Template:Cite web

Usage

Copy a blank version to use. All parameter names must be in lowercase. Use the "|" (pipe) character between each parameter. Delete unused parameters to avoid clutter in the edit window. Some samples may include the current date. If the date is not current, then the page.

Most commonly used parameters in horizontal format

For references with author credit {{cite web |url= |title= |last= |first= |date= |website= |publisher= |access-date= |quote=}} For references without author credit {{cite web |url= |title= |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website= |publisher= |access-date= |quote=}}

Most commonly used parameters in vertical format

{{cite web |url= |title= |last= |first= |date= |website= |publisher= |access-date= |quote= }}

Full parameter set in horizontal format

{{cite web |url= |title= |last= |first= |author= |author-link= |last2= |first2= |author2= |author-link2= |date= |year= |editor-last= |editor-first= |editor= |editor-link= |editor2-last= |editor2-first= |editor2-link= |editors= |department= |website= |series= |publisher= |location= |page= |pages= |at= |language= |script-title= |trans-title= |type= |format= |arxiv= |asin= |bibcode= |doi= |doi-broken-date= |isbn= |issn= |jfm= |jstor= |lccn= |mr= |oclc= |ol= |osti= |pmc= |pmid= |rfc= |ssrn= |zbl= |id= |archive-url= |archive-date= |dead-url= |access-date= |quote= |ref= |postscript= |subscription= |registration=}}

Full parameter set in vertical format

Vertical list	Prerequisites	Brief instructions / notes
{{cite web |url= |title= |last= |first= |author-link= |last2= |first2= |author-link2= |date= |year= |editor-last= |editor-first= |editor-link= |editor2-last= |editor2-first= |editor2-link= |department= |website= |series= |publisher= |location= |page= |pages= |at= |language= |script-title= |trans-title= |type= |format= |arxiv= |asin= |bibcode= |doi= |doi-broken-date= |isbn= |issn= |jfm= |jstor= |lccn= |mr= |oclc= |ol= |osti= |pmc= |pmid= |rfc= |ssrn= |zbl= |id= |archive-url= |archive-date= |dead-url= |access-date= |quote= |ref= |postscript= |subscription= |registration= }}	last   last last2         editor-last   editor-last editor2-last                                                                     url, archive-date archive-url url url	required required

• If a field name is listed in the Prerequisites column, it is a prerequisite for the field to the left.

Examples

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=My Favorite Things, Part II |last=Doe |first=John |publisher=Open Publishing |date=April 30, 2005 |website=Encyclopedia of Things |access-date=November 15, 2024}}

Doe, John (April 30, 2005). My Favorite Things, Part II. Open Publishing.

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=My Favorite Things, Part II |last=Doe |first=John |date=30 April 2005 |website=Encyclopedia of Things |access-date=15 November 2024}}

Doe, John (30 April 2005). My Favorite Things, Part II.

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=My Favorite Things, Part II |last=Doe |first=John |date=2005-04-30 |access-date=2024-11-15}}

Doe, John (2005-04-30). My Favorite Things, Part II.

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=My Favorite Things, Part II |last=Doe |first=John |access-date=15 November 2024}}

Doe, John. My Favorite Things, Part II.

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=My Favorite Things, Part II |access-date=2024-11-15}}

My Favorite Things, Part II.

• {{cite web |url=http://www.nfl.com/rulebook/digestofrules |title=Digest of Rules |publisher=National Football League |access-date=November 15, 2024}}

Digest of Rules. National Football League.

Using format

• {{cite web |url=http://www.indiapost.gov.in/Pdf/Customs/List_of_Psychotropic_Substances.pdf |title=List of psychotropic substances under international control |publisher=International Narcotics Control Board |format=PDF |access-date=15 November 2024}}

List of psychotropic substances under international control (PDF). International Narcotics Control Board.

Foreign language and translated title

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=Honi soit qui mal y pense |last=Joliet |first=François |date=30 April 2005 |access-date=15 November 2024 |language=French |trans-title=Shame on those who think evil of it}}

Joliet, François (30 April 2005). Honi soit qui mal y pense (French).

Using author-link

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=My Favorite Things, Part II |last=Doe |first=John |author-link=John Doe |publisher=Open Publishing |date=April 30, 2005 |website=Encyclopedia of Things |access-date=November 15, 2024}}

Doe, John (April 30, 2005). My Favorite Things, Part II. Open Publishing.

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=Our Favourite Things |last1=Doe |first1=John |last2=Smith |first2=Peter |last3=Smythe |first3=Jim |publisher=Open Publishing |date=30 April 2005 |website=Encyclopaedia of Things |access-date=15 November 2024}}

Our Favourite Things. Open Publishing (30 April 2005).

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=Index of Sharp Things |publisher=Open Publishing |date=2005-04-30 |website=Encyclopedia of Things |access-date=2024-11-15}}

Index of Sharp Things. Open Publishing (2005-04-30).

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=Index of Sharp Things |date=30 April 2005 |website=Encyclopedia of Things |access-date=15 November 2024}}

Index of Sharp Things (30 April 2005).

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=Index of Sharp Things |date=April 30, 2005 |access-date=November 15, 2024}}

Index of Sharp Things (April 30, 2005).

• {{cite web |url=http://www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf |title=List of psychotropic substances under international control |date=2005-04-30 |format=PDF |access-date=2024-11-15 |language=Greek}}

List of psychotropic substances under international control (Greek) (PDF) (2005-04-30).

Using "archive-url" and "archive-date" (and optionally "dead-url") 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=2005-04-30 |format=PDF |access-date=2024-11-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050907150136/http://www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf |archive-date=2005-09-07}}

List of psychotropic substances under international control (PDF) (2005-04-30).

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

Interview with Maggie Downs. The Desert Sun (March 31, 2006).

• {{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 |access-date=15 November 2024 | archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/5yo0HaAk7 |archive-date=19 May 2011 |dead-url=no}}

London, United Kingdom Forecast : Weather Underground (weather and elevation at Heathrow Airport). The Weather Underground.

Using quote

• {{cite web |url=http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/c.html |title=Daylight saving time: rationale and original idea |website=WebExhibits |year=2008 |access-date=15 November 2024 |quote=... Lord Balfour came forward with a unique concern: 'Supposing some unfortunate lady was confined with twins ...'}}

Daylight saving time: rationale and original idea (2008). “... 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.

By default, sets of fields are terminated with a period (.).

COinS

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

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). 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.
• 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. Displays in quotes. If script-title is defined, title holds romanized transliteration of title in script-title.
  • script-title: Original title for languages that do not use a Latin-based alphabet (Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, etc); follows transliteration defined in title. May be prefixed with an ISO 639-1 two-character code to help browsers properly display the script:

    ... |title=Tōkyō tawā |script-title=ja:東京タワー |trans-title=Tokyo Tower ...

  • trans-title: English translation of the title if the source cited is in a foreign language. Displays in square brackets after title; trans-title is included in the link. Use of the language parameter is recommended.

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

newline	[	]	|
space	[	]	|
	{{bracket|text}}		{{pipe}} –

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 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. Alias: location
• publication-place: If any one of publication-place, place, or location is defined, the location will show after the title; if publication-place and place or location are defined, then place or location is 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).

• agency: The news agency (wire service) that provided the content; examples: Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse. May be wikilinked if relevant.

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 <syntaxhighlight lang="text" class="" id="" style="" inline="1">p.</syntaxhighlight> 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 <syntaxhighlight lang="text" class="" id="" style="" inline="1">pp.</syntaxhighlight> unless |nopp=y. Hyphens are automatically converted to en dashes; if hyphens are appropriate, for example: pp. 3-1–3-15, use |pages=3{{hyphen}}1–3{{hyphen}}15 or |at=pp. 3-1–3-15.
  • nopp: Set to y, yes, or true to suppress the <syntaxhighlight lang="text" class="" id="" style="" inline="1">p.</syntaxhighlight> or <syntaxhighlight lang="text" class="" id="" style="" inline="1">pp.</syntaxhighlight> 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=.... 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 accessible 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 and Internet Archive ; 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. Alias: no-cat.
• 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: the citation's HTML anchor identifier. When set, |ref=ID generates an anchor with the given ID (the id attribute in the citation's <cite id="ID"> HTML tag). Setting |ref=ID identifies the template as a target and allows wikilinking to full references, especially useful with short-form citations like shortened notes and parenthetical referencing. The special value |ref=harv generates an anchor identifier suitable for use with {{sfn}} and {{harv}} templates. When |mode=cs2 defaults to |ref=harv.

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, include it only if standard identifiers are not 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 https://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 (<syntaxhighlight lang="text" class="" id="" style="" inline="1">10.</syntaxhighlight>).
  • doi-broken-date: Date the DOI was found to be non-working at https://dx.doi.org. Use the same format as other dates in the article. Alias: 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. 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.
  • 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.
• 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.

Subscription or registration required

Citations of online sources that require registration or a subscription are acceptable in Wikipedia as documented in Verifiability – Access to sources. As a courtesy to readers and other editors, editors can signal the access restrictions of the external links included in a citation.

Four access levels can be used:

• free: the source is free to read for anyone (this applies in particular to articles in open access)
• registration: a free registration is required to access the source
• limited: there are other constraints (such as a cap on daily views) to freely access this source
• subscription: the source is only accessible via a paid subscription

As there are often multiple external links with different access levels in the same citation, these values are attributed to a particular external link.

Access level of |url=

Links inserted with |url= are expected to be free to read by default. If not, editors can use one of

• |url-access=subscription
• |url-access=registration
• |url-access=limited

to indicate the relevant access restriction.

Access level of identifiers

Links inserted by identifiers such as |doi= are not expected to offer a free full text by default. If they do, editors can use |doi-access=free (in the case of |doi=) to indicate the relevant access level. The following identifiers are supported:

• |bibcode= with |bibcode-access=free
• |doi= with |doi-access=free
• |hdl= with |hdl-access=free
• |jstor= with |jstor-access=free
• |ol= with |ol-access=free
• |osti= with |osti-access=free

Some identifiers always link to free full texts. In this case, the access level is automatically indicated by the template. This is the case for |arxiv=, |biorxiv=, |citeseerx=, |pmc=, |rfc= and |ssrn=.

Ambiguous access parameters

The parameters |registration=yes and |subscription=yes can also be used to indicate the access level of a citation. However, they do not indicate which link they apply to, so editors are encouraged to use |url-access=registration and |url-access=subscription instead, when the restriction applies to |url=. If the restriction applies to an identifier, these parameters should be omitted.

These parameters add a link note to the end of the citation:

• registration: For online sources that require registration, set |registration=yes (or y, or true); superseded by subscription if both are set.
• subscription: For online sources that require a subscription, set |subscription=yes (or y, or true); supersedes registration if both are set.

Setting |registration= or |subscription= to any value other than y, yes, or true will generate an error message.

TemplateData

This is the TemplateData documentation for this template used by VisualEditor and other tools; see the monthly parameter usage report for this template.

TemplateData for Cite web

Formats a citation to a website using the provided information such as URL and title. Used only for sources that are not correctly described by the specific citation templates for books, journals, news sources, etc.

Template parameters

This template prefers inline formatting of parameters.

Parameter		Description	Type	Status
URL	url URL	The URL of the online location where the text of the publication can be found. Requires schemes of the type "http://..." or maybe even the  protocol relative scheme "//..." Example https://www.metacritic.com//...	String	required
Title	title	The title of the source page on the website; will display with quotation marks added. Usually found at the top of you web browser. Not the name of the website.	String	required
Last name	last last1 author author1 author1-last author-last surname1 author-last1 subject1 surname author-last subject	The surname of the author; don't wikilink, use 'authorlink'; can suffix with a numeral to add additional authors	Line	suggested
First name	first given author-first first1 given1 author-first1 author1-first	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the author; don't wikilink, use 'authorlink'; can suffix with a numeral to add additional authors	Line	suggested
Author link	authorlink author-link subjectlink subject-link authorlink1 author-link1 author1-link subjectlink1 author1link subject-link1 subject1-link subject1link	Title of existing Wikipedia article about the author; can suffix with a numeral to add additional authors	Page name	optional
Authors list	authors people host credits	List of authors as a free form list. Use of this parameter is discouraged, "lastn" to "firstn" are preferable. Warning: do not use if last or any of its aliases are used.	String	optional
Last name 2	last2 author2	The surname of the second author; don't wikilink, use 'authorlink2'.	Line	optional
First name 2	first2	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the second author; don't wikilink.	Line	optional
Author link 2	authorlink2 author2-link	Title of existing Wikipedia article about the second author.	Page name	optional
Source date	date	Full date when the source was published; if unknown, use access-date instead; do not wikilink	Date	suggested
Year of publication	year	Year of the source being referenced; use 'date' instead, if month and day are also known	String	optional
Editor last name	editor-last editor1-last editor editors	The surname of the editor; don't wikilink, use 'editor-link'; can suffix with a numeral to add additional editors.	Line	optional
Editor first name	editor-first editor1-first	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the editor; don't wikilink, use 'editor-link'; can suffix with a numeral to add additional editors; alias of 'editor1-first'	Line	optional
Editor link	editor-link editor1-link	Title of existing Wikipedia article about the editor; can suffix with a numeral to add additional editors	Page name	optional
Editor last name 2	editor2-last editor2	The surname of the second editor; don't wikilink, use 'editor2-link'.	Line	optional
Editor first name 2	editor2-first	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the second editor; don't wikilink.	Line	optional
Editor link 2	editor2-link editor2link editorlink2	Title of existing Wikipedia article about the second editor.	Page name	optional
Website	website work	Name of the website; may be wikilinked; will display in italics. Having both 'Publisher' and 'Website' is redundant in most cases Example Rotten Tomatoes	String	suggested
Series identifier	series	Series identifier when the source is part of a series, such as a book series or a journal	String	optional
Publisher	publisher	Name of the publisher; may be wikilinked. Having both 'Publisher' and 'Website' is redundant in most cases. Example "CBS Interactive" which owns "Metacritic.com"	String	optional
Location of publication	location	Geographical place of publication; usually not wikilinked; omit when the publication name includes place; alias of 'place'	String	optional
Page	page	Page in the source that supports the content; displays after 'p.'	String	optional
Pages	pages	Pages in the source that support the content (not an indication of the number of pages in the source; displays after 'pp.'	String	optional
At	at	May be used instead of 'page' or 'pages' where a page number is inappropriate or insufficient	String	optional
Language	language	The language in which the source is written, if not English; use the full language name; do not use icons or templates	String	optional
Script title	script-title	For titles in languages that do not use a Latin-based alphabet (Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, etc). Prefix with two-character ISO639-1 language code followed by a colon. For Japanese use: |script-title=ja:...	String	optional
Translated title	trans-title trans_title	An English language title, if the source cited is in a foreign language; 'language' is recommended	String	optional
Type	type	Additional information about the media type of the source; format in sentence case	String	optional
Format	format	Format of the work referred to by 'url'; examples: PDF, DOC, XLS; do not specify HTML	String	optional
Others	others	Used to record other (non-author) contributions to the work, such as 'Illustrated by John Smith' or 'Translated by John Smith'. Only one ''others'' parameter is allowed: e.g., 'Illustrated by Jane Doe; Translated by John Smith'	String	optional
Original year	orig-year origyear	Original year of publication; provide specifics	String	optional
Place of publication	publication-place	Publication place shows after title; if 'place' or 'location' are also given, they are displayed before the title prefixed with 'written at'	String	optional
Publication date	publication-date	Date of publication when different from the date the work was written; do not wikilink	String	optional
No pp	nopp	Set to 'y' to suppress the 'p.' or 'pp.' display with 'page' or 'pages' when inappropriate (such as 'Front cover')	String	optional
arXiv identifier	arxiv	An identifier for arXive electronic preprints of scientific papers	String	optional
ASIN	asin	Amazon Standard Identification Number; 10 characters	String	optional
ASIN TLD	asin-tld	ASIN top-level domain for Amazon sites other than the US	String	optional
Bibcode	bibcode	Bibliographic Reference Code (REFCODE); 19 characters	String	optional
biorXiv	biorxiv	biorXiv identifier; 6 digits	Line	optional
CiteSeerX	citeseerx	CiteSeerX identifier; found after the 'doi=' query parameter	Line	optional
DOI	doi	Digital Object Identifier; begins with '10.'	String	optional
DOI broken date	doi-broken-date	The date that the DOI was determined to be broken	String	optional
ISBN	isbn	International Standard Book Number; use the 13-digit ISBN where possible	String	optional
ISSN	issn	International Standard Serial Number; 8 characters; may be split into two groups of four using a hyphen	String	optional
jfm code	jfm	Jahrbuch über die Fortschritte der Mathematik classification code	String	optional
JSTOR	jstor	JSTOR identifier	String	optional
LCCN	lccn	Library of Congress Control Number	String	optional
MR	mr	Mathematical Reviews identifier	String	optional
OCLC	oclc	Online Computer Library Center number	String	optional
OL	ol	Open Library identifier	String	optional
OSTI	osti	Office of Scientific and Technical Information identifier	String	optional
PMC	pmc	PubMed Center article number	String	optional
PMID	pmid	PubMed Unique Identifier	String	optional
RFC	rfc	Request for Comments number	String	optional
SSRN	ssrn	Social Science Research Network	String	optional
Zbl	zbl	Zentralblatt MATH journal identifier	String	optional
id	id	A unique identifier used where none of the specialized ones are applicable	String	optional
URL access level	url-access	Classification of the access restrictions on the URL ('registration', 'subscription' or 'limited')	String	optional
Archive URL	archive-url archiveurl	The URL of an archived copy of a web page, if or in case the URL becomes unavailable; requires 'archive-date'	String	suggested
Archive date	archive-date archivedate	Date when the original URL was archived; do not wikilink	String	suggested
Dead URL	dead-url deadurl	If set to 'no', the title display is adjusted; useful for when the URL is archived preemptively but still live	String	suggested
URL access date	access-date accessdate	The full date when the original URL was accessed; do not wikilink	Date	suggested
Quote	quote	Relevant text quoted from the source; displays last, enclosed in quotes; must include terminating punctuation	String	optional
Ref	ref	An anchor identifier; can be made the target of wikilinks to full references; special value 'harv' generates an anchor suitable for the harv template	String	optional
Postscript	postscript	The closing punctuation for the citation; ignored if 'quote' is defined Default .	String	optional
Subscription required	subscription	When set to yes, displays “(subscription required)” to indicate an online source that requires subscription	String	optional
Registration required	registration	When set to yes, displays “(registration required)” to indicate an online source that requires registration	String	optional
Separator	separator	The punctuation used to separate lists of authors, editors, etc.; a space must be encoded as   do not use an asterisk, colon, or hash mark Default .	String	optional
Lay URL	layurl	URL link to a non-technical summary or review of the source; alias of 'laysummary'	String	optional
Lay source	laysource	Name of the source of the laysummary; displays in italics, preceded by an en dash	String	optional
Lay date	laydate	Date of the summary; displays in parentheses	String	optional
Author mask	author-mask	Replaces the name of the first author with em dashes or text; set to a numeric value 'n' to set the dash 'n' em spaces wide; set to a text value to display the text without a trailing author separator; for example, 'with' instead	String	optional
Last name 3	last3 author3	The surname of the third author; don't wikilink, use 'authorlink3'.	Line	optional
First name 3	first3	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the third author; don't wikilink.	Line	optional
Author link 3	authorlink3 author3-link	Title of existing Wikipedia article about the third author.	Page name	optional
Last name 4	last4 author4	The surname of the fourth author; don't wikilink, use 'authorlink4'.	Line	optional
First name 4	first4	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the fourth author; don't wikilink.	Line	optional
Author link 4	authorlink4 author4-link	Title of existing Wikipedia article about the fourth author.	Page name	optional
Last name 5	last5 author5	The surname of the fifth author; don't wikilink, use 'authorlink5'.	Line	optional
First name 5	first5	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the fifth author; don't wikilink.	Line	optional
Author link 5	authorlink5 author5-link	Title of existing Wikipedia article about the fifth author.	Page name	optional
Last name 6	last6 author6	The surname of the sixth author; don't wikilink, use 'authorlink6'.	Line	optional
First name 6	first6 author6-link	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the sixth author; don't wikilink.	Line	optional
Author link 6	authorlink6	Title of existing Wikipedia article about the sixth author.	Page name	optional
Last name 7	last7 author7	The surname of the seventh author; don't wikilink, use 'authorlink7'.	Line	optional
First name 7	first7	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the seventh author; don't wikilink.	Line	optional
Author link 7	authorlink7 author7-link	Title of existing Wikipedia article about the seventh author.	Page name	optional
Last name 8	last8 author8	The surname of the eighth author; don't wikilink, use 'authorlink8'.	Line	optional
First name 8	first8	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the eighth author; don't wikilink.	Line	optional
Author link 8	authorlink8 author8-link	Title of existing Wikipedia article about the eighth author.	Page name	optional
Last name 9	last9 author9	The surname of the ninth author; don't wikilink, use 'authorlink9'. If nine authors are defined, then only eight will show and 'et al.' will show in place of the last author.	Line	optional
First name 9	first9	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the ninth author; don't wikilink.	Line	optional
Author link 9	authorlink9 author9-link	Title of existing Wikipedia article about the ninth author.	Page name	optional
Author name separator	author-name-separator	Changes the separator between last and first names; defaults to a comma and space; a space must be encoded as   do not use an asterisk, colon, or hash mark Default ,	String	optional
Author separator	author-separator	Changes the separator between authors; defaults to a semicolon and space; a space must be encoded as   do not use an asterisk, colon, or hash mark Default ;	String	optional
Display authors	display-authors displayauthors	Number of authors to display before 'et al.' is used; default is to do so after 8 of 9 are listed. Default 8	Number	optional
Last author ampersand	lastauthoramp	When set to any value, changes the separator between the last two names of the author list to 'space ampersand space'	String	optional
Editor last name 3	editor3-last editor3	The surname of the third editor; don't wikilink, use 'editor3-link'.	Line	optional
Editor first name 3	editor3-first	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the third editor; don't wikilink.	Line	optional
Editor link 3	editor3-link editor3link editorlink3	Title of existing Wikipedia article about the third editor.	Page name	optional
Editor last name 4	editor4-last editor4	The surname of the fourth editor; don't wikilink, use 'editor4-link'.	Line	optional
Editor first name 4	editor4-first	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the fourth editor; don't wikilink.	Line	optional
Editor link 4	editor4-link editor4link editorlink4	Title of existing Wikipedia article about the fourth editor.	Page name	optional
Editor last name 5	editor5-last editor5	The surname of the fifth editor; don't wikilink, use 'editor5-link'.	Line	optional
Editor first name 5	editor5-first	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the fifth editor; don't wikilink.	Line	optional
Editor link 5	editor5-link editor5link editorlink5	Title of existing Wikipedia article about the fifth editor.	Page name	optional
Editor last name 6	editor6-last editor6	The surname of the sixth editor; don't wikilink, use 'editor6-link'.	Line	optional
Editor first name 6	editor6-first	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the sixth editor; don't wikilink.	Line	optional
Editor link 6	editor6-link editor6link editorlink6	Title of existing Wikipedia article about the sixth editor.	Page name	optional
Editor last name 7	editor7-last editor7	The surname of the seventh editor; don't wikilink, use 'editor7-link'.	Line	optional
Editor first name 7	editor7-first	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the seventh editor; don't wikilink.	Line	optional
Editor link 7	editor7-link editor7link editorlink7	Title of existing Wikipedia article about the seventh editor.	Page name	optional
Editor last name 8	editor8-last editor8	The surname of the eighth editor; don't wikilink, use 'editor8-link'.	Line	optional
Editor first name 8	editor8-first	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the eighth editor; don't wikilink.	Line	optional
Editor link 8	editor8-link editor8link editorlink8	Title of existing Wikipedia article about the eighth editor.	Page name	optional
Editor last name 9	editor9-last editor9	The surname of the ninth editor; don't wikilink, use 'editor9-link'.	Line	optional
Editor first name 9	editor9-first	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the ninth editor; don't wikilink.	Line	optional
Editor link 9	editor9-link editor9link editorlink9	Title of existing Wikipedia article about the ninth editor.	Page name	optional
Edition	edition	Specify the edition or revision of the source, when applicable. For example: '2nd' or '5.1'. What you supply here is suffixed by ' ed.'	String	optional
Bibcode access level	bibcode-access	If the full text is available from ADS via this Bibcode, type 'free'.	String	optional
DOI access level	doi-access	If the full text is free to read via the DOI, type 'free'.	String	optional
HDL access level	hdl-access	If the full text is free to read via the HDL, type 'free'.	String	optional
Jstor access level	jstor-access	If the full text is free to read on Jstor, type 'free'.	String	optional
OpenLibrary access level	ol-access	If the full text is free to read on OpenLibrary, type 'free'.	String	optional
OSTI access level	osti-access	If the full text is free to read on OSTI, type 'free'.	String	optional

See also

• {{cite book}}
• {{cite journal}}
• {{cite news}}