BibTeX to Vancouver Citation Converter

Convert BibTeX entries to Vancouver style references in seconds. Paste any @article or @book entry and copy a clean Vancouver citation. Free, no sign-up.

Paste a BibTeX entry to get a Vancouver citation

What is BibTeX?

BibTeX is the reference format used by LaTeX and by reference managers such as Zotero, JabRef, and Mendeley. Each entry starts with an @ sign and a type – @article, @book, @inproceedings – followed by a citation key and a set of field–value pairs for authors, title, journal, year, and pages. BibTeX stores the raw data of a reference rather than a formatted citation, which makes it ideal input for conversion: every field is already labeled, so nothing has to be guessed from punctuation. Paste one or more entries into CiteTools and the parser reads the fields directly. If the entry carries a doi field, CiteTools can also verify the record against CrossRef. The output is a finished citation you can paste into a paper written in Word or Google Docs.

How the BibTeX to Vancouver conversion works

Copy a BibTeX entry from your .bib file or reference manager and paste it into the input field.
CiteTools parses the entry’s fields and decodes LaTeX markup such as protective braces and accent commands.
Copy the formatted citation, or export the result as plain text, HTML, or RTF.

Example input:

@article{watson1953,
  author  = {Watson, James D. and Crick, Francis H. C.},
  title   = {Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids},
  journal = {Nature},
  volume  = {171},
  pages   = {737--738},
  year    = {1953},
  doi     = {10.1038/171737a0}
}

About Vancouver Style

Vancouver system - primarily used in medicine and biomedical sciences.

Vancouver is the numeric style of medicine and the life sciences, maintained through the ICMJE recommendations and NLM’s Citing Medicine. Authors are listed as surname plus initials without periods, journal titles use official NLM abbreviations, and the entry ends with year, volume, issue, and a compressed page range. CiteTools follows those conventions, which is why PMID input pairs naturally with Vancouver output.

Frequently asked questions

Which BibTeX entry types are supported?

The common types all work: @article, @book, @incollection, @inproceedings, @phdthesis, @techreport, and @misc. CiteTools maps each type onto the matching reference form in your chosen style.

Do I need the full entry?

The parser needs the fields your target style prints. Author, title, and year produce a usable citation; adding journal, volume, and pages makes it complete. If the entry has a doi field, CiteTools can fill gaps from CrossRef.

Will braces and LaTeX escapes be cleaned up in Vancouver?

Yes. Protective braces around capital letters and LaTeX accent commands are decoded before formatting, so the Vancouver output contains normal readable text instead of markup.