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APSA to Vancouver converter

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

Paste references written in APSA 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, titles switch to sentence case and the list is numbered in the order of first citation. 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.

APSA 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

APSA

Suri, Tavneet, and William Jack. 2016. “The Long-Run Poverty and Gender Impacts of Mobile Money.” Science 354(6317): 1288–92. doi:10.1126/science.aah5309.

In-text: (Suri and Jack 2016, 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

APSA

Achebe, Chinua. 1958. Things Fall Apart. London: Heinemann.

In-text: (Achebe 1958, 1290)

Vancouver

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

In-text: (1)

Web page

APSA

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

In-text: (World Health Organization 2023, 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 APSA and Vancouver

11 of 12 rules differ; they are listed first.

RuleAPSAVancouver
In-text citationsauthor and year, with a page number after a comma, e.g. (Suri and Jack 2016, 1290)a 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 namesFirst author inverted with full names, the rest in normal orderSurname and initials without full stops, e.g. Suri T, Jack W
Many authorsLong author lists are shortened following Chicago’s rulesSeven or more authors: first six followed by “et al.”
DateAfter the authors, followed by a full stop: 2016.After the journal name, with abbreviated month: 2016 Dec;354(6317):1288–92
Title capitalisationTitle caseSentence case
Article titlesIn quotation marks, title casePlain text, sentence case
ItalicsJournal and book titlesNothing: titles and journal names are plain text
Journal namesFull journal name, volume and issue: 354(6317)Abbreviated journal name (NLM abbreviations), not italic
Page rangesShortened range after a colon and space, e.g. 354(6317): 1288–92Shortened range, e.g. 1288–92
DOIs and linksDOI written as “doi:10.1126/…”“Available from:” before URLs, “[cited date]” for web pages, “doi:” for DOIs
Reference list heading(same)ReferencesReferences

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.

APSA is more common in political science, international relations, public policy, while Vancouver is usual in medicine, nursing, dentistry. If your department or journal names a style, always follow it.

APSA to Vancouver: frequently asked questions

How do I convert APSA citations to Vancouver?

Paste your APSA reference list into the box above (one reference per line, numbered, or separated by blank lines), check that “From” says APSA 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 APSA to Vancouver?

APSA uses author and year, with a page number after a comma, e.g. (Suri and Jack 2016, 1290). 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: APSA gives (Suri and Jack 2016, 1290), Vancouver gives (1).

Does the order of my references change in Vancouver?

Yes. APSA: 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.

Do titles need different capitalisation in Vancouver?

Yes. Vancouver uses sentence case, capitalising only the first word, the first word after a colon and proper nouns. CiteSwap keeps titles as the publisher’s record has them, so check that capitals on ordinary words are lowered, because catalogues often store titles in title case.

How are author names written in Vancouver?

Vancouver: Surname and initials without full stops, e.g. Suri T, Jack W. APSA: First author inverted with full names, the rest in normal order. When a reference is matched in Crossref, CiteSwap uses full first names from the publisher’s record, so it can produce either form.

Is the APSA 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.