Everything you need to know to use RefConvertor effectively
Visit refconvertor.com/signup and create a free account with your email address. You'll get 3 free daily credits to start converting references immediately.
Free Daily Credits
Your 3 daily credits reset every 24 hours automatically. No credit card required.
After logging in, you'll land on the main conversion tool. This is where all the magic happens.
Let's try a quick example. Paste this DOI into the input field:
The most accurate method. DOIs are unique identifiers for academic papers and automatically fetch all metadata.
Example DOIs:
Where to find DOIs: Usually on the first page of the paper, in the header or footer, or on the journal's website.
Paste the full URL of an article or paper. RefConvertor will extract metadata from the webpage.
Example URLs:
Best for: Online articles, blog posts, news articles, and web-based resources.
Simply type or paste the full title of a book, article, or paper. RefConvertor will search for it and fetch the details.
Examples:
Best for: Books and well-known papers. Make sure to include the full title for accurate results.
Already have a citation in one format? Paste it in and convert it to a different style!
Example:
Paste an APA citation, select "MLA 9th Edition" and click convert to change the format.
Best for: Converting between citation styles quickly.
RefConvertor supports 7 major citation styles. Each style has different formatting rules, so choose the one required by your institution, journal, or professor.
American Psychological Association style. Most common in psychology, education, and social sciences.
Example: Smith, J., & Jones, M. (2020). Title of article. Journal Name, 15(3), 123-145.
Modern Language Association style. Used in literature, arts, and humanities.
Example: Smith, John, and Mary Jones. "Title of Article." Journal Name, vol. 15, no. 3, 2020, pp. 123-145.
Chicago Manual of Style. Common in history, business, and fine arts.
Example: Smith, John, and Mary Jones. "Title of Article." Journal Name 15, no. 3 (2020): 123-145.
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Used in engineering and computer science.
Example: [1] J. Smith and M. Jones, "Title of article," Journal Name, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 123-145, 2020.
Used in medicine and life sciences. Numbers references in order of appearance.
Example: 1. Smith J, Jones M. Title of article. Journal Name. 2020;15(3):123-145.
Author-date system widely used in UK universities.
Example: Smith, J. and Jones, M. (2020) 'Title of article', Journal Name, 15(3), pp. 123-145.
Custom style for University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) students.
Follows UMaT-specific formatting guidelines.
Upload your own Citation Style Language (CSL) file for custom citation formats.
Collections help you organize your references by project, topic, or course. Think of them as folders for your citations.
Organize by Project
Create collections for each chapter, paper, or thesis
Easy Access
Find all references for a project in one place
After converting a reference, you can add it to one or more collections:
Collection Limits
Free Plan: 1 collection (My References)
Starter Plan: Unlimited collections
The bulk conversion feature lets you format up to 10 references simultaneously. Perfect for bibliography sections or literature reviews.
Time Saver
Convert 10 references in under 1 minute instead of spending 30-40 minutes doing it manually!
Every conversion uses 1 credit. You have two types of credits:
RefConvertor automatically uses your daily credits first, then falls back to premium credits. This way, you maximize your free daily credits before using your paid ones.
Example:
You have 2 daily credits left and 50 premium credits. You convert 5 references. The first 2 use daily credits, the last 3 use premium credits.
Your credit balance is always visible in the top-right corner of the tool page. You can also see detailed usage in your Dashboard.
RefConvertor gives you multiple ways to export your formatted citations:
Click the "Copy" button to copy a single citation or all citations at once. Paste directly into your Word document.
Export your references as a .docx file with proper formatting. Perfect for bibliography sections.
Export an entire collection at once. Great for exporting all references for a chapter or project.
When pasting into Microsoft Word, use "Keep Source Formatting" to preserve italics, indentation, and spacing.
The DOI might be incorrect or not indexed in our database yet.
Usually happens with bulk conversions or slow internet.
You've used all your daily and premium credits.
The citation might have incomplete metadata or styling issues.
Collections are user-specific and stored in your account.
Bulk conversion requires a Starter plan subscription.