ISBN to OSCOLA Citation Converter

What is an ISBN?

An ISBN (International Standard Book Number) identifies one specific edition and format of a published book. ISBN-13 is the current standard – 13 digits beginning with 978 or 979 – while older books also carry a 10-digit ISBN-10. Both work here, with or without hyphens. You will find the number above the barcode on the back cover or on the copyright page behind the title page. When you paste an ISBN into CiteTools, we look the book up in Google Books, then in Open Library, and pull the fields a book citation needs: authors or editors, full title and subtitle, publisher, publication year, and edition. That is the tedious part of citing a book done for you; the formatter then applies the punctuation, capitalization, and author-name rules of the style you select.

How the ISBN to OSCOLA conversion works

1. Find the ISBN above the barcode or on the copyright page and paste it in – hyphens optional.
2. CiteTools looks the book up in Google Books, then in Open Library.
3. Copy the finished book citation with publisher, year, and edition included.

Example input:

9780262033848

About OSCOLA

Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities - used in UK law schools and legal journals.

OSCOLA, the Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities, is the footnote system of UK law schools. A bibliography entry gives the surname and the initials, then the title in single quotation marks. The year in round brackets, the volume, the journal, and the first page follow. CiteTools writes a full note and a short note for a source, and never ibid. The short note always reads (n 1), so change the 1 to the number of the note that holds the full citation. It cites books, articles, chapters, and web pages, and leaves cases and legislation to you.

Frequently asked questions