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Vancouver to APSA converter

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

Paste references written in Vancouver and get them back in APSA, ready to copy into Word or Google Docs. The main changes: numbered in-text citations become author–date citations, titles switch to title case 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.

Vancouver vs APSA: 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)

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)

Book

Vancouver

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

In-text: (1)

APSA

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

In-text: (Achebe 1958, 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)

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)

Key differences between Vancouver and APSA

11 of 12 rules differ; they are listed first.

RuleVancouverAPSA
In-text citationsa number in round brackets, square brackets or superscript, e.g. (1), in the order sources are first citedauthor and year, with a page number after a comma, e.g. (Suri and Jack 2016, 1290)
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 WFirst author inverted with full names, the rest in normal order
Many authorsSeven or more authors: first six followed by “et al.”Long author lists are shortened following Chicago’s rules
DateAfter the journal name, with abbreviated month: 2016 Dec;354(6317):1288–92After the authors, followed by a full stop: 2016.
Title capitalisationSentence caseTitle case
Article titlesPlain text, sentence caseIn quotation marks, title case
ItalicsNothing: titles and journal names are plain textJournal and book titles
Journal namesAbbreviated journal name (NLM abbreviations), not italicFull journal name, volume and issue: 354(6317)
Page rangesShortened range, e.g. 1288–92Shortened range after a colon and space, e.g. 354(6317): 1288–92
DOIs and links“Available from:” before URLs, “[cited date]” for web pages, “doi:” for DOIsDOI written as “doi:10.1126/…”
Reference list heading(same)ReferencesReferences

When to use APSA

APSA is used in political science and international relations, closely following Chicago author-date. It is published by the American Political Science Association; CiteSwap follows the APSA Style Manual (2018).

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

Vancouver to APSA: frequently asked questions

How do I convert Vancouver citations to APSA?

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 APSA, 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 APSA?

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

Does the order of my references change in APSA?

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

Do titles need different capitalisation in APSA?

Yes. APSA uses title case for article and book titles, so words like “Poverty” and “Gender” are capitalised. CiteSwap applies this automatically.

How are author names written in APSA?

APSA: First author inverted with full names, the rest in normal order. 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.

Is the Vancouver to APSA 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.