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CiteSwap

Vancouver to Harvard converter

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

Paste references written in Vancouver and get them back in Harvard, ready to copy into Word or Google Docs. The main changes: numbered in-text citations become author–date citations, your “References” list becomes “Reference list” 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 Harvard: 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)

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)

Book

Vancouver

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

In-text: (1)

Harvard

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

Harvard

World Health Organization (2023) Malaria. Available at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria (Accessed: 1 October 2026).

In-text: (World Health Organization, 2023, p. 1290)

Key differences between Vancouver and Harvard

11 of 12 rules differ; they are listed first.

RuleVancouverHarvard
Reference list headingReferencesReference list
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 and Jack, 2016)
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, joined with “and”, e.g. Suri, T. and Jack, W.
Many authorsSeven or more authors: first six followed by “et al.”Four or more authors: first author followed by “et al.”
DateAfter the journal name, with abbreviated month: 2016 Dec;354(6317):1288–92Straight after the authors, in parentheses, with no full stop: (2016)
Article titlesPlain text, sentence caseIn single quotation marks, sentence case
ItalicsNothing: titles and journal names are plain textJournal names and book titles
Journal namesAbbreviated journal name (NLM abbreviations), not italicFull journal name in title case
Page rangesShortened range, e.g. 1288–92Full page range with “pp.”, e.g. pp. 1288–1292
DOIs and links“Available from:” before URLs, “[cited date]” for web pages, “doi:” for DOIs“Available at:” before the DOI or URL, and “(Accessed: date)” for web pages
Title capitalisation(same)Sentence caseSentence case

When to use Harvard

Harvard is the most common referencing style at universities in the UK, Australia, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and Kenya. Cite Them Right is the version most of those universities follow. It is published by Cite Them Right (Bloomsbury); CiteSwap follows the Cite Them Right 12th edition.

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

Vancouver to Harvard: frequently asked questions

How do I convert Vancouver citations to Harvard?

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 Harvard, 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 Harvard?

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

What is the reference list called in Harvard?

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

Does the order of my references change in Harvard?

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

How are author names written in Harvard?

Harvard: Surname and initials, joined with “and”, e.g. Suri, T. and 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.

Is the Vancouver to Harvard 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.