The Library provides access to the BNF and the BNF for Children via our subscription to the Medicines Complete database - they are both listed on our databases a-z page under 'B'.
If you are in any doubt about how to write the reference based on the below advice, please check with your tutor.
How to reference BNF entries on Medicines Complete - the template to follow for Harvard style is:
- Author
- date
- 'title of page'
- title of source (in italics)
- Available at: http:// doi number .
There are various things to consider when building the reference:
- The author will always be - Joint Formulary Committee - which is the committee that oversees the publication. It is not the 'BNF' because that is the source title. It is not 'Medicines Complete' as that is the database name that hosts the information, nor is it any of the organisational copyright holders, e.g. RPS, that you may see listed at the bottom of the page. The information about the author being the JFC is stated on the publishers web page for the print version of the BNF.
- The date/year to use will vary as not ALL drugs are updated every year. Look for the 'Last Update' date on the specific drug page you have used - don't use the generic 'BNF publication last updated' date at the top as that refers to the site as a whole rather than the exact drug you've looked up. The image below shows the date as "04-Sep-2020", so you would use 2020 for that example.
- Entries usually feature a DOI which is all you need to include for the online access part of the reference - there is NO requirement to include an Accessed date when a DOI exists. The image below shows the DOI just under the drug title, which you would simply copy and paste into your reference.
Can I see an example?
This is an example of the entry for the drug 'Hydroxycarbamide' on the BNF.
For the purposes of this FAQ answer, the "Last Update" date and the DOI link mentioned in points 2 and 3 above have been highlighted in yellow.
The final reference for this drug would therefore look like:
Joint Formulary Committee (2020) 'Hydroxycarbamide (Hydroxyurea)', British National Formulary. Available at: https://doi.org/10.18578/BNF.266488402.
What about in-text citations?
Any in-text citations would need to use the Joint Formulary Committee as the author, so as to maintain the link to the full reference. But if you wish to, you could mention the fact the information is from the BNF in your sentence. For example:
"As noted in the British National Formulary, there are multiple common or very common side effects of the drug... (Joint Formulary Committee, 2020)."
How to reference BNF for Children entries on Medicines Complete - the template to follow for Harvard style follows the same structure as for the BNF:
- Author
- date
- 'title of page'
- title of source (in italics)
- Available at: http:// doi number .
But there are two changes from the BNF version to be aware of:
- A different Committee oversees the Children's version so the author will always be the - Paediatric Formulary Committee
- The 'title of source' will be - British National Formulary for Children
Can I see an example?
This is an example of the entry for the drug 'Aspirin' on the BNFC.
For the purposes of this FAQ answer, the 'Last Update' date of "15-Apr-2024" and the DOI link have been highlighted in yellow.
The final reference for this drug would therefore look like:
Paediatric Formulary Committee (2024) 'Aspirin (Acetylsalicylic Acid)', British National Formulary for Children. Available at: https://doi.org/10.18578/BNFC.456850132.
What about in-text citations?
Any in-text citations would need to use the Paediatric Formulary Committee as the author, so as to maintain the link to the full reference. But if you wish to, you could mention the fact the information is from the BNFC in your sentence. For example:
"As noted in the British National Formulary for Children, the dosage for ages 12–17 years is... (Paediatric Formulary Committee, 2024)."
