ first initials; in the case of individuals with hyphenated first names, include just the first initial

• Do not add a comma before et al.

• Reproduce the spelling of the authors’ names, document titles, and publication names exactly, but case and punctuation can be changed to match house style

• Do not elide page numbers; use an en dash in page ranges

• Delete https:// from the start of URLs.

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Journal articles

• When citing journal articles, include: o authors’ surnames and first initials o article title (sentence case; Roman) o publication name (title case; italic; use abbreviated form where available but

no full stop afterwards) o year of publication o volume number (bold) o issue number, if available (in brackets) o page number range o spacing and punctuation between these elements as shown in the examples

below

• A short form of a reference may be used for reasons of space. In this case, list only one author, use abbreviations for journal titles, and delete the paper title.

Examples

Up to three authors: Wilson M, Gaido L. Laboratory diagnosis of urinary tract infections in adult patients. Clin Infect Dis 2004; 38: 1150–1158. Four authors: Ebrahimi N, Maltepe C, Bournissen F, Koren G. Nausea and vomiting in pregnancy: using the 24-hour Pregnancy-Unique Quantification of Emesis (PUQE-24) scale. J Obstet Gynaecol Can 2009; 31 (9): 803–807. More than four authors: Greenhalgh T, Knight M, A’Court C et al. Management of post-acute covid-19 in primary care. BMJ 2020; 370: m3026. Short form: Davies M et al. Diabetes Care 2018: 41 (12): 2669–2701.

Cochrane reviews

• Cochrane reviews are formatted slightly differently to regular journal articles—see example below.

Example

Lindson N, Klemperer E, Hong B et al. Smoking reduction interventions for smoking cessation. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2019; (9): CD013183.

Webpages

• Content on a webpage is referenced differently to a document such as a PDF hosted on a website—use of a date of access covers us in case the page is updated, whereas a document hosted on a webpage will have its own publication date

• When citing content on a webpage, include: o authors’ surnames names and first initials o article title (sentence case; italic) o URL and date of access

• When citing a document hosted on a webpage, include: o authors’ surnames names and first initials o article title (sentence case; italic) o place of publication o publisher name

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o year of publication o URL, preceded by ‘Available at:’ o spacing and punctuation between these elements as shown in the examples

below.

Examples

Content on a webpage: NHS England website. NHS sets up specialist young people’s services in £100 million long COVID care expansion. www.england.nhs.uk/2021/06/nhs-sets-up-specialist-young-peoples-services-in-100-million-long-covid-care-expansion/ (accessed on 16 June 2021). Document hosted on a website: Health Protection Scotland. Healthcare associated infection. Annual report 2018. Glasgow; HPS, 2018. Available at: hpspubsrepo.blob.core.windows.net/hps-website/nss/2776/documents/1_HAI-Annual-Report-2018-final-v1%201.pdf

Books

• When citing books, include: o authors’/editors’ surnames names and first initials o chapter information (sentence case; Roman), preceded by ‘In:’, as shown in

the second example below o book title (sentence case; italic) o place of publication (if not in the UK, give the town and country; if in the US,

give the town, state initials, and country) o publisher name o year of publication o spacing and punctuation between these elements as shown in the examples

below.

Examples

Whole book: Howard J. Darwin. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982. Chapter within a book: Heslop-Harrison J. The scientific information system in the United Kingdom. In: Manten A, Timman T, editors. Information policy and scientific research. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1983: 113–118.

NICE guidance

• Tip: ‘/guidance’ can be removed from NICE URLs to shorten them.

Examples

NICE. Type 2 diabetes in adults: management. NICE Guideline 28. NICE, 2015 (last updated December 2020). Available at: www.nice.org.uk/ng28 NICE. Cardiovascular disease: risk assessment and reduction, including lipid modification. Clinical Guideline 181. NICE, 2014 (last updated 2016). Available at: www.nice.org.uk/cg181 NICE. Depression. NICE Clinical Knowledge Summary. Available at: cks.nice.org.uk/topics/depression/ (accessed on 16 June 2021).

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Summaries of product characteristics

• Following Brexit, some pharmaceutical companies are developing two SPCs—one for Great Britain and one for Northern Ireland

• To cope with this, MGP will now reference the main emc website rather than the product-specific page and omit the section 10 date.

Example

Bayer plc. Xarelto 20mg film-coated tablets—summary of product characteristics. www.medicines.org.uk/emc/ (accessed 30 June 2021).

Webinars, videos, and animations

• When citing webinars, videos, and animations, include: o presenters’ names o webinar/video/animation title (sentence case; italic) o URL o date of access o spacing and punctuation between these elements as shown in the examples

below.

Examples

Webinar: Calvert J. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: managing breathlessness. Guidelines in Practice webinar. www.guidelinesinpractice.co.uk/webinars/chronic-obstructive-pulmonary-disease-managing-breathlessness/455627.article (accessed 16 June 2021). Video: Gruffydd-Jones K. Five things you need to know about… bronchiectasis. Guidelines in Practice video. www.guidelinesinpractice.co.uk/five-things-you-need-to-know-about-bronchiectasis/455954.article (accessed 16 June 2021). Animation: Russell R. Respimat® Soft Mist reusable inhaler: patient benefits and environmental impact. Guidelines in Practice animation. www.guidelinesinpractice.co.uk/animations/respimatandreg-soft-mist-reusable-inhaler-patient-benefits-and-environmental-impact/455106.article (accessed 16 June 2021).

MGP publications

• Although print versions of Guidelines/Guidelines for Pharmacy summaries can be cited following the instructions for books, and print versions of Guidelines in Practice articles can be cited following the instructions for journal articles, it’s probably safer to cite web versions because these will be the most up to date.

Examples

Guidelines for Pharmacy online summary: NICE. Chickenpox. Guidelines for Pharmacy summary. www.guidelines.co.uk/infection/nice-cks-on-chickenpox/455909.article (accessed on 16 June 2021). Guidelines for Pharmacy print summary: NICE. Chickenpox. Guidelines for Pharmacy summary. In: Hatton S, editor. Guidelines for Pharmacy—summarising clinical guidelines for community pharmacy. 7th ed. Chesham: MGP Ltd, April 2021. pp. 147–153.

24

Guidelines in Practice online article: Emmanuel A. Top tips: identifying and managing constipation. www.guidelinesinpractice.co.uk/gastrointestinal/top-tips-identifying-and-managing-constipation/456007.article (accessed 16 June 2021). Guidelines in Practice print article: Emmanuel A. Top tips: identifying and managing constipation. Guidelines in Practice 2021; 24 (5): 34–39.

Articles in press

• When citing documents that have been published online ahead of print, add the following after the information known:

o the words ‘Epub ahead of print.’ o the article’s doi, so that readers can access the reference online

• When citing preprints, which have not yet undergone peer review, add the following after the article title:

o the word ‘Preprint.’ o the article’s doi, so that readers can access the reference online.

Example:

Dani M, Dirkson A, Taraborrelli P et al. Autonomic dysfunction in ‘long COVID’: rationale, physiology and management strategies. Clin Med 2020; 21 (1). Epub ahead of print. doi: doi.org/10.7861/clinmed.2020-0896

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