Harvard Citation Generator
This free Harvard citation generator follows Cite Them Right, the version of Harvard referencing used by many universities in the UK, Ireland and Australia. Paste a DOI, web address, ISBN or title, check the details, and copy a reference list entry with its in-text citation, or build your whole reference list.
Or fill in the fields below by hand. Check every citation against the source before you submit.
Reference in Harvard (Cite Them Right 12th edition)
Look up a source or type a title and an author to see the citation.
Formatting by citeproc-js (CPAL-1.0) with Citation Style Language styles (CC BY-SA 3.0). Book data from Open Library, article data from Crossref, DataCite and PubMed. citeproc-js source code
Writing your dissertation in LaTeX? Convert a Word or PDF draft into LaTeX and keep your references.
Convert a fileWhat Is a Harvard Citation Generator?
Author and Year in the Text
Harvard is an author-date system: each citation gives the author’s surname and the year, such as (LeCun, Bengio and Hinton, 2015), and points to a full entry in an alphabetical reference list. A Harvard citation generator writes both.
One Name, Many Versions
Harvard has no single official manual, so universities publish their own variants. Ours uses Cite Them Right, 12th edition, the most widely adopted guide; small details such as commas may differ in your university handbook.
Available At and Accessed
Online sources end with Available at: URL and the date you accessed them, in brackets. The Harvard citation generator fills in today’s date for web pages, so the entry is complete when you copy it.
Why Use Our Harvard Citation Generator?
Looked Up From the Source
Our Harvard citation generator takes details from Crossref, DataCite, PubMed, Open Library and the page itself, so names, years, volumes and pages match the published record.
An Alphabetical Reference List
Add every source to the list and it is sorted by author surname, ready to paste under Reference list in Word or Google Docs with italics intact.
Try the general citation generatorHarvard in LaTeX
Writing in LaTeX? natbib with a Harvard style such as agsm, or biblatex with style=authoryear, formats a .bib file in Harvard style. Get BibTeX for any DOI here.
Open DOI to BibTeXHow to Use It in 3 Steps
Step 1: Paste a Source
Paste a DOI, URL, ISBN, PMID or title into the Harvard citation generator and press Cite, or choose a source type and type the details.
Step 2: Compare With Your Handbook
Check the details against the source, and compare punctuation with your university’s Harvard guide, since some variants drop the comma before the year.
Step 3: Copy Into Your Work
Copy the in-text citation into your sentence and the entry into your reference list, or collect every source first and copy the list at once.
Convert your dissertation to LaTeXOfficial references: natbib (CTAN)

Harvard Citation Generator FAQ
- How to do citations Harvard?
- In the text, give the author’s surname and the year: (Smith, 2020), adding the page for quotes. At the end, list every source alphabetically: Smith, J. (2020) Title of book. Publisher. The Harvard citation generator writes both from one lookup.
- What is Harvard citation?
- An author-date referencing system widely used in the UK, Ireland, Australia and South Africa, across business, social sciences and many other subjects. There is no single official version, so universities publish their own guides, often based on Cite Them Right.
- How to do in text citations Harvard?
- Put the surname and year in brackets, (Smith, 2020), or name the author in your sentence: Smith (2020) argues… Two authors read (Smith and Lee, 2020). Cite several sources together as (Smith, 2020; Lee, 2021).
- How to cite a citation within a citation Harvard?
- Name the original and the source you read: (Freud, 1900, cited in Jones, 2015). Only Jones (2015) goes in your reference list. Read and cite the original whenever you can find it.
- Is Harvard citation the same as APA?
- They are close relatives: both are author-date systems with alphabetical lists. APA uses an ampersand, (Smith & Lee, 2020), puts the year in brackets in the reference and drops Available at; Harvard writes and, and ends online sources with Available at and Accessed.
- How to use ibid in text citation Harvard?
- You do not. Ibid. belongs to footnote styles such as Chicago or OSCOLA. In Harvard, repeat the author and year each time you cite a source, adding the page number if it changes.
- What does Harvard citation look like?
- A journal article in the reference list: LeCun, Y., Bengio, Y. and Hinton, G. (2015) ‘Deep learning’, Nature, 521(7553), pp. 436–444. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14539.
- Are in text citations included in word count Harvard?
- At most universities, yes: in-text citations count toward the word limit, while the reference list does not. Some departments exclude citations too, so check your assignment brief.
- Can Mendeley do Harvard citations?
- Yes. Mendeley and Zotero both include Cite Them Right Harvard and several university variants. For a single reference without installing anything, the Harvard citation generator is quicker.
- When to use et al in citation Harvard?
- In Cite Them Right, use the first author and et al. when a source has four or more authors: (Smith et al., 2020). With three or fewer, name every author. Some university versions use et al. from three authors.
- Where to put page number in Harvard citation?
- After the year in the in-text citation: (Smith, 2020, p. 15), or pp. 15–17 for a range. Include it whenever you quote or refer to a specific passage.
- What to write when author is unknown in Harvard citation?
- Use the organisation responsible, such as (World Health Organization, 2023). If there is none, use the title in italics in place of the author: (Climate report, 2023). Leave the author field empty in the Harvard citation generator and the title moves to the front.
- How to cite a website Harvard in text citation?
- In the text use the author or organisation and year: (BBC, 2024). In the list: Author (Year) Title of page. Available at: URL (Accessed: 6 November 2026). Paste the URL into the Harvard citation generator to build it.
- Does Harvard citation do hanging indent?
- Most Harvard guides do not require one. Entries are listed alphabetically, often separated by a blank line. Use a hanging indent only if your university asks for it. The Harvard citation generator copies entries without indents, so nothing needs undoing.
- Which version of Harvard referencing does this generator use?
- Cite Them Right, 12th edition, through its official CSL style. University versions such as Anglia Ruskin or Cardiff are close but can differ in punctuation, so compare with your own guide.
- Is a Harvard reference list in alphabetical order?
- Yes. Sort the reference list by the first author’s surname, then by year for the same author. The list in the Harvard citation generator is sorted for you.
- Can I create a Harvard reference from a DOI?
- Yes. Paste the DOI or a doi.org link and press Cite; the details come from Crossref or DataCite, and the reference ends with Available at and the DOI link.
- How do I make a Harvard citation for a PDF?
- Cite the work inside the PDF, not the file. Paste its DOI or ISBN, or, for an online report, add the URL where you found it and your access date.
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