diff --git a/docs/sphinx/source/conf.py b/docs/sphinx/source/conf.py
index cd2d6b379d..4640cf50b2 100644
--- a/docs/sphinx/source/conf.py
+++ b/docs/sphinx/source/conf.py
@@ -58,6 +58,15 @@
 
 napoleon_use_rtype = False  # group rtype on same line together with return
 
+napoleon_type_aliases = {
+    # link to the sphinx targets & definitions in contributing.rst
+    'dict-like': ':ref:`dict-like <dict-like>`',
+    'numeric': ':ref:`numeric <numeric>`',
+    'array-like': ':ref:`array-like <array-like>`',
+}
+napoleon_preprocess_types = True
+
+
 # Add any paths that contain templates here, relative to this directory.
 templates_path = ['_templates']
 
diff --git a/docs/sphinx/source/contributing.rst b/docs/sphinx/source/contributing.rst
index 3742d0af40..297cf5c2f9 100644
--- a/docs/sphinx/source/contributing.rst
+++ b/docs/sphinx/source/contributing.rst
@@ -238,9 +238,9 @@ allows for multiple input types to work for many parameters. pvlib uses
 the following generic descriptors as short-hand to indicate which
 specific types may be used:
 
-* dict-like : dict, OrderedDict, pd.Series
-* numeric : scalar, np.array, pd.Series. Typically int or float dtype.
-* array-like : np.array, pd.Series. Typically int or float dtype.
+* _`dict-like` : dict, OrderedDict, pd.Series
+* _`numeric` : scalar, np.array, pd.Series. Typically int or float dtype.
+* _`array-like` : np.array, pd.Series. Typically int or float dtype.
 
 Parameters that specify a specific type require that specific input type.