FREE ACADEMIC TOOL
Academic Word Counter
Count your paper, with or without references. Free, no account required.
Organize your bibliography
Free reference converter and deduplicator — convert BibTeX, RIS and reviewed reference text to GB/T, APA or IEEE.
A clear counting method
Each Han character counts once. An English word is a sequence of letters, including internal apostrophes and hyphens (for example, don’t and evidence-based each count as one). Consecutive digits or decimals form a number group. Non-empty paragraphs are separated by blank lines.
DOCX imports extract text rather than page layout. Markdown imports retain heading, list and table text while removing formatting, link destinations, images and code blocks. Character counts include punctuation; the two character totals differ only in whitespace.
For drafts, abstracts and final checks
Paste an abstract to check its length, import a draft to count the full paper, or exclude references before comparing with a submission limit. Copy or download a text report to keep a record of the counts and scope.
Frequently asked questions
Are references included in the word count?
Full text is counted by default. Select “Exclude references” to remove sections headed References or Bibliography. The excluded line range is shown so you can check the boundary. If no heading is found, the full text remains included.
Why can the count differ from Microsoft Word?
This tool counts extracted text. Word may apply different rules to footnotes, text boxes, fields and punctuation. Chinese characters, English words and numbers are reported separately here. Use your institution’s required counting method for submission.
Which documents can I import?
Import a single TXT, Markdown or DOCX file up to 10 MB, with at most one million extracted characters. Text files must use UTF-8. Legacy DOC, PDF, scanned and encrypted documents are not supported.
Is my paper uploaded or saved?
No. Text extraction and counting take place in your browser. Paper text is not sent to our servers or saved in browser storage. Reloading or closing the page clears it. The downloaded report contains counts, not your paper.
Does this tell me whether my paper meets a word limit?
The tool provides counts, not a submission verdict. Requirements vary: some institutions exclude abstracts, references or appendices. Select or paste the relevant text and compare the result with your requirements.
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