The University of Birmingham references in Harvard, the Cite Them Right version, unless a school sets another style: Law uses OSCOLA, Psychology APA 7, and some medical and life science courses Vancouver. Birmingham Harvard puts the family name and year in the text, as (Stevens, 2013), switches to et al. at four authors, and names every author in the reference list.
Every rule below comes from the University of Birmingham's own public referencing guide, chiefly its Harvard (author-date) page, and linked school pages, read on 2 October 2026. EdCitation is not affiliated with the University of Birmingham; this follows its public library guide, checked on 2 October 2026.
EdCitation publishes this guide. Its free Cite a source builds Harvard entries from the publisher's record, and Verify references checks a finished list; what both returned on Birmingham's own examples is quoted below.
What referencing style does the University of Birmingham use?
Harvard, following Cite Them Right. University of Birmingham Library Services (2026i) says the University "has adopted the Cite Them Right style of referencing", and the Academic Skills Centre's introductory video recommends Harvard while noting that some departments use another style (University of Birmingham Academic Skills Centre, n.d.). For anything the basic Harvard page leaves out, the library points to Cite Them Right Online, opened by logging in as "University of Birmingham".
The pages disagree on the edition: the home page calls Cite Them Right "currently in a 13th edition", while the Online tab still says 12th. The home page also tells students to check with their tutor which style is expected, so your module handbook outranks any guide.
Which schools use a different style?
Several, and the library's pages name them:
| School or course | Style Birmingham names | Page it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Most courses | Harvard, Cite Them Right | Referencing: Home; Academic Skills Centre |
| School of Law modules | OSCOLA, 5th edition, introduced in 2026 | OSCOLA |
| Psychology; some Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences modules | APA 7 | APA |
| Some medical and life science courses | Vancouver | Academic Skills Centre; Vancouver |
| Social Work, citing law cases | Harvard, with Cite Them Right's form for neutral citations | Harvard |
| Elizabeth Garrett Anderson programme, Health Services Management Centre | Harvard | HSMC referencing page |
| Classics, Ancient History and Archaeology | Chicago 18th for ancient texts, cited by book, chapter or line | Classical references |
| Arts and humanities, where a department sets them | Chicago notes and bibliography, or MHRA 4th edition | Chicago; MHRA |
| Physics; Bioinformatics; Chemistry and Chemical Engineering; Engineering; Theology | APS; Nature Communications; RSC; SAGE Harvard or SAGE Vancouver; SBL | Other referencing styles |
| A Harvard, APA 7 or Vancouver entry from a DOI, ISBN or address | Cite a source, free | EdCitation |
Treat the lower rows as possibilities: the APA page dates its list "as of the creation of these guidelines", and University of Birmingham Library Services (2026h) says students "may be asked" to use most of its other styles. EdCitation builds six: APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 18 author-date, Harvard, IEEE and Vancouver. It does not build OSCOLA, MHRA, Chicago notes and bibliography, APS, RSC, SAGE's variants, SBL or the Nature style; write those by hand from the guides Birmingham links. Other universities' splits are in referencing at UK universities.
How do you cite in the text in Birmingham Harvard?
Give the author's family name and the year in round brackets, with a page number when you quote or paraphrase one passage. University of Birmingham Library Services (2026e) sets out each case with an example:
- One to three authors. Every name: (Stevens, 2013), (Banerjee and Watson, 2011), (Smith, Jones and Thomas, 2015).
- Four or more. The first name, then et al. in italics: Dym et al. (2009).
- No author. The title in italics, never "Anonymous": (Medicine in old age, 1985, p.74).
- No author or date. The title and "no date": (Trends in atmospheric pressure, no date).
- Several sources at once. Semicolons between them, in date order: (Jamieson, 2011; Hollingworth, 2012; Hatfield, 2013; Rogers, 2015). Works from the same year go alphabetically by author.
- One author, two works in a year. Letters after the year, in text and list: Harris (2007a), (2007b).
The full page range of an article or chapter goes in the list. How other styles count authors is in when to use et al.
How do you set out a Birmingham Harvard reference list?
Alphabetically by the first author's surname, then year and letter, with every author named "no matter how many there are" and the last two joined by "and". Each kind of source has a template on the Harvard page.
Books, and the place of publication
Author and initials, the year in round brackets, the title in italics, the edition from the second on, then place and publisher: Banerjee, A. and Watson, T.F. (2011) Pickard's manual of operative dentistry. 9th edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
The place is where Birmingham parts from current Cite Them Right. The Harvard page notes that in summer 2025 Cite Them Right stopped treating the place as essential for books, and that the Academic Skills Centre kept it in its examples in case individual academics still want it. Ask your lecturers; if they have no preference, pick one form and keep to it. Editors take "(eds)", and a chapter reads 'Title', in Everett, T. and Kell, C. (eds) Book title, then edition, place, publisher and pages.
Journal articles, DOIs and web pages
An article title goes in single quotation marks and the journal in italics, then the volume, the issue in brackets and "pp." with the range; Birmingham's examples write 29 (5) with a space and join pages with a hyphen. An online article ends "Available at:" and the DOI, with no accessed date in the guide's example. A web page puts its title in italics and ends with the address and the day you looked: Available at: URL (Accessed: 18 July 2015). An undated page takes "(no date)" after the author.
Can you copy Birmingham's examples exactly?
Copy the pattern, not every character. Checked against the publishers' records, several of the Harvard page's examples carry slips:
- Wildman (2009). The DOI is printed "https://doi:1111/j.1440-1800.2009.00441.x", which leads nowhere; the working address is https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1440-1800.2009.00441.x, and the issue, 2, is missing.
- Knapik (2015). Both copies list three authors; the publisher's record names a fourth, Shumway. One copy adds "and" to the title; the other ends with a stray "EDUC 1028: E-learning" and an intranet address.
- BBC News (2014). Two addresses run together, and the headline is not the BBC's, which reads "'Lights Out' ends day of WW1 centenary commemorations".
- Small marks. "Snow, D" lacks a full stop, initials appear as "J.J." and "J. J.", pages as "p.74" and "pp. 1157-1162", and Churchill Livingstone loses its final "e".
Where an example breaks the rule written above it, follow the rule, and take each fact from the source itself.
Birmingham Harvard rules at a glance
Each rule, with the page of the guide it comes from:
| Rule | Birmingham's form | Page it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Style | Harvard, Cite Them Right | Referencing: Home (2026i) |
| In the text | (Stevens, 2013) or Banerjee and Watson (2011) | Harvard (2026e) |
| Et al. in the text | From four authors: Dym et al. (2009) | Harvard (2026e) |
| Et al. in the list | Never: every author named | Harvard (2026e) |
| No author; no date | Title in italics, not "Anonymous"; "no date" | Harvard (2026e) |
| Book | 9th edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Place optional since 2025: ask | Harvard (2026e) |
| Journal | 'Title', Journal, 29 (5), pp. 1157-1162. | Harvard (2026e) |
| Title capitals | In the examples, the first word and names only, even after a colon: Engineering design: a project based introduction | Harvard (2026e) |
| DOI | Available at: the DOI, no accessed date | Harvard (2026e) |
| Web page | Title. Available at: URL (Accessed: date) | Harvard (2026e) |
| List or bibliography | A list holds only works cited, a bibliography adds reading; a course may want either or both | Harvard (2026e) |
| Ibid | Not used in Harvard | Home glossary (2026i) |
| Building the entry | Cite a source, then the changes below | EdCitation |
A worked example in Birmingham Harvard
A short paragraph and its list, set exactly as the Harvard page's templates set them, from four real sources, three of them the guide's own examples corrected against their records:
Knapik et al. (2015) tested functional movement screening as a predictor of injury in coast guard cadets, and Wildman (2009) studies the Lichfield Diocesan Nursing Association. Dym et al. (2009) introduce engineering design through projects. 'Lights Out' closed a day of First World War centenary commemorations (BBC News, 2014).
Reference list
BBC News (2014) 'Lights Out' ends day of WW1 centenary commemorations. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28632223 (Accessed: 2 October 2026).
Dym, C.L., Little, P., Orwin, E.J. and Spjut, R.E. (2009) Engineering design: a project-based introduction. 3rd edn. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Knapik, J.J., Cosio-Lima, L.M., Reynolds, K.L. and Shumway, R.S. (2015) 'Efficacy of functional movement screening for predicting injuries in coast guard cadets', Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 29 (5), pp. 1157-1162. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0000000000000704.
Wildman, S. (2009) 'Nursing and the issue of 'party' in the Church of England: the case of the Lichfield Diocesan Nursing Association', Nursing Inquiry, 16 (2), pp. 94-102. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1440-1800.2009.00441.x.
"Lights Out" keeps its capitals as the event's name. Delete "Hoboken, NJ:" if your lecturer follows the 2025 change.
Which EdCitation style is closest to Birmingham Harvard?
Harvard (Cite Them Right), in EdCitation's Cite a source. It is the family Birmingham adopted, so the facts arrive in the right order, and a few marks change by hand:
- Build each entry from its DOI, ISBN or web address, with Harvard chosen.
- For four or more authors, replace et al. with every name: Birmingham's list names them all.
- Lower title-case article titles to sentence case; Harvard keeps the publisher's capitals.
- To match Birmingham's examples exactly, write 29 (5) with a space and use a hyphen in page ranges.
- For a book, check the edition, the authors and the place against the title page and your lecturer's wishes.
- For a web page, check the author and date in the form before the entry is built.
- Paste the finished list into Verify references and settle every "check this".
On a Vancouver course
University of Birmingham Library Services (2026j) lists up to six authors before et al., abbreviates journal titles from the NLM catalogue, and adds "[internet]", a cited date and "Available from:" for online articles. EdCitation's Vancouver ended the Knapik entry "J Strength Cond Res. 2015;29(5):1157-62."; Birmingham's print example has "J Strength Cond Res 2015; 29 (5): 1157‐1162", with spaces and full page numbers. Match the library's layout if your school follows it; our Vancouver referencing guide covers the rest.
What did EdCitation return on Birmingham's sources?
EdCitation is the best place to start a Birmingham reference list, and the slips above show why: every entry comes from the publisher's record, so a broken DOI or a missing fourth author is not copied across. A chatbot cannot promise that; it predicts what a reference probably says. Cite a source builds Harvard (Cite Them Right), APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 18 author-date, IEEE and Vancouver from a DOI, title, PubMed ID, ISBN or web address, screens each source for retraction, and is free, with no account. EdCitation finds, cites and checks sources and never writes any part of your essay, so every sentence and argument stays your own.
Cite a source on three real sources
For the Knapik DOI, 10.1519/JSC.0000000000000704, Harvard returned:
Knapik, J.J. et al. (2015) ‘Efficacy of Functional Movement Screening for Predicting Injuries in Coast Guard Cadets’, Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 29(5), pp. 1157–1162. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0000000000000704.
No retraction was reported. Replace et al. with Cosio-Lima, L.M., Reynolds, K.L. and Shumway, R.S., and lower the title's capitals.
For Wildman's DOI, 10.1111/j.1440-1800.2009.00441.x:
Wildman, S. (2009) ‘Nursing and the issue of “party” in the Church of England: the case of the Lichfield Diocesan Nursing Association’, Nursing Inquiry, 16(2), pp. 94–102. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1440-1800.2009.00441.x.
It adds the issue and a working DOI, both missing from Birmingham's printed copy; only the spacing and dash change.
For the Dym textbook's ISBN, 9780470225967, on 3 October 2026:
Dym, C.L. and Little, P. (2008) Engineering Design: A Project Based Introduction. 3rd edn. Wiley.
The catalogue record behind it names only the first two of the four authors and dates the book 2008. Add Orwin, E.J. and Spjut, R.E., take the year from the back of the title page (Birmingham prints 2009), add the place, Hoboken, NJ, italicise the title and lower its capitals after the first word, as Birmingham's examples do. The entry above is the finished form.
For the BBC story's address, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28632223:
BBC News (2014) ‘“Lights Out” ends day of WW1 centenary commemorations’, 3 August. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28632223 (Accessed: 2 October 2026).
It read the author from the page and set the story as online news, as Birmingham's own New Yorker example does. The page itself shows "Published 5 August 2014", so correct "3 August" in the form; or, to follow the guide's web-page example for this story, italicise the headline and drop its quotation marks and the day.
Verify references on seven of Birmingham's examples
On 3 October 2026 we pasted seven of the Harvard page's entries, exactly as printed, into Verify references:
- Knapik (2015): "check this", "The publisher's record also names Shumway, who is not in your entry. Check the authors." Correct.
- Wildman (2009): verified, "Title, year and first author match a published record." The broken DOI address was not flagged, so rebuild the entry from its DOI.
- Guy (2001): verified, with a note: "Title and author match a library catalogue record, which dates it 2002; your entry says 2001. Check the year on the title page."
- Sparkes (2010), a chapter: "not found", "No publisher's or registry's record matches this reference." Yet Elsevier's page for the book lists "Function of the Spine" as chapter 12, by Valerie Sparks: check chapters in a library catalogue.
- Banerjee and Watson, and Dym: both verified, "Title, author, edition and year match a library catalogue record."
- Snow (2015): "check this", "The address answers that there is no page there. Check the address." The BBC guide has moved or gone, so find it again or cite an archived copy.
To check a whole assignment in one go, Pro at $8 a month adds References from a file, which checks every reference and matches every in-text citation to the list; see pricing.
Quick questions
What referencing style does the University of Birmingham use?
Harvard in the Cite Them Right version, for most courses. The School of Law uses OSCOLA, Psychology uses APA 7, and some medical and life science courses use Vancouver.
Does Birmingham Harvard need the place of publication?
Birmingham's examples keep it, but Cite Them Right stopped requiring it in summer 2025, and the library asks you to check with your lecturers and tutors.
When does et al. start in Birmingham Harvard?
At four authors, and only in the text. The reference list names every author, however many there are.
Can EdCitation build UoB citation style references?
For Harvard, APA 7 and Vancouver, yes: EdCitation's Cite a source builds them from the record, and you then list every author and adjust capitals by hand. It does not build OSCOLA, MHRA or Chicago notes.
References
- University of Birmingham Academic Skills Centre. (n.d.). Academic skills. University of Birmingham. https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/apply/your-offer/transition-resources/academic-skills
- University of Birmingham Health Services Management Centre. (n.d.). Referencing. HSMC Knowledge and Evidence Service. https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/facilities/hsmc-kes/help-and-training/referencing
- University of Birmingham Library Services. (2026a). APA (American Psychological Association): 7th edition. LibGuides. https://libguides.bham.ac.uk/c.php?g=713203&p=5156589
- University of Birmingham Library Services. (2026b). Chicago. LibGuides. https://libguides.bham.ac.uk/c.php?g=713203&p=5156590
- University of Birmingham Library Services. (2026c). Cite Them Right Online. LibGuides. https://libguides.bham.ac.uk/c.php?g=713203&p=5156595
- University of Birmingham Library Services. (2026d). Classical references. Classics, Ancient History and Archaeology, LibGuides. https://libguides.bham.ac.uk/c.php?g=693890&p=5255769
- University of Birmingham Library Services. (2026e). Harvard (author-date). LibGuides. https://libguides.bham.ac.uk/c.php?g=713203&p=5156587
- University of Birmingham Library Services. (2026f). MHRA (Modern Humanities Research Association). LibGuides. https://libguides.bham.ac.uk/c.php?g=713203&p=5156591
- University of Birmingham Library Services. (2026g). OSCOLA. LibGuides. https://libguides.bham.ac.uk/c.php?g=713203&p=5156594
- University of Birmingham Library Services. (2026h). Other referencing styles. LibGuides. https://libguides.bham.ac.uk/c.php?g=713203&p=5194515
- University of Birmingham Library Services. (2026i). Referencing: Home. LibGuides. https://libguides.bham.ac.uk/c.php?g=713203&p=5156485
- University of Birmingham Library Services. (2026j). Vancouver (numbering). LibGuides. https://libguides.bham.ac.uk/c.php?g=713203&p=5156588