Skip to content
CiteSwap

Vancouver to APA converter

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

Paste references written in Vancouver and get them back in APA, ready to copy into Word or Google Docs. The main changes: numbered in-text citations become author–date citations, the list is alphabetical by first author’s surname and author names are written as in APA (surname and initials for every author). 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.

Vancouver 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

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)

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

Vancouver

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

In-text: (1)

APA

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

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

Web page

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)

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)

Key differences between Vancouver and APA

10 of 12 rules differ; they are listed first.

RuleVancouverAPA
In-text citationsa number in round brackets, square brackets or superscript, e.g. (1), in the order sources are first citedauthor and year in parentheses, e.g. (Suri & Jack, 2016), with a page number for quotations
List orderNumbered in the order of first citationAlphabetical by first author’s surname
Author namesSurname and initials without full stops, e.g. Suri T, Jack WSurname and initials for every author, e.g. Suri, T., & Jack, W.
Many authorsSeven or more authors: first six followed by “et al.”List up to 20 authors; for 21 or more, give the first 19, an ellipsis, then the last author
DateAfter the journal name, with abbreviated month: 2016 Dec;354(6317):1288–92Straight after the authors, in parentheses: (2016).
Article titlesPlain text, sentence casePlain text, no quotation marks, sentence case
ItalicsNothing: titles and journal names are plain textJournal name and volume number; book and report titles
Journal namesAbbreviated journal name (NLM abbreviations), not italicFull journal name in title case
Page rangesShortened range, e.g. 1288–92Full page range, e.g. 1288–1292
DOIs and links“Available from:” before URLs, “[cited date]” for web pages, “doi:” for DOIsDOI as a link: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309
Reference list heading(same)ReferencesReferences
Title capitalisation(same)Sentence caseSentence 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).

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

Vancouver to APA: frequently asked questions

How do I convert Vancouver citations to APA?

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

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

Does the order of my references change in APA?

Yes. Vancouver: numbered in the order of first citation. APA: alphabetical by first author’s surname. CiteSwap sorts the converted list for you.

How are author names written in APA?

APA: Surname and initials for every author, e.g. Suri, T., & Jack, W. Vancouver: Surname and initials without full stops, 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 APA?

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

Is the Vancouver 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.