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Harvard to APA converter

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

Paste references written in Harvard and get them back in APA, ready to copy into Word or Google Docs. The main changes: your “Reference list” list becomes “References”, author names are written as in APA (surname and initials for every author) and the date moves (straight after the authors, in parentheses). 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.

Harvard vs APA: the same sources side by side

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

Journal article

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)

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)

Book

Harvard

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

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

APA

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

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

Web page

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)

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)

Key differences between Harvard and APA

9 of 12 rules differ; they are listed first.

RuleHarvardAPA
Reference list headingReference listReferences
In-text citationsauthor and year in parentheses, e.g. (Suri and Jack, 2016)author and year in parentheses, e.g. (Suri & Jack, 2016), with a page number for quotations
Author namesSurname and initials, joined with “and”, e.g. Suri, T. and Jack, W.Surname and initials for every author, e.g. Suri, T., & Jack, W.
Many authorsFour or more authors: first author followed by “et al.”List up to 20 authors; for 21 or more, give the first 19, an ellipsis, then the last author
DateStraight after the authors, in parentheses, with no full stop: (2016)Straight after the authors, in parentheses: (2016).
Article titlesIn quotation marks, sentence casePlain text, no quotation marks, sentence case
ItalicsJournal names and book titlesJournal name and volume number; book and report titles
Page rangesFull page range with “pp.”, e.g. pp. 1288–1292Full page range, e.g. 1288–1292
DOIs and links“Available at:” before the DOI or URL, and “(Accessed: date)” for web pagesDOI as a link: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309
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 APA

APA is the default in psychology, education, nursing, business and most social sciences, and many universities use it as their house style for coursework and dissertations. It is published by the American Psychological Association; CiteSwap follows the 7th edition (2020).

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

Harvard to APA: frequently asked questions

How do I convert Harvard citations to APA?

Paste your Harvard reference list into the box above (one reference per line, numbered, or separated by blank lines), check that “From” says Harvard or Auto-detect and “To” says APA, 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 Harvard to APA?

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

What is the reference list called in APA?

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

How are author names written in APA?

APA: Surname and initials for every author, e.g. Suri, T., & Jack, W. Harvard: Surname and initials, joined with “and”, e.g. Suri, T. and 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 APA?

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

Is the Harvard to APA 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.