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APA to Vancouver converter

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

Paste references written in APA and get them back in Vancouver, ready to copy into Word or Google Docs. The main changes: author–date in-text citations become numbered citations, the list is numbered in the order of first citation and author names are written as in Vancouver (surname and initials without full stops). 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 Vancouver: 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)

Vancouver

Suri T, Jack W. The long-run poverty and gender impacts of mobile money. Science. 2016 Dec 9;354(6317):1288–92. doi:10.1126/science.aah5309

In-text: (1)

Book

APA

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

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

Vancouver

Achebe C. Things fall apart. London: Heinemann; 1958.

In-text: (1)

Web page

APA

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

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

Vancouver

World Health Organization. Malaria [Internet]. 2023 [cited 2026 Oct 1]. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria

In-text: (1)

Key differences between APA and Vancouver

10 of 12 rules differ; they are listed first.

RuleAPAVancouver
In-text citationsauthor and year in parentheses, e.g. (Suri & Jack, 2016), with a page number for quotationsa number in round brackets, square brackets or superscript, e.g. (1), in the order sources are first cited
List orderAlphabetical by first author’s surnameNumbered in the order of first citation
Author namesSurname and initials for every author, e.g. Suri, T., & Jack, W.Surname and initials without full stops, e.g. Suri T, Jack W
Many authorsList up to 20 authors; for 21 or more, give the first 19, an ellipsis, then the last authorSeven or more authors: first six followed by “et al.”
DateStraight after the authors, in parentheses: (2016).After the journal name, with abbreviated month: 2016 Dec;354(6317):1288–92
Article titlesPlain text, no quotation marks, sentence casePlain text, sentence case
ItalicsJournal name and volume number; book and report titlesNothing: titles and journal names are plain text
Journal namesFull journal name in title caseAbbreviated journal name (NLM abbreviations), not italic
Page rangesFull page range, e.g. 1288–1292Shortened range, e.g. 1288–92
DOIs and linksDOI as a link: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309“Available from:” before URLs, “[cited date]” for web pages, “doi:” for DOIs
Reference list heading(same)ReferencesReferences
Title capitalisation(same)Sentence caseSentence case

When to use Vancouver

Vancouver is the standard numbered style in medicine, nursing, dentistry and biomedical sciences, especially at UK, Australian and African universities. It is published by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, following the US National Library of Medicine; CiteSwap follows the NLM Citing Medicine, 2nd edition.

APA is more common in psychology, education, nursing, while Vancouver is usual in medicine, nursing, dentistry. If your department or journal names a style, always follow it.

APA to Vancouver: frequently asked questions

How do I convert APA citations to Vancouver?

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 Vancouver, 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 Vancouver?

APA uses author and year in parentheses, e.g. (Suri & Jack, 2016), with a page number for quotations. Vancouver uses a number in round brackets, square brackets or superscript, e.g. (1), in the order sources are first cited. For the same article and page: APA gives (Suri & Jack, 2016, p. 1290), Vancouver gives (1).

Does the order of my references change in Vancouver?

Yes. APA: alphabetical by first author’s surname. Vancouver: numbered in the order of first citation. CiteSwap keeps the order you pasted, so paste them in the order you first cite them.

How are author names written in Vancouver?

Vancouver: Surname and initials without full stops, e.g. Suri T, 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 Vancouver?

Vancouver: “Available from:” before URLs, “[cited date]” for web pages, “doi:” for DOIs. APA: DOI as a link: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309. The converter rewrites DOIs in Vancouver format for you.

Is the APA to Vancouver 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.