RIS to Harvard Converter
Paste RIS records and get Cite Them Right Harvard references for your dissertation. Works with exports from EndNote, Mendeley, Zotero, JSTOR, and ProQuest. Free, no signup.
Free to use — no account required
What to do next
How it works
Step 1
Paste your RIS
Copy RIS records from EndNote, Mendeley, Zotero, ProQuest, or any database export. Each record starts with TY and ends with ER.
Step 2
Convert to Harvard
CiteMe parses the RIS tags (TY, AU, TI, JO, PY, VL, IS, SP, EP, DO) and builds a Cite Them Right Harvard reference for each record.
Step 3
Copy your Harvard references
Get formatted Harvard references for your reference list. Smith, J.D. and Johnson, M.R. (2024) 'Article title', Journal Name, 29(4), pp. 123–145.
Why use CiteMe for RIS to Harvard?
Cite Them Right Harvard
The most-taught UK Harvard variant: surname-initials authors, year in parentheses, single-quoted article titles, italic journal titles, abbreviated page ranges.
All RIS Record Types
TY=JOUR (journal), TY=BOOK, TY=CHAP (chapter), TY=THES (thesis), TY=CONF (conference), TY=ELEC (web) — each mapped to Harvard rules for that source kind.
EndNote, Mendeley, Zotero
Export from any reference manager that supports RIS — virtually all of them do. No need to switch tools mid-project; CiteMe converts the export to Harvard.
Unicode & Accents
Preserves diacritics in author names (Müller, García-López, O'Brien) and special characters in titles. Important for international research literature and cross-language databases.
RIS to Harvard — example
RIS input
TY - JOUR
AU - Smith, John D.
AU - Johnson, Maria R.
TI - Machine Learning in
Healthcare Diagnostics
JO - Nature Medicine
PY - 2024
VL - 29
IS - 4
SP - 123
EP - 145
DO - 10.1038/s41591-024-0001
ER -Harvard (Cite Them Right) output
In-text: (Smith and Johnson, 2024)
Works with RIS exports from anywhere
EndNote
File > Export > Output Style: RIS. Save the .ris file and paste its contents here.
Mendeley
Right-click selected references > Export > RIS. Open the .ris file and copy the records.
Zotero
Right-click items > Export Items > Format: RIS. Save and paste the file content.
ProQuest
Select results > Export to RIS. Many ProQuest databases include this option directly.
JSTOR
Click Export Selected Citations > "RIS file" option. Save and paste.
ScienceDirect
Save selected citations > Format: RIS. Bulk-export multiple articles at once.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I convert RIS to Harvard referencing?
Paste your RIS records (lines starting with TY, AU, TI, JO, PY, DO) into CiteMe. The tool reads each tag and formats the entry as a Harvard reference — surname-initials authors, year in parentheses, single quotation marks around article titles, italic journal title, volume(issue), and page range.
Which Harvard variant does this follow?
Cite Them Right Harvard, the most-taught UK Harvard variant. Output format: "Smith, J.D. and Johnson, M.R. (2024) 'Title of article', Journal Name, 29(4), pp. 123–145." matching the Pears & Shields guidance used at most UK universities.
Where do RIS files come from?
RIS is the export format used by EndNote, Mendeley, Zotero, ProQuest, JSTOR, ScienceDirect, and many library databases. In each tool, look for "Export" > "RIS" or ".ris" — the file you download contains one or more reference records ready to convert.
Can I paste multiple RIS records at once?
Yes. Paste an entire .ris file or any subset of records — each one starts with TY (type) and ends with ER (end of record). On the free plan you can convert up to 3 records per submission; Pro converts your full file in one batch.
How does Harvard differ from APA on the same RIS record?
Harvard places the year in parentheses immediately after the author and uses single quotation marks around article titles. APA places the year after the author too but without quotation marks. Harvard prefixes page ranges with "pp." and uses "and" between authors; APA omits "pp." and uses "&" between final two authors.
Does it handle book and book-chapter RIS records?
Yes. RIS TY=BOOK formats as "Smith, J.D. (2024) Title. London: Publisher." and TY=CHAP (chapter) formats as "Smith, J.D. (2024) 'Chapter title', in Editor (ed.) Book Title. London: Publisher, pp. 12–34." Place, publisher, and edition are read from the corresponding RIS tags.
Can I convert from EndNote directly?
Yes. In EndNote: select references > File > Export > Output Style "RIS". Open the resulting .ris file and copy its contents into CiteMe. Each EndNote record is converted to Harvard format, ready for your reference list.
Keep the bibliography workflow moving
After converting RIS to Harvard, the next step is usually checking references against your dissertation prose, exporting to BibTeX for an Overleaf project, or reformatting to APA for a different module.
Paste RIS. Get Harvard references. No signup required.
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