diff --git a/desc/objectives/_generic.py b/desc/objectives/_generic.py
index 8570c2389..737d68437 100644
--- a/desc/objectives/_generic.py
+++ b/desc/objectives/_generic.py
@@ -38,6 +38,9 @@ class ExternalObjective(_Objective, ABC):
         It does not need to be JAX transformable.
     dim_f : int
         Dimension of the output of ``fun``.
+    vectorized : bool
+        Set to False if ``fun`` takes a single Equilibrium as its positional argument.
+        Set to True if ``fun`` instead takes a list of Equilibria.
     target : {float, ndarray}, optional
         Target value(s) of the objective. Only used if bounds is None.
         Must be broadcastable to Objective.dim_f. Defaults to ``target=0``.
@@ -59,9 +62,6 @@ class ExternalObjective(_Objective, ABC):
         Loss function to apply to the objective values once computed. This loss function
         is called on the raw compute value, before any shifting, scaling, or
         normalization.
-    vectorized : bool, optional
-        Set to False if ``fun`` takes a single Equilibrium as its positional argument.
-        Set to True if ``fun`` instead takes a list of Equilibria. Default = False.
     abs_step : float, optional
         Absolute finite difference step size. Default = 1e-4.
         Total step size is ``abs_step + rel_step * mean(abs(x))``.
@@ -84,13 +84,13 @@ def __init__(
         eq,
         fun,
         dim_f,
+        vectorized,
         target=None,
         bounds=None,
         weight=1,
         normalize=False,
         normalize_target=False,
         loss_function=None,
-        vectorized=False,
         abs_step=1e-4,
         rel_step=0,
         name="external",
diff --git a/tests/test_examples.py b/tests/test_examples.py
index 932bea374..955573e38 100644
--- a/tests/test_examples.py
+++ b/tests/test_examples.py
@@ -1972,7 +1972,13 @@ def data_from_vmec(eq, path="", surfs=8):
     path = dir.join("wout_result.nc")
     objective = ObjectiveFunction(
         ExternalObjective(
-            eq=eq0, fun=data_from_vmec, dim_f=4, target=target, path=path, surfs=8
+            eq=eq0,
+            fun=data_from_vmec,
+            dim_f=4,
+            vectorized=False,
+            target=target,
+            path=path,
+            surfs=8,
         )
     )
     constraints = FixParameters(