Harvard-to-Vancouver Citation Conversion
Harvard-to-Vancouver Citation Conversion converts author-date (Harvard) citations to numbered citations, re-sorts the reference list into first-citation order, and assigns each reference a number based on where it first appears in the document. Abbreviated citation chains—such as "Smith et al. 2010, 2011"—are expanded automatically before conversion so every citation in the group is converted correctly.
By default, this workflow runs as part of a three-step chain: Citation Matching re-runs automatically, followed by the Harvard-to-Vancouver conversion, then Citation Conversion and Cleanup—all in a single operation.
TIP
If you prefer to run Citation Matching, Harvard-to-Vancouver Conversion, and Citation Conversion and Cleanup as separate steps, contact your solutions consultant to adjust your workflow configuration.
Preparing to use Harvard-to-Vancouver Citation Conversion
Before running this workflow:
- Run SmartReferences to ensure your reference list is correctly structured and tagged.
- Run Citation Matching to tag all in-text author-date citations with the
cite_bibcharacter style. Any untagged citations will not be converted. - Review any warning comments inserted by Citation Matching and correct unmatched citations before proceeding.
Run Harvard-to-Vancouver Citation Conversion
To run Harvard-to-Vancouver Citation Conversion:
- Open your document in Microsoft Word.
- Select the Advanced Workflow tool to open a dropdown (Word → Orion → Edit → Advanced Workflows).
- Select Harvard-to-Vancouver Citation Conversion. Typefi Orion processes your document and re-sorts the reference list into citation order.
After running
After conversion, you may notice citations that look different from what you expected. These questions cover the most common scenarios—some reflect expected behaviour, others need a quick manual correction.
Why was an in-text citation not converted?
If Citation Matching could not tag a citation—for example, because the citation format was not recognised or warnings were not resolved before running—the workflow will skip it.
Action: Confirm that Citation Matching has been run and all author-date citations are tagged, then rerun Harvard-to-Vancouver Citation Conversion.
Why does a converted citation still show the author name?
When an author name is part of the sentence—for example, "Scarborough (2018)"—the workflow keeps the author name and replaces only the year with the citation number, producing "Scarborough [44]" rather than just "[44]".
This is expected behaviour. No action is needed.
Why are some citation numbers not consolidated?
Citations are numbered independently. If the same reference is cited more than once in close proximity, each instance is converted separately—they are not automatically merged into a range.
Action: Review and consolidate duplicate citations manually.
Why didn't a citation with introductory text convert fully?
Citations preceded by introductory words such as "see"—for example, "(see Smith, 2018)"—are partially converted. The author-date content inside the cite_bib tag is replaced with the citation number, but the surrounding parentheses are not converted to square brackets. The output is "(see 3)" rather than "[see 3]".
Citations preceded by "e.g.," are handled: "(e.g., 3)" converts to "[e.g., 3]".
Action: Review citations with introductory text and update the surrounding punctuation manually.
Why was a page number or qualifier removed from a converted citation?
Qualifiers inside a tagged citation—such as a page number ("p. 32")—are removed during conversion. Only the citation number is output. If a qualifier appears outside the tagged citation, it will remain in place but may be stranded next to the converted number.
Action: Review all citations that originally included qualifiers and update them manually to match your publication's style requirements.
Why does the reference list end with extra tags?
If you used SmartReferences v2.0 or later to prepare your document, ensure you're running the latest version of Harvard-to-Vancouver Citation Conversion—earlier versions left unprocessed reference tags at the end of the reference list instead of converting them in place.
Action: Update to the latest version of Harvard-to-Vancouver Citation Conversion, then rerun the workflow.