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APA to Harvard converter

Paste APA references, get Harvard. Free, no sign-up.

Paste references written in APA and get them back in Harvard, ready to copy into Word or Google Docs. The main changes: your “References” list becomes “Reference list”, author names are written as in Harvard (surname and initials, joined with “and”) and the date moves (straight after the authors, in parentheses, with no full stop). CiteSwap looks each reference up in the open Crossref catalogue, so authors, years and page numbers come from the publisher’s record rather than being rewritten by hand.

APA vs Harvard: the same sources side by side

Each example below was formatted by CiteSwap’s engine, exactly as the converter outputs it.

Journal article

APA

Suri, T., & Jack, W. (2016). The long-run poverty and gender impacts of mobile money. Science, 354(6317), 1288–1292. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309

In-text: (Suri & Jack, 2016, p. 1290)

Harvard

Suri, T. and Jack, W. (2016) “The long-run poverty and gender impacts of mobile money,” Science, 354(6317), pp. 1288–1292. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309.

In-text: (Suri and Jack, 2016, p. 1290)

Book

APA

Achebe, C. (1958). Things fall apart. Heinemann.

In-text: (Achebe, 1958, p. 1290)

Harvard

Achebe, C. (1958) Things fall apart. London: Heinemann.

In-text: (Achebe, 1958, p. 1290)

Web page

APA

World Health Organization. (2023, December 4). Malaria. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria

In-text: (World Health Organization, 2023, p. 1290)

Harvard

World Health Organization (2023) Malaria, World Health Organization. Available at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria (Accessed: October 1, 2026).

In-text: (World Health Organization, 2023, p. 1290)

Key differences between APA and Harvard

9 of 12 rules differ; they are listed first.

RuleAPAHarvard
Reference list headingReferencesReference list
In-text citationsauthor and year in parentheses, e.g. (Suri & Jack, 2016), with a page number for quotationsauthor and year in parentheses, e.g. (Suri and Jack, 2016)
Author namesSurname and initials for every author, e.g. Suri, T., & Jack, W.Surname and initials, joined with “and”, e.g. Suri, T. and Jack, W.
Many authorsList up to 20 authors; for 21 or more, give the first 19, an ellipsis, then the last authorFour or more authors: first author followed by “et al.”
DateStraight after the authors, in parentheses: (2016).Straight after the authors, in parentheses, with no full stop: (2016)
Article titlesPlain text, no quotation marks, sentence caseIn quotation marks, sentence case
ItalicsJournal name and volume number; book and report titlesJournal names and book titles
Page rangesFull page range, e.g. 1288–1292Full page range with “pp.”, e.g. pp. 1288–1292
DOIs and linksDOI as a link: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309“Available at:” before the DOI or URL, and “(Accessed: date)” for web pages
List order(same)Alphabetical by first author’s surnameAlphabetical by first author’s surname
Title capitalisation(same)Sentence caseSentence case
Journal names(same)Full journal name in title caseFull journal name in title case

When to use Harvard

Harvard is the most common referencing style at universities in the UK, Australia, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and Kenya. Cite Them Right is the version most of those universities follow. It is published by Cite Them Right (Bloomsbury); CiteSwap follows the Cite Them Right 12th edition.

APA is more common in psychology, education, nursing, while Harvard is usual in business, economics, the social sciences. If your department or journal names a style, always follow it.

APA to Harvard: frequently asked questions

How do I convert APA citations to Harvard?

Paste your APA reference list into the box above (one reference per line, numbered, or separated by blank lines), check that “From” says APA or Auto-detect and “To” says Harvard, then press Convert. You can also paste DOIs, BibTeX or RIS. Copy the result or download it for Word.

How do in-text citations change from APA to Harvard?

APA uses author and year in parentheses, e.g. (Suri & Jack, 2016), with a page number for quotations. Harvard uses author and year in parentheses, e.g. (Suri and Jack, 2016). For the same article and page: APA gives (Suri & Jack, 2016, p. 1290), Harvard gives (Suri and Jack, 2016, p. 1290).

What is the reference list called in Harvard?

In APA the list is headed “References”; in Harvard it is “Reference list”. Change the heading when you paste the converted list into your document.

How are author names written in Harvard?

Harvard: Surname and initials, joined with “and”, e.g. Suri, T. and Jack, W. APA: Surname and initials for every author, e.g. Suri, T., & Jack, W. When a reference is matched in Crossref, CiteSwap uses full first names from the publisher’s record, so it can produce either form.

How are DOIs and URLs written in Harvard?

Harvard: “Available at:” before the DOI or URL, and “(Accessed: date)” for web pages. APA: DOI as a link: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309. The converter rewrites DOIs in Harvard format for you.

Is the APA to Harvard converter accurate?

Each reference is matched against the Crossref catalogue (over 150 million records) and only accepted automatically when the title, year and first author agree. Anything uncertain is marked “Needs review” so you can pick the right match, and references that aren’t in the catalogue, like websites or local journals, are parsed from your text and marked so you can check them.