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Chicago A-D to Vancouver converter

Paste Chicago A-D references, get Vancouver. Free, no sign-up.

Paste references written in Chicago A-D 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.

Chicago A-D 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

Chicago A-D

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

Chicago A-D

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

In-text: (Achebe 1958, 1290)

Vancouver

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

In-text: (1)

Web page

Chicago A-D

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

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 Chicago A-D and Vancouver

11 of 12 rules differ; they are listed first.

RuleChicago A-DVancouver
In-text citationsauthor and year in parentheses with no 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 order, e.g. Suri, Tavneet, and William JackSurname and initials without full stops, e.g. Suri T, Jack W
Many authorsList up to six authors; for seven or more, the first three followed by “et al.”Seven 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 without labels: 354 (6317)Abbreviated journal name (NLM abbreviations), not italic
Page rangesShortened range after a colon, e.g. 1288–92Shortened range, e.g. 1288–92
DOIs and linksDOI as a link: https://doi.org/…“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.

Chicago A-D is more common in the natural sciences, the social sciences, geography, while Vancouver is usual in medicine, nursing, dentistry. If your department or journal names a style, always follow it.

Chicago A-D to Vancouver: frequently asked questions

How do I convert Chicago A-D citations to Vancouver?

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

Chicago A-D uses author and year in parentheses with no 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: Chicago A-D gives (Suri and Jack 2016, 1290), Vancouver gives (1).

Does the order of my references change in Vancouver?

Yes. Chicago A-D: 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. Chicago A-D: First author inverted with full names, the rest in normal order, e.g. Suri, Tavneet, and William Jack. 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 Chicago A-D 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.