Skip to content
CiteSwap

Vancouver to Chicago A-D converter

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

Paste references written in Vancouver and get them back in Chicago A-D, 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 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

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)

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

Vancouver

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

In-text: (1)

Chicago A-D

Achebe, Chinua. 1958. Things Fall Apart. 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)

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 Vancouver and Chicago A-D

11 of 12 rules differ; they are listed first.

RuleVancouverChicago A-D
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 with no 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, e.g. Suri, Tavneet, and William Jack
Many authorsSeven or more authors: first six followed by “et al.”List up to six authors; for seven or more, the first three followed by “et al.”
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 without labels: 354 (6317)
Page rangesShortened range, e.g. 1288–92Shortened range after a colon, e.g. 1288–92
DOIs and links“Available from:” before URLs, “[cited date]” for web pages, “doi:” for DOIsDOI as a link: https://doi.org/…
Reference list heading(same)ReferencesReferences

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).

Vancouver is more common in medicine, nursing, dentistry, 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.

Vancouver to Chicago A-D: frequently asked questions

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

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 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 Vancouver to Chicago A-D?

Vancouver uses a number in round brackets, square brackets or superscript, e.g. (1), in the order sources are first cited. 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: Vancouver gives (1), Chicago A-D gives (Suri and Jack 2016, 1290).

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

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

Do titles need different capitalisation in Chicago A-D?

Yes. Chicago A-D 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 Chicago A-D?

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