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OSCOLA to Chicago A-D converter

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

Paste references written in OSCOLA and get them back in Chicago A-D, ready to copy into Word or Google Docs. The main changes: footnotes in-text citations become author–date citations, your “Bibliography” list becomes “References” and the list is alphabetical by first author’s surname. 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.

OSCOLA vs Chicago A-D: the same sources side by side

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

Journal article

OSCOLA

Suri T and Jack W, ‘The Long-Run Poverty and Gender Impacts of Mobile Money’ (2016) 354 Science 1288 <https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309>

Footnote: Tavneet Suri and William Jack, ‘The Long-Run Poverty and Gender Impacts of Mobile Money’ (2016) 354 Science 1288, 1290 <https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309>.

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)

Book

OSCOLA

Achebe C, Things Fall Apart (Heinemann 1958)

Footnote: Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart (Heinemann 1958) 1290.

Chicago A-D

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

In-text: (Achebe 1958, 1290)

Web page

OSCOLA

World Health Organization, ‘Malaria’ (4 December 2023) <https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria> accessed 1 October 2026

Footnote: World Health Organization, ‘Malaria’ (4 December 2023) 1290 <https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria> accessed 1 October 2026.

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)

Key differences between OSCOLA and Chicago A-D

11 of 12 rules differ; they are listed first.

RuleOSCOLAChicago A-D
Reference list headingBibliographyReferences
In-text citationsfootnotes: a superscript number in the text points to a footnote with the full citation; later notes use a short form or “ibid”author and year in parentheses with no comma, e.g. (Suri and Jack 2016, 1290)
List orderSecondary sources alphabetically by first author’s surname, with cases and legislation in separate listsAlphabetical by first author’s surname
Author namesFootnotes give the name as written (Tavneet Suri); the bibliography gives surname and initials without full stops (Suri T)First author inverted with full names, the rest in normal order, e.g. Suri, Tavneet, and William Jack
Many authorsMore than three authors: first author followed by “and others”List up to six authors; for seven or more, the first three followed by “et al.”
DateIn brackets: after the title for journal articles, (2016), and with the publisher for books, (Heinemann 1958)After the authors, followed by a full stop: 2016.
Article titlesIn single quotation marks, title caseIn quotation marks, title case
ItalicsBook titles (and case names); article titles and journal names are not italicisedJournal and book titles
Journal namesFull journal name (or its standard abbreviation) after the volume number, not italicisedFull journal name, volume and issue without labels: 354 (6317)
Page rangesFirst page only, e.g. 1288; pinpoint pages go in the footnoteShortened range after a colon, e.g. 1288–92
DOIs and linksURLs in angle brackets, followed by the date you accessed them: <https://…> accessed 1 October 2026DOI as a link: https://doi.org/…
Title capitalisation(same)Title caseTitle case

When to use Chicago A-D

Chicago author-date suits the sciences and social sciences when your department wants Chicago but with in-text citations instead of footnotes. It is published by the University of Chicago Press; CiteSwap follows the 18th edition (2024).

OSCOLA is more common in law, law schools in the UK, Ireland, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and other common-law countries, while Chicago A-D is usual in the natural sciences, the social sciences, geography. If your department or journal names a style, always follow it.

OSCOLA to Chicago A-D: frequently asked questions

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

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

OSCOLA uses footnotes: a superscript number in the text points to a footnote with the full citation; later notes use a short form or “ibid”. Chicago A-D uses author and year in parentheses with no comma, e.g. (Suri and Jack 2016, 1290). For the same article and page: OSCOLA gives Tavneet Suri and William Jack, ‘The Long-Run Poverty and Gender Impacts of Mobile Money’ (2016) 354 Science 1288, 1290 <https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309>., Chicago A-D gives (Suri and Jack 2016, 1290).

What is the reference list called in Chicago A-D?

In OSCOLA the list is headed “Bibliography”; in Chicago A-D it is “References”. Change the heading when you paste the converted list into your document.

Does the order of my references change in Chicago A-D?

Yes. OSCOLA: secondary sources alphabetically by first author’s surname, with cases and legislation in separate lists. Chicago A-D: alphabetical by first author’s surname. CiteSwap sorts the converted list for you.

How are author names written in Chicago A-D?

Chicago A-D: First author inverted with full names, the rest in normal order, e.g. Suri, Tavneet, and William Jack. OSCOLA: Footnotes give the name as written (Tavneet Suri); the bibliography gives surname and initials without full stops (Suri T). 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 OSCOLA to Chicago A-D 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.