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This Citation Style 1 template is used to create citations for web sources that are not characterized by another CS1 template.
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 purge the page.
Most commonly used parameters in horizontal format
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.
Choosing between {{Cite web}} and {{Cite news}}
Before 2014, editors had to decide whether to use {{Cite web}} or {{Cite news}} based on their features. In 2014, most of the differences between the two templates were eliminated.
As of 29 July 2016, {{Cite web}} and {{Cite news}} have the following differences:
{{Cite news}} can be used for offline (paper) sources whereas {{Cite web}} generates a missing URL error when no URL is provided
{{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=1 சூன் 2025}}
Doe, John (April 30, 2005). "My Favorite Things, Part II". Encyclopedia of Things. Open Publishing. Retrieved 1 சூன் 2025.
{{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=1 சூன் 2025}}
{{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=1 சூன் 2025}}
{{cite web
|url=http://www.example.org/
|title=Honi soit qui mal y pense
|last=Joliet
|first=François
|date=30 April 2005
|access-date=1 சூன் 2025
|language=French
|trans-title=Shame on those who think evil of it}}
Joliet, François (30 April 2005). "Honi soit qui mal y pense" [Shame on those who think evil of it] (in French). Retrieved 1 சூன் 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
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=1 சூன் 2025}}
{{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=1 சூன் 2025}}
Doe, John; Smith, Peter; Smythe, Jim (30 April 2005). "Our Favourite Things". Encyclopaedia of Things. Open Publishing. Retrieved 1 சூன் 2025.
No author
{{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=1 சூன் 2025}}
"Index of Sharp Things". Encyclopedia of Things. Open Publishing. 2005-04-30. Retrieved 1 சூன் 2025.
No author, no publisher
{{cite web
|url=http://www.example.org/
|title=Index of Sharp Things
|date=30 April 2005
|website=Encyclopedia of Things
|access-date=1 சூன் 2025}}
{{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=1 சூன் 2025
|language=Greek}}
Using "archive-url" and "archive-date" (and optionally "dead-url") for webpages that have been archived
By defaulturl-status=dead, the main link is to the archive:
{{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=1 சூன் 2025
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050907150136/http://www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf
|archive-date=2005-09-07}}
Withurl-status=unfit, do not show the original link:
{{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=1 சூன் 2025
| archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/5yo0HaAk7 |archive-date=19 May 2011 |url-status=unfit}}
{{cite web
|url=http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/c.html
|title=Daylight saving time: rationale and original idea
|website=WebExhibits
|date=2008
|access-date=1 சூன் 2025
|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 1 சூன் 2025. ... 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 (.).
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.
any of the named identifiers (|isbn=, |issn=, |doi=, |pmc=, etc)
Deprecated
Deprecated CS1/CS2 parameters
Deprecated parameter
Replace with
|ASIN-tld=
|asin-tld=
|class=
Supported only by {{cite arXiv}} – remove, or use {{cite arXiv}} if appropriate.
|laysummary=
|lay-url=
|lay-summary=
|registration=
Set one of the following to subscription or registration as appropriate: |url-access=, |chapter-url-access=, |entry-url-access=, |article-url-access=, |section-url-access=
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, but not the other way around).
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 Corp.))
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, but not the other way around). 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 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:
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.
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. May alternatively be used to identify the type of manuscript linked to in the title, if this is not the final version of a manuscript (e.g. if a preprint of a manuscript is freely available, but the version of record is behind a paywall). Format in sentence case. Displays in parentheses following the title. Examples: Thesis, Booklet, Accepted manuscript, 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 the proper language code (list of supported codes / names). 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 பகுப்பு: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. Aliases: lang
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.[date 1]:{{{3}}} 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.
The template uses |ref=harv or |mode=cs2, or the template is {{citation}}.
orig-year: Original publication year; displays in square brackets 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
↑Publication dates in references within an article should all have the same format. This may be a different format from that used for archive and access dates.
See .
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 website, book, encyclopedia, newspaper, magazine, journal, etc.). Corporate designations such as "Ltd", "Inc.", or "GmbH" are not usually included. Not normally used for periodicals. 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: For news stories with a byline, that is, the location where the story was written. In earlier versions of the template this was the publication place, and for compatibility, will be treated as the publication place if the publication-place parameter is absent; see that parameter for further information. Alias: location
publication-place: Geographical place of publication; generally not wikilinked; omit when the name of the work includes the publication place; examples: The Boston Globe, The Times of India. Displays after the title. If only one of publication-place, place, or location is defined, it will be treated as the publication place and 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), or if the deliverer requests attribution.
See the access level parameters to display access restrictions.
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 |pages=3{{hyphen}}1–3{{hyphen}}15 or |at=pp. 3-1–3-15.
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=.
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=....
For linking to pages in PDF files or in Google Books, see விக்கிப்பீடியா:மேற்கோள் சுட்டுதல். Do not link to any commercial booksellers, such as Amazon.com; use |ISBN= or |OCLC= to provide neutral search links for books. 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.[date 1]:{{{3}}}Not required for linked documents that do not change. For example, access-date is required for online sources, such as personal websites, that do not have a publication date; see விக்கிப்பீடியா:மேற்கோள் சுட்டுதல். Access dates are not required for links to published research papers, published books, or news articles with publication dates. Note that access-date is the date that the URL was found to be working and to support the text being cited. Can be hidden or styled by registered editors. Alias: accessdate.
archive-url: The URL of an archived snapshot of a web page. Typically used to refer to services such as இணைய ஆவணகம்
(see Wikipedia:Using archive.is); 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: Archive-service snapshot-date; 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.[date 1]:{{{3}}} Do not wikilink; templated dates are discouraged. Alias: archivedate.
dead-url: the default value of this optional parameter, if omitted, is |dead-url=yes; equivalent values are y or true. Ignored if archive-url is not set. 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= and |archive-url= are 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.
↑ 1.01.1Access-date and archive-date in references should all have the same format – either the format used for publication dates, or YYYY-MM-DD.
See .
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. For |mode=cs2|ref= defaults to |ref=harv.
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 NCJ122967 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: arXividentifier; for example: arxiv=hep-th/9205027 (before April 2007) or arxiv=0706.0001 (April 2007 – December 2014) or arxiv=1501.00001 (since January 2015). 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. Example asin=B00005N5PF
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. Comment: Techies are aware of the 2019 switch from old to new ADS URLs: the old URLs should continue working after October 2019 even though deprecated; see the April/May 2019 and June 2019 discussions.
doi: எண்ணிம ஆவணச் சுட்டி; 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 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; example eissn=1557-2986 Alias: EISSN
hdl: Handle System identifier for digital objects and other resources on the Internet; example hdl=20.1000/100 Alias: HDL
(See Wikipedia:ISBN and ISBN § Overview.) Hyphens 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
zbl: Zentralblatt MATH; example zbl=0472.53010 For zbMATH search results like JFM 35.0387.02 use jfm=35.0387.02
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), or the name of an editorial committee. 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 Corp.))
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 (deprecated), laysummary (deprecated).
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. Mask parameters can take a number in the name of the parameter (e.g. |authorn-mask=) to specify which author the mask should apply to.
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. Additional text or templates beyond the terminating punctuation may generate an error message. |postscript= is ignored if quote is defined.
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 should signal the access restrictions of the external links included in a citation. Nota bene: access icons do not display correctly for editors who use Modern skin.
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 ("paywall")
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 indicators for url-holding parameters
Sources linked by |url=, |chapter-url=, |entry-url=, |article-url=, and |section-url= are presumed to be free-to-read. When they are not free-to-read, editors should mark those sources with the matching access-indicator parameter so that an appropriate icon is included in the rendered citation. Because the sources linked by these url-holding parameters are presumed to be free-to-read, they may not be marked as free.
url-holding and access-indicator parameters
url
access
allowed keywords
|url=
|url-access=
registration limited subscription
|article-url=
|article-url-access=
|chapter-url=
|chapter-url-access=
|contribution-url=
|chapter-url-access=
|entry-url=
|entry-url-access=
|section-url=
|section-url-access=
|contribution-url-access= not currently defined; use its alias |chapter-url-access=
Access indicators for named identifiers
Links inserted by named identifiers are presumed to lie behind a paywall or registration barrier – exceptions listed below. When they are free-to-read, editors should mark those sources with the matching access-indicator parameter so that an appropriate icon is included in the rendered citation. Because the sources linked by these named-identifier parameters are not presumed to be free-to-read, they may not be marked as limited, registration, or subscription.
named-identifier and access-indicator parameters
identifier
access
allowed keywords
|bibcode=
|bibcode-access=
free
|doi=
|doi-access=
|hdl=
|hdl-access=
|jstor=
|jstor-access=
|ol=
|ol-access=
|osti=
|osti-access=
Some named-identifiers are always free-to-read. For those named-identifiers there are no access-indicator parameters, the access level is automatically indicated by the template. These named identifiers are:
|arxiv=
|biorxiv=
|citeseerx=
|pmc=
|rfc=
|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: (deprecated) For online sources that require registration, set |registration=yes (or y, or true); yields to subscription if both are set. Use the appropriate access-indicator parameter
subscription: (deprecated) For online sources that require a subscription, set |subscription=yes (or y, or true); supersedes registration if both are set. Use the appropriate access-indicator parameter
Setting |registration= or |subscription= to any value other than y, yes, or true will generate an error message.
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
urlURL
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 your web browser. Not the name of the website.
Title of existing Wikipedia article about the author; can suffix with a numeral to add additional authors
Page name
optional
Authors list
authorspeoplehostcredits
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
last2author2
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
authorlink2author2-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; deprecated in favor of 'date', except for the special case of ISO dates with CITEREF in CS2 or Harvard citations
String
optional
Editor last name
editor-lasteditor1-lasteditoreditors
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-firsteditor1-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-linkeditor1-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-lasteditor2
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-linkeditor2linkeditorlink2
Title of existing Wikipedia article about the second editor.
Page name
optional
Website title
websitework
Title (name) of the website (or its short URL if no plain-language title is discernible); may be wikilinked; will display in italics. Having both 'publisher' and 'website' is redundant in many 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' (a.k.a. 'work') is redundant in many 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
languagelang
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-titletrans_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-yearorigyear
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
Published via
via
Name of the entity hosting the original copy of the work, if different from the publisher. This entity is committed not to alter the work. GitHub, SourceForge, CodePlex, YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion and Netflix are examples of service dedicated to acting on behalf of the publisher, but Archive.org, Wikimedia Commons and grc.com have done this on certain occasions.
Example
"GitHub", which hosts "Visual Studio Code" on behalf of "Microsoft"
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
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-urlarchiveurl
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-datearchivedate
Date when the original URL was archived; do not wikilink
String
suggested
Dead URL
dead-urldeadurl
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-dateaccessdate
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
last3author3
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
authorlink3author3-link
Title of existing Wikipedia article about the third author.
Page name
optional
Last name 4
last4author4
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
authorlink4author4-link
Title of existing Wikipedia article about the fourth author.
Page name
optional
Last name 5
last5author5
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
authorlink5author5-link
Title of existing Wikipedia article about the fifth author.
Page name
optional
Last name 6
last6author6
The surname of the sixth author; don't wikilink, use 'authorlink6'.
Line
optional
First name 6
first6
Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the sixth author; don't wikilink.
Line
optional
Author link 6
authorlink6author6-link
Title of existing Wikipedia article about the sixth author.
Page name
optional
Last name 7
last7author7
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
authorlink7author7-link
Title of existing Wikipedia article about the seventh author.
Page name
optional
Last name 8
last8author8
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
authorlink8author8-link
Title of existing Wikipedia article about the eighth author.
Page name
optional
Last name 9
last9author9
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
authorlink9author9-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-authorsdisplayauthors
Number of authors to display before 'et al.' is used. By default, all authors are displayed. Examples: |display-authors=2 will display only the first two authors in a citation followed by et al. |display-authors=etal displays all authors in the list followed by et al.
String
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-lasteditor3
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-linkeditor3linkeditorlink3
Title of existing Wikipedia article about the third editor.
Page name
optional
Editor last name 4
editor4-lasteditor4
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-linkeditor4linkeditorlink4
Title of existing Wikipedia article about the fourth editor.
Page name
optional
Editor last name 5
editor5-lasteditor5
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-linkeditor5linkeditorlink5
Title of existing Wikipedia article about the fifth editor.
Page name
optional
Editor last name 6
editor6-lasteditor6
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-linkeditor6linkeditorlink6
Title of existing Wikipedia article about the sixth editor.
Page name
optional
Editor last name 7
editor7-lasteditor7
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-linkeditor7linkeditorlink7
Title of existing Wikipedia article about the seventh editor.
Page name
optional
Editor last name 8
editor8-lasteditor8
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-linkeditor8linkeditorlink8
Title of existing Wikipedia article about the eighth editor.
Page name
optional
Editor last name 9
editor9-lasteditor9
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-linkeditor9linkeditorlink9
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'.