Template:Cite web/doc

This template is used to cite online sources in Wikipedia articles. {{Cite news}} can also be used when citing a news source; for general information about citations in Wikipedia articles, see Wikipedia:Cite sources. A general discussion of the use of templates for adding citations to Wikipedia articles is available at Wikipedia:Citation templates.

Usage

Common forms with authors in any format

Citations within a page should use consistent formats. However, there is no consensus about which format is best. The following examples are for citations where one or more authors are listed in a single |author=authors parameter, using any format. Also shown below are two separate date formats that are commonly used in Wikipedia:

Day Month Year

{{cite web |url= |title= |author= |date= |work= |publisher= |accessdate=4 February 2026}}

Month Day, Year

{{cite web |url= |title= |author= |date= |work= |publisher= |accessdate=February 4, 2026}}

Common forms with last1, first1; last2, first2

The examples hereafter will suffice for up to two authors each with first and last names; for more, just create more parameters in a similar style:

Day Month Year

{{cite web |url= |title= |last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date= |work= |publisher= |accessdate=4 February 2026}}

Month Day, Year

{{cite web |url= |title= |last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date= |work= |publisher= |accessdate=February 4, 2026}}

All parameters

When copying all parameters in either the vertical or horizontal layouts, delete those which are not needed. None of the parameters should be capitalised, or the template will not work as intended. For example, use "url", "title", etc.—not "URL", "Title", etc.

All parameters, horizontal layout

{{cite web |url= |title= |last= |first= |author= |authorlink= |last2= |first2= |author2= |authorlink2= |date= |month= |year= |work= |publisher= |location= |page= |pages= |at= |language= |trans_title= |type= |format= |arxiv= |asin= |bibcode= |doi= |doibroken= |isbn= |issn= |jfm= |jstor= |lccn= |mr= |oclc= |ol= |osti= |pmc = |pmid= |rfc= |ssrn= |zbl= |id= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |deadurl= |accessdate= |quote= |ref= |separator= |postscript=}}

All parameters, vertical layout

All parameters Using last name, first name	All parameters Using author	Common parameters Using last name, first name	Common parameters Using author
{{cite web | url = | title = | last1 = | first1 = | authorlink1 = | last2 = | first2 = | authorlink2 = | date = | month = | year = | work = | publisher = | location = | page = | pages = | at = | language = | trans_title = | type = | format = | arxiv = | asin = | bibcode = | doi = | doibroken = | isbn = | issn = | jfm = | jstor = | lccn = | mr = | oclc = | ol = | osti = | pmc = | pmid = | rfc = | ssrn = | zbl = | id = | archiveurl = | archivedate = | deadurl = | accessdate = | quote = | ref = | separator = | postscript = }}	{{cite web | url = | title = | author1 = | authorlink1 = | author2 = | authorlink2 = | date = | month = | year = | work = | publisher = | location = | page = | pages = | at = | language = | trans_title = | type = | format = | arxiv = | asin = | bibcode = | doi = | doibroken = | isbn = | issn = | jfm = | jstor = | lccn = | mr = | oclc = | ol = | osti = | pmc = | pmid = | rfc = | ssrn = | zbl = | id = | archiveurl = | archivedate = | deadurl = | accessdate = | quote = | ref = | separator = | postscript = }}	{{cite web | url = | title = | last = | first = | date = | work = | publisher = | accessdate = }}	{{cite web | url = | title = | author = | date = | work = | publisher = | accessdate = }}

Examples

{{cite web |url = http://www.example.org/ |title = My Favorite Things, Part II |author = Doe, John |publisher = Open Publishing |date = 30 April 2005 |work = Encyclopedia of Things |accessdate= 6 July 2005 }}

• Doe, John (30 April 2005). "My Favorite Things, Part II". Encyclopedia of Things. Open Publishing. Retrieved 6 July 2005.

{{cite web |url = http://www.example.org/ |title = My Favorite Things, Part II |author = Doe, John |date = 30 April 2005 |work = Encyclopedia of Things |accessdate = 6 July 2005 }}

• Doe, John (30 April 2005). "My Favorite Things, Part II". Encyclopedia of Things. Retrieved 6 July 2005.

{{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=My Favorite Things, Part II |author=Doe, John |date=30 April 2005 |accessdate=6 July 2005 }}

• Doe, John (30 April 2005). "My Favorite Things, Part II". Retrieved 6 July 2005.

{{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=My Favorite Things, Part II |author=Doe, John |accessdate=6 July 2005 }}

• Doe, John. "My Favorite Things, Part II". Retrieved 6 July 2005.

{{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=My Favorite Things, Part II |accessdate=6 July 2005 }}

• "My Favorite Things, Part II". Retrieved 6 July 2005.

{{cite web |url=http://www.nfl.com/rulebook/digestofrules |title=Digest of Rules |publisher=National Football League |accessdate=6 July 2005 }}

• "Digest of Rules". National Football League. Retrieved 6 July 2005.

Using format

{{cite web |url=http://www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf |title=List of psychotropic substances under international control |publisher=International Narcotics Control Board |format=PDF |accessdate=6 July 2005 }}

• "List of psychotropic substances under international control" (PDF). International Narcotics Control Board. Retrieved 6 July 2005.

Foreign language and translated title

{{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=Honi soit qui mal y pense |author=Joliet, François |date=30 April 2005 |accessdate=6 July 2005 |language=French |trans_title=Shame on those who think evil }}

• Joliet, François (30 April 2005). "Honi soit qui mal y pense" (in French). Retrieved 6 July 2005. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)

Using authorlink

{{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=My Favorite Things, Part II |author=Doe, John |authorlink=John Doe |publisher=Open Publishing |date=30 April 2005 |work=Encyclopedia of Things |accessdate=6 July 2005 }}

• Doe, John (30 April 2005). "My Favorite Things, Part II". Encyclopedia of Things. Open Publishing. Retrieved 6 July 2005.

Multiple authors

{{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=Our Favorite Things |first=John |last=Doe |last2=Smith |first2=Peter |last3=Smythe |first3=Jim |publisher=Open Publishing |date=30 April 2005 |work=Encyclopedia of Things |accessdate=16 May 2006 }}

• Doe, John; Smith, Peter; Smythe, Jim (30 April 2005). "Our Favorite Things". Encyclopedia of Things. Open Publishing. Retrieved 16 May 2006.

{{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=Our Favorite Things |author=John Doe; Peter Smith; Jim Smythe |publisher=Open Publishing |date=30 April 2005 |work=Encyclopedia of Things |accessdate=16 May 2006 }}

• John Doe; Peter Smith; Jim Smythe (30 April 2005). "Our Favorite Things". Encyclopedia of Things. Open Publishing. Retrieved 16 May 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

No author

{{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=Index of Sharp Things |publisher=Open Publishing |date=30 April 2005 |work=Encyclopedia of Things |accessdate=16 May 2006 }}

• "Index of Sharp Things". Encyclopedia of Things. Open Publishing. 30 April 2005. Retrieved 16 May 2006.

No author, no publisher This abbreviated format should only be used when the editor cannot determine the publisher and author.

{{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=Index of Sharp Things |date=30 April 2005 |work=Encyclopedia of Things |accessdate=6 July 2005}}

• "Index of Sharp Things". Encyclopedia of Things. 30 April 2005. Retrieved 6 July 2005.

{{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=Index of Sharp Things |date=30 April 2005 |accessdate=6 July 2005}}

• "Index of Sharp Things". 30 April 2005. Retrieved 6 July 2005.

{{cite web |url=http://www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf |title=List of psychotropic substances under international control |date=30 April 2005 |format=PDF |accessdate=6 July 2005 |language=Greek }}

• "List of psychotropic substances under international control" (PDF) (in Greek). 30 April 2005. Retrieved 6 July 2005.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)

Using "archiveurl" and "archivedate" (and optionally "deadurl") for webpages that have been archived

{{cite web |url=http://www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf |title=List of psychotropic substances under international control |date=30 April 2005 |format=PDF |accessdate=6 July 2005 |archiveurl=http://www.archive.org/2005-09-11/www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf |archivedate=11 September 2005 }}

• "List of psychotropic substances under international control" (PDF). 30 April 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 September 2005. Retrieved 6 July 2005.

{{cite web |url=http://joanjettbadrep.com/cgi-bin/fullStory.cgi?archive=currnews&story=20060405-01shore.htm |title=Interview with Maggie Downs |date=31 March 2006 |publisher=The Desert Sun |archiveurl=http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:JAxf4v-pQmgJ:joanjettbadrep.com/cgi-bin/fullStory.cgi%3Farchive%3Dcurrnews%26story%3D20060405-01shore.htm |archivedate=26 April 2006 |deadurl=no }}

• "Interview with Maggie Downs". The Desert Sun. 31 March 2006. Archived from the original on 26 April 2006. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

{{Cite web |url=http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/03772.html |title=London, United Kingdom Forecast : Weather Underground (weather and elevation at Heathrow Airport) |publisher=The Weather Underground, Inc. |accessdate=6 June 2008 |ref=harv | archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/5yo0HaAk7 |archivedate=19 May 2011| deadurl=no }}

• "London, United Kingdom Forecast : Weather Underground (weather and elevation at Heathrow Airport)". The Weather Underground, Inc. Archived from the original on 19 May 2011. Retrieved 6 June 2008. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

Using quote

{{cite web |url=http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/c.html |title=Daylight saving time: rationale and original idea |work=WebExhibits |year=2008 |accessdate=27 September 2009 |quote=... Lord Balfour came forward with a unique concern: 'Supposing some unfortunate lady was confined with twins ...' }}

• "Daylight saving time: rationale and original idea". WebExhibits. 2008. Retrieved 27 September 2009. ... Lord Balfour came forward with a unique concern: 'Supposing some unfortunate lady was confined with twins ...'

Parameters

Syntax

Nested parameters rely on their parent parameters:

• parent
• OR: parent2—may be used instead of parent
  • child—may be used with parent (and is ignored if parent is not used)
  • OR: child2—may be used instead of child (and is ignored if parent2 is not used)

Where aliases are listed, only one of the parameters may be defined; if multiple aliased parameters are defined, then only one will show.

This template embeds COinS metadata in the HTML output, allowing reference management software to retrieve bibliographic metadata.

See Wikipedia:COinS. As a general rule, only one data item per parameter. Do not include explanatory or alternate text:

• Use |date=27 September 2007 not |date=27 September 2007 (print version 25 September)

Use of templates within the citation template is discouraged because many of these templates will add extraneous HTML or CSS that will be included raw in the metadata. Also, HTML entities, for example  , –, etc, should not be used in parameters that contribute to the metadata. Do not include Wiki markup '' (italic font) or ''' (bold font) because these markup characters will contaminate the metadata.

COinS metadata is created for these parameters

• |periodical=, |journal=, |newspaper=, |magazine=, |work=, |website=, |encyclopedia=, |encyclopaedia=, |dictionary=
• |chapter=, |contribution=, |entry=, |article=, |section=
• |title=
• |publication-place=, |publicationplace=, |place=, |location=
• |date=, |year=, |publication-date=, |publicationdate=
• |series=, |version=
• |volume=
• |issue=, |number=
• |page=, |pages=, |at=
• |edition=
• |publisher=, |distributor=, |institution=
• |url=
• |chapter-url=, |chapterurl=, |contribution-url=, |contributionurl=, |section-url=, |sectionurl=
• |author#=, |author-last#=, |author#-last=, |last#=, |surname#=
• |author-first#=, |author#-first=, |first#=, |given#=
• any of the named identifiers (|isbn=, |issn=, |doi=, |pmc=, etc)

By default, sets of fields are terminated with a period (.). This can be an issue when the last field uses an abbreviation or initial that ends with a period, as then two periods will display (..). The only solution is to not include the last period in the value for the set of fields.

Deprecated

None of the cs1|2 parameters is deprecated.

Description

Authors

• last: Surname of a single author. Do not wikilink—use author-link instead. For corporate authors or authors for whom only one name is listed by the source, use last or one of its aliases (e.g. |author=Bono). Aliases: surname, author, last1, surname1, author1.
  • author: this parameter is used to hold the complete name of a single author (first and last) or to hold the name of a corporate author. This parameter should never hold the names of more than one author.
  • first: Given or first names of author; for example: Firstname Middlename or Firstname M. or Firstname M., Sr. Do not wikilink—use author-link instead. Aliases: given, first1, given1. Requires last; first name will not display if last is empty.
  • OR: for multiple authors, use last1, first1 through lastn, firstn, where n is any consecutive number for an unlimited number of authors (each firstn requires a corresponding lastn).
    See the display parameters to change how many authors are displayed. Aliases: surname1, given1 through surnamen, givenn, or author1 through authorn. For an individual author plus an institutional author, you can use |first1=...|last1=...|author2=....
  • author-link: Title of existing Wikipedia article about the author—not the author's website; do not wikilink. Aliases: author-link1, authorlink, authorlink1, author1-link, author1link.
  • OR: for multiple authors, use author-link1 through author-linkn. Aliases: authorlink1 through authorlinkn, or author1-link through authorn-link, or author1link through authornlink.
  • name-list-format: displays authors and editors in Vancouver style when set to vanc and when the list uses last/first parameters for the name list(s).
• vauthors: comma-separated list of author names in Vancouver style; enclose corporate or institutional author names in doubled parentheses:

  |vauthors=Smythe JB, ((Megabux Corporation))

  • author-link and author-mask may be used for the individual names in |vauthors= as described above
• authors: Free-form list of author names; use of this parameter is discouraged because it does not contribute to a citation's metadata; not an alias of last.
• coauthors: (deprecated) Names of coauthors. Requires author, authors, or lastn Include coauthors in author or authors or use separate authorn or lastn/firstn to list coauthors.
• translator-last: Surname of translator. Do not wikilink—use translator-link instead. Aliases: translator-surname, translator1, translator1-last, translator-last1.
  • translator-first: Given or first names of translator. Do not wikilink—use translator-link instead. Aliases: translator-given, translator1-first, translator-first1.
  • OR: for multiple translators, use translator-last1, translator-first1 through translator-lastn, translator-firstn, where n is any consecutive number for an unlimited number of translators (each translator-firstn requires a corresponding translator-lastn). Aliases: translator1-last, translator1-first through translatorn-last, translatorn-first, or translator1 through translatorn.
  • translator-link: Title of existing Wikipedia article about the translator—not the translator's website; do not wikilink. Aliases: translator-link1, translator1-link.
  • OR: for multiple translators, use translator-link1 through translator-linkn. Aliases: translator1-link through translatorn-link.
• collaboration: Name of a group of authors or collaborators; requires author, last, or vauthors listing one or more primary authors; follows author name-list; appends "et al." to author name-list.
• others: To record other contributors to the work, including illustrators. For the parameter value, write Illustrated by John Smith.
• Note: When using shortened footnotes or parenthetical referencing styles with templates, do not use multiple names in one field, or else the anchor will not match the inline link.

Title

• title: Title of source page on website; can be wikilinked to an existing Wikipedia article or url may be used to add an external link, but not both. Displays in quotes.

Titles containing certain characters will display and link incorrectly unless those characters are encoded.

newline	[	]	|
space	[	]	|

• trans_title: If the source cited is in a foreign language, an English translation of the title can be given here. The template will display this in square brackets after the work field and it will link to the url field, if used. Use of the language parameter is recommended.

This parameter is required and will generate an error if not defined. On errors, main, help and template pages are placed into Category:Articles with incorrect citation syntax. Set |template doc demo=true to disable categorization; mainly used for documentation where the error is demonstrated.

• website: Title of website; may be wikilinked. Displays in italics. Aliases: work

• type: Provides additional information about the media type of the source; format in sentence case. Displays in parentheses following the title. Examples: Thesis, Booklet, CD liner, Press release. Alias: medium.

• language: The language in which the source is written. Displays in parentheses with "in" before the language name or names. Use the full language name or ISO 639-1 code. When the source uses more than one language, list them individually, separated by commas, e.g. |language=French, German. The use of language names or language codes recognized by Wikimedia adds the page to the appropriate subcategory of Category:CS1 foreign language sources; do not use templates or wikilinks. Note: When the language is "English" (or "en"), no language is displayed in the citation. Note: When two or more languages are listed there is no need to include "and" before the last language. "and" is inserted automatically by the template.

Date

• date: Date of source being referenced. Can be full date (day, month, and year) or partial date (month and year, season and year, or year). Use same format as other publication dates in the citations. Required when year is used to disambiguate {{sfn}} links to multiple-work citations by the same author in the same year.^[more] Do not wikilink. Displays after the authors and is enclosed in parentheses. If there is no author, then displays after publisher.
  For acceptable date formats, see Help:Citation Style 1 § Dates.

For approximate year, precede with "c. ", like this: |date=c. 1900.

For no date, or "undated", add as |date=n.d.

• year: Year of source being referenced. Use of |date= is recommended unless all of the following conditions are met:
  1. The template uses |ref=harv, or the template is {{citation}}, or |mode=cs2
  2. The |date= format is YYYY-MM-DD.
  3. The citation requires a CITEREF disambiguator.
• orig-year: Original publication year; displays after the date or year. For clarity, please supply specifics. For example: |orig-year=First published 1859 or |orig-year=Composed 1904. Alias: origyear
• df: date format; sets rendered dates to the specified format; does not support date ranges or seasonal dates. Accepts one value which may be one of these:

  dmy – set publication dates to day month year format; access- and archive-dates are not modified;

  mdy – as above for month day, year format

  ymd – as above for year initial numeric format YYYY-MM-DD

  dmy-all – set publication, access-, and archive-dates to day month year format;

  mdy-all – as above for month day, year format

  ymd-all – as above for year initial numeric format YYYY-MM-DD

Publisher

• publisher: Name of publisher; may be wikilinked if relevant. The publisher is the company that publishes the work being cited. Do not use the publisher parameter for the name of a work (e.g. a book, encyclopedia, newspaper, magazine, journal, website). Not normally used for periodicals. Corporate designations such as "Ltd", "Inc" or "GmbH" are not usually included. Omit where the publisher's name is substantially the same as the name of the work (for example, The New York Times Co. publishes The New York Times newspaper, so there is no reason to name the publisher). Displays after title.
• place: Geographical place of publication; generally not wikilinked; omit when the name of the work includes the location; examples: The Boston Globe, The Times of India. Displays after the title; if work is defined, then location is enclosed in parentheses. Alias: location
• publication-place: If any one of publication-place, place or location are defined, then the location shows after the title; if publication-place and place or location are defined, then place or location are shown before the title prefixed with "written at" and publication-place is shown after the title.
• publication-date: Date of publication when different from the date the work was written. Displays only if year or date are defined and only if different, else publication-date is used and displayed as date. Use the same format as other dates in the article; do not wikilink. Follows publisher; if work is not defined, then publication-date is preceded by "published" and enclosed in parenthesis.
• via: Name of the content deliverer (if different from publisher). via is not a replacement for publisher, but provides additional detail. It may be used when the content deliverer presents the source in a format other than the original (e.g. NewsBank), when the URL provided does not make clear the identity of the deliverer, where no URL or DOI is available (EBSCO), if the deliverer requests attribution, or as requested in WP:The Wikipedia Library (e.g. Credo, HighBeam).
  See also registration and subscription parameters.

Series

• series or version: When the source is part of a series, such as a book series or a journal where the issue numbering has restarted.

In-source locations

• page: The number of a single page in the source that supports the content. Use either |page= or |pages=, but not both. Displays preceded by p. unless |nopp=y.
• OR: pages: A range of pages in the source that supports the content. Use either |page= or |pages=, but not both. Separate using an en dash (–); separate non-sequential pages with a comma (,); do not use to indicate the total number of pages in the source. Displays preceded by pp. unless |nopp=y. Hyphens are automatically converted to en dashes; if hyphens are appropriate, for example: pp. 3-1–3-15, use |at=.
  • nopp: Set to y, yes, or true to suppress the p. or pp. notations where this is inappropriate; for example, where |page=Front cover or |pages=passim.
• OR: at: For sources where a page number is inappropriate or insufficient. Overridden by |page= or |pages=. Use only one of |page=, |pages=, or |at=.

Examples: page (p.) or pages (pp.); section (sec.), column (col.), paragraph (para.); track; hours, minutes and seconds; act, scene, canto, book, part, folio, stanza, back cover, liner notes, indicia, colophon, dust jacket, verse.

URL

• url: URL of an online location where the text of the publication can be found. Cannot be used if title is wikilinked. If applicable, the link may point to the specific page(s) referenced. Remove tracking parameters from URLs, e.g. #ixzz2rBr3aO94 or ?utm_source=google&utm_medium=...&utm_term=...&utm_campaign=....
  See WP:PAGELINKS. Do not link to any commercial booksellers, such as Amazon.com. Invalid URLs, including those containing spaces, will result in an error message.

  • access-date: Full date when the content pointed to by url was last verified to support the text in the article; do not wikilink; requires url; use the same format as other access and archive dates in the citations. Not required for linked documents that do not change. For example, access-date is not required for links to copies of published research papers accessed via DOI or a published book, but should be used for links to news articles on commercial websites (these can change from time to time, even if they are also published in a physical medium). Note that access-date is the date that the URL was checked to not just be working, but to support the assertion being cited (which the current version of the page may not do). Can be hidden or styled by registered editors. Alias: accessdate.
  • archive-url: The URL of an archived copy of a web page if the original URL is no longer available. Typically used to refer to services such as WebCite
    (see Wikipedia:Using WebCite) and Internet Archive

    (see Wikipedia:Using the Wayback Machine); requires archive-date and url. By default (overridden by |dead-url=no) the archived link is displayed first, with the original link at the end. Alias: archiveurl.

    • archive-date: Date when the original URL was archived; preceded in display by default text "archived from the original on". Use the same format as other access and archive dates in the citations. This does not necessarily have to be the same format that was used for citing publication dates. Do not wikilink. Alias: archivedate.
    • dead-url: the default value of this optional parameter, if omitted, is |dead-url=yes. Equivalent values are y or true. When the URL is still live, but pre-emptively archived, then set |dead-url=no; this changes the display order, with the title retaining the original link and the archive linked at the end. When the original URL has been usurped for the purposes of spam, advertising, or is otherwise unsuitable, setting |dead-url=unfit or |dead-url=usurped suppresses display of the original URL (but |url= is still required). Alias: deadurl.
  • template-doc-demo: The archive parameters will be error-checked to ensure that all the required parameters are included, or else {{citation error}} is invoked. With errors, main, help and template pages are placed into one of the subcategories of Category:Articles with incorrect citation syntax. Set |template-doc-demo=true to disable categorization; mainly used for documentation where the error is demonstrated.
• format: Format of the work referred to by url; for example: PDF, DOC, or XLS; displayed in parentheses after title. (For media format, use type.) HTML is implied and should not be specified. Automatically added when a PDF icon is displayed. Does not change the external link icon. Note: External link icons do not include alt text; thus, they do not add format information for the visually impaired.

URLs must begin with a supported URI scheme. http:// and https:// will be supported by all browsers; however, ftp://, gopher://, irc://, ircs://, mailto: and news: may require a plug-in or an external application and should normally be avoided. IPv6 host-names are currently not supported.

If URLs in citation template parameters contain certain characters, then they will not display and link correctly. Those characters need to be percent-encoded. For example, a space must be replaced by %20. To encode the URL, replace the following characters with:

sp	"	'	<	>	[	]	{	|	}
%20	%22	%27	%3c	%3e	%5b	%5d	%7b	%7c	%7d

Single apostrophes do not need to be encoded; however, unencoded multiples will be parsed as italic or bold markup. Single curly closing braces also do not need to be encoded; however, an unencoded pair will be parsed as the double closing braces for the template transclusion.

Anchor

• ref: ID for anchor. By default, no anchor is generated. The ordinary nonempty value |ref=ID generates an anchor with the given ID; such a linkable reference can be made the target of wikilinks to full references, especially useful in short citations like shortened notes and parenthetical referencing. The special value |ref=harv generates an anchor suitable for the {{harv}} template. See: Anchors for Harvard referencing templates.

Identifiers

• id: A unique identifier, used where none of the specialized identifiers are applicable; wikilink or use a template as applicable. For example, |id=NCJ 122967 will append "NCJ 122967" at the end of the citation. You can use templates such as |id={{NCJ|122967}} to append NCJ 122967 instead.

These identifiers create links and are designed to accept a single value. Using multiple values or other text will break the link and/or invalidate the identifier. In general, the parameters should include only the variable part of the identifier, e.g. rfc=822 or pmc=345678.

• arxiv: arXiv identifier; for example: arxiv=hep-th/9205027 (before April 2007) or arxiv=0706.0001 or arxiv=1501.00001 (since April 2007). Do not include extraneous file extensions like ".pdf" or ".html".
• asin: Amazon Standard Identification Number; if first character of asin value is a digit, use isbn. Because this link favours one specific distributor, only include it if standard identifiers aren't available.
  • asin-tld: ASIN top-level domain for Amazon sites other than the US; valid values: au, br, ca, cn, co.jp, co.uk, de, es, fr, it, mx
• bibcode: Bibcode; used by a number of astronomical data systems; for example: 1974AJ.....79..819H
• biorxiv: bioRxiv id, a 6-digit number at the end of the biorXiv URL (e.g. 078733 for http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/10/01/078733 or http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/078733)
• citeseerx: CiteSeerX id, a string of digits and dots found in a CiteSeerX URL (e.g. 10.1.1.176.341 for http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.176.341 )
• doi: Digital object identifier; for example: 10.1038/news070508-7. It is checked to ensure it begins with (10.).
  • doi-broken-date: Date the DOI was found to be non-working at http://dx.doi.org. Use the same format as other dates in the article. Alias: doi_brokendate, doi-inactive-date
• eissn: International Standard Serial Number for the electronic media of a serial publication; eight characters may be split into two groups of four using a hyphen, but not an en dash or a space. Alias: EISSN
• hdl: Handle System identifier for digital objects and other resources on the Internet. Alias: HDL
• isbn: International Standard Book Number; for example: 978-0-8126-9593-9.
  (See Wikipedia:ISBN and ISBN § Overview.) Dashes in the ISBN are optional, but preferred. Use the ISBN actually printed on or in the book. Use the 13-digit ISBN – beginning with 978 or 979 – when it is available. If only a 10-digit ISBN is printed on or in the book, use it. ISBNs can be found on the page with the publisher's information – usually the back of the title page – or beneath the barcode as a number beginning with 978 or 979 (barcodes beginning with any other numbers are not ISBNs). For sources with the older 9-digit SBN system, prefix the number with a zero; thus, SBN 902888-45-5 should be entered as |isbn=0-902888-45-5. Do not convert a 10-digit ISBN to 13-digit by just adding the 978 prefix; the last digit is a calculated check digit and just making changes to the numbers will make the ISBN invalid. This parameter should hold only the ISBN without any additional characters. It is checked for length, invalid characters – anything other than numbers, spaces, and hyphens, with "X" permitted as the last character in a 10-digit ISBN – and the proper check digit. Alias: ISBN
• ismn: International Standard Music Number; for example: 979-0-9016791-7-7. Hyphens or spaces in the ISMN are optional. Use the ISMN actually printed on or in the work. This parameter should hold only the ISMN without any additional characters. It is checked for length, invalid characters – anything other than numbers, spaces, and hyphens – and the proper check digit. Alias: ISMN
• issn: International Standard Serial Number; eight characters may be split into two groups of four using a hyphen, but not an en dash or a space. Alias: ISSN
• jfm: Jahrbuch über die Fortschritte der Mathematik
• jstor: JSTOR reference number; for example: jstor=3793107 will generate JSTOR 3793107.
• lccn: Library of Congress Control Number. When present, alphabetic prefix characters are to be lower case.
• mr: Mathematical Reviews
• oclc: OCLC; WorldCat's Online Computer Library Center
• ol: Open Library identifier; do not include "OL" in the value.
• osti: Office of Scientific and Technical Information
• pmc: PubMed Central; use article number for full-text free repository of a journal article, e.g. pmc=345678. Do not include "PMC" in the value.
  See also the pmid parameter, below; these are two different identifiers.

  • embargo: Date that pmc goes live; if this date is in the future, then pmc is not linked until that date.
• pmid: PubMed; use unique identifier.
  See also the pmc parameter, above; these are two different identifiers.
• rfc: Request for Comments
• ssrn: Social Science Research Network
• zbl: Zentralblatt MATH

Quote

• quote: Relevant text quoted from the source. Displays enclosed in quotes. When supplied, the citation terminator (a period by default) is suppressed, so the quote must include terminating punctuation.

Editors

• editor-last: Surname of editor. Do not wikilink—use editor-link instead. Where the surname is usually written first—as in Chinese—or for corporate authors, simply use editor-last to include the same format as the source. Aliases: editor-last1, editor1-last, editor-surname, editor-surname1, editor1-surname, editor, editor1.
  • editor: this parameter is used to hold the complete name of a single editor (first and last). This parameter should never hold the names of more than one editor.
  • editor-first: Given or first names of editor, including title(s); example: Firstname Middlename or Firstname M. or Dr. Firstname M., Sr. Do not wikilink—use editor-link instead. Aliases: editor-first1, editor1-first, editor-given, editor-given1, editor1-given.
  • OR: for multiple editors, use editor-last1, editor-first1 through editor-lastn, editor-firstn (Aliases: editorn-last, editor-surnamen or editorn-surname; editorn-first, editor-givenn or editorn-given; editorn). For an individual editor plus an institutional editor, you can use |editor-first1=...|editor-last1=...|editor2=....

• editor-link: Title of existing Wikipedia article about the editor—not the editor's website; do not wikilink. Aliases: editor-link1.
• OR: for multiple editors, use editor-link1 through editor-linkn (alias editorn-link).
• name-list-format: displays authors and editors in Vancouver style when set to vanc and when the list uses last/first parameters for the name list(s)

• veditors: comma separated list of editor names in Vancouver style; enclose corporate or institutional names in doubled parentheses:

  |veditors=Smythe JB, ((Megabux Corporation))

• editor-linkn and editor-maskn may be used for the individual names in |veditors=, as described above

• editors: Free-form list of editor names; use of this parameter is discouraged; not an alias of editor-last

Display:

Use display-editors to control the length of the displayed editor name list and to specify when "et al." is included.

If authors: Authors are first, followed by the included work, then "In" and the editors, then the main work.

If no authors: Editors appear before the included work; a single editor is followed by "ed."; multiple editors are followed by "eds."

Laysummary

• lay-url: URL link to a non-technical summary or review of the source; the URL title is set to "Lay summary". Aliases: lay-summary, laysummary.
  • lay-source: Name of the source of the laysummary. Displays in italics and preceded by an endash. Alias: laysource.
  • lay-date: Date of the summary. Displays in parentheses. Alias: laydate.

Display options

• mode: Sets element separator, default terminal punctuation, and certain capitalization according to the value provided. For |mode=cs1, element separator and terminal punctuation is a period (.); where appropriate, initial letters of certain words are capitalized ('Retrieved...'). For |mode=cs2, element separator is a comma (,); terminal punctuation is omitted; where appropriate, initial letters of certain words are not capitalized ('retrieved...'). To override default terminal punctuation use postscript.
• author-mask: Replaces the name of the first author with em dashes or text. Set author-mask to a numeric value n to set the dash n em spaces wide; set author-mask to a text value to display the text without a trailing author separator; for example, "with". You must still include the values for all authors for metadata purposes. Primarily intended for use with bibliographies or bibliography styles where multiple works by a single author are listed sequentially such as shortened footnotes. Do not use in a list generated by {{reflist}}, <references /> or similar as there is no control of the order in which references are displayed. You can also use editor-mask and translator-mask in the same way.
• display-authors: Controls the number of author names that are displayed when a citation is published. To change the displayed number of authors, set display-authors to the desired number. For example, |display-authors=2 will display only the first two authors in a citation. By default, all authors are displayed. |display-authors=etal displays all authors in the list followed by et al. Aliases: displayauthors.
• display-editors: Controls the number of editor names that are displayed when a citation is published. To change the displayed number of editors, set display-editors to the desired number. For example, |display-editors=2 will display only the first two editors in a citation. By default, all editors are displayed. |display-editors=etal displays all editors in the list followed by et al. Aliases: displayeditors.
• last-author-amp: Switches the separator between the last two names of the author list to space ampersand space ( & ) when set to y, yes, or true. Example: |last-author-amp=yes
• postscript: Controls the closing punctuation for a citation; defaults to a period (.); for no terminating punctuation, specify |postscript=none – leaving |postscript= empty is the same as omitting it, but is ambiguous. Ignored if quote is defined.

This template produces COinS metadata; see COinS in Wikipedia for background information.