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Reference List: Articles in Periodicals
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Note: This page reflects the latest version of the APA Publication Manual (i.e., APA 7), which released in October 2019. The equivalent resource for the older APA 6 style can be found here .
Please note: the following contains a list of the most commonly cited periodical sources. For a complete list of how to cite periodical publications, please refer to the 7 th edition of the APA Publication Manual.
APA style dictates that authors are named with their last name followed by their initials; publication year goes between parentheses, followed by a period. The title of the article is in sentence-case, meaning only the first word and proper nouns in the title are capitalized. The periodical title is run in title case, and is followed by the volume number which, with the title, is also italicized. If a DOI has been assigned to the article that you are using, you should include this after the page numbers for the article. If no DOI has been assigned and you are accessing the periodical online, use the URL of the website from which you are retrieving the periodical.
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical , volume number (issue number), pages. https://doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyy
Article in Print Journal
Scruton, R. (1996). The eclipse of listening. The New Criterion, 15 (3), 5 – 13.
Note: APA 7 advises writers to include a DOI (if available), even when using the print source. The example above assumes no DOI is available.
Article in Electronic Journal
As noted above, when citing an article in an electronic journal, include a DOI if one is associated with the article.
Baniya, S., & Weech, S. (2019). Data and experience design: Negotiating community-oriented digital research with service-learning. Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement , 6 (1), 11 – 16. https://doi.org/10.5703/1288284316979
DOIs may not always be available. In these cases, use a URL. Many academic journals provide stable URLs that function similarly to DOIs. These are preferable to ordinary URLs copied and pasted from the browser's address bar.
Denny, H., Nordlof, J., & Salem, L. (2018). "Tell me exactly what it was that I was doing that was so bad": Understanding the needs and expectations of working-class students in writing centers. Writing Center Journal , 37 (1), 67 – 98. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26537363
Note that, in the example above, there is a quotation in the title of the article. Ordinary titles lack quotation marks.
Article in a Magazine
Peterzell, J. (1990, April). Better late than never. Time, 135 (17), 20 –2 1.
Article in a Newspaper
Schultz, S. (2005, December 28). Calls made to strengthen state energy policies. The Country Today , 1A, 2A.
Baumeister, R. F. (1993). Exposing the self-knowledge myth [Review of the book The self-knower: A hero under control , by R. A. Wicklund & M. Eckert]. Contemporary Psychology , 38 (5), 466–467.
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APA Style (7th Edition) Citation Guide: Journal Articles
- Introduction
- Journal Articles
- Magazine/Newspaper Articles
- Books & Ebooks
- Government & Legal Documents
- Biblical Sources
- Secondary Sources
- Films/Videos/TV Shows
- How to Cite: Other
- Additional Help
Table of Contents
Journal article from library database with doi - one author, journal article from library database with doi - multiple authors, journal article from a website - one author.
Journal Article- No DOI
Note: All citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent in a Reference List.
A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.
This Microsoft support page contains instructions about how to format a hanging indent in a paper.
- APA 7th. ed. Journal Article Reference Checklist
If an item has no author, start the citation with the article title.
When an article has one to twenty authors, all authors' names are cited in the References List entry. When an article has twenty-one or more authors list the first nineteen authors followed by three spaced ellipse points (. . .) , and then the last author's name. Rules are different for in-text citations; please see the examples provided.
Cite author names in the order in which they appear on the source, not in alphabetical order (the first author is usually the person who contributed the most work to the publication).
Italicize titles of journals, magazines and newspapers. Do not italicize or use quotation marks for the titles of articles.
Capitalize only the first letter of the first word of the article title. If there is a colon in the article title, also capitalize the first letter of the first word after the colon.
If an item has no date, use the short form n.d. where you would normally put the date.
Volume and Issue Numbers
Italicize volume numbers but not issue numbers.
Retrieval Dates
Most articles will not need these in the citation. Only use them for online articles from places where content may change often, like a free website or a wiki.
Page Numbers
If an article doesn't appear on continuous pages, list all the page numbers the article is on, separated by commas. For example (4, 6, 12-14)
Library Database
Do not include the name of a database for works obtained from most academic research databases (e.g. APA PsycInfo, CINAHL) because works in these resources are widely available. Exceptions are Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, ERIC, ProQuest Dissertations, and UpToDate.
Include the DOI (formatted as a URL: https://doi.org/...) if it is available. If you do not have a DOI, include a URL if the full text of the article is available online (not as part of a library database). If the full text is from a library database, do not include a DOI, URL, or database name.
In the Body of a Paper
Books, Journals, Reports, Webpages, etc.: When you refer to titles of a “stand-alone work,” as the APA calls them on their APA Style website, such as books, journals, reports, and webpages, you should italicize them. Capitalize words as you would for an article title in a reference, e.g., In the book Crying in H Mart: A memoir , author Michelle Zauner (2021) describes her biracial origin and its impact on her identity.
Article or Chapter: When you refer to the title of a part of a work, such as an article or a chapter, put quotation marks around the title and capitalize it as you would for a journal title in a reference, e.g., In the chapter “Where’s the Wine,” Zauner (2021) describes how she decided to become a musician.
The APA Sample Paper below has more information about formatting your paper.
- APA 7th ed. Sample Paper
Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Journal, Volume Number (Issue Number), first page number-last page number. https://doi.org/doi number
Smith, K. F. (2022). The public and private dialogue about the American family on television: A second look. Journal of Media Communication, 50 (4), 79-110. https://doi.org/10.1152/j.1460-2466.2000.tb02864.x
Note: The DOI number is formatted as a URL: https://doi.org/10.1152/j.1460-2466.2000.tb02864.xIf
In-Text Paraphrase:
(Author's Last Name, Year)
Example: (Smith, 2000)
In-Text Quote:
(Author's Last Name, Year, p. Page Number)
Example: (Smith, 2000, p. 80)
Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given., & Last Name of Second Author, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Journal, Volume Number (Issue Number), first page number-last page number. https://doi.org/doi number
Note: Separate the authors' names by putting a comma between them. For the final author listed add an ampersand (&) after the comma and before the final author's last name.
Note: In the reference list invert all authors' names; give last names and initials for only up to and including 20 authors. When a source has 21 or more authors, include the first 19 authors’ names, then three ellipses (…), and add the last author’s name. Don't include an ampersand (&) between the ellipsis and final author.
Note : For works with three or more authors, the first in-text citation is shortened to include the first author's surname followed by "et al."
Reference List Examples
Two to 20 Authors
Case, T. A., Daristotle, Y. A., Hayek, S. L., Smith, R. R., & Raash, L. I. (2011). College students' social networking experiences on Facebook. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 3 (2), 227-238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2008.12.010
21 or more authors
Kalnay, E., Kanamitsu, M., Kistler, R., Collins, W., Deaven, D., Gandin, L., Iredell, M., Saha, J., Mo, K. C., Ropelewski, C., Wang, J., Leetma, A., . . . Joseph, D. (1996). The NCEP/NCAR 40-year reanalysis project. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society , 77 (3), 437-471. https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0477(1996)077<0437:TNYRP>2.0.CO;2
In-Text Citations
Two Authors/Editors
(Case & Daristotle, 2011)
Direct Quote: (Case & Daristotle, 2011, p. 57)
Three or more Authors/Editors
(Case et al., 2011)
Direct Quote: (Case et al., 2011, p. 57)
Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Journal, Volume Number (Issue Number if given). URL
Flachs, A. (2010). Food for thought: The social impact of community gardens in the Greater Cleveland Area. Electronic Green Journal, 1 (30). http://escholarship.org/uc/item/6bh7j4z4
Example: (Flachs, 2010)
Example: (Flachs, 2010, Conclusion section, para. 3)
Note: In this example there were no visible page numbers or paragraph numbers; in this case you can cite the section heading and the number of the paragraph in that section to identify where your quote came from. If there are no page or paragraph numbers and no marked section, leave this information out.
Journal Article - No DOI
Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Journal, Volume Number (Issue Number), first page number-last page number. URL [if article is available online, not as part of a library database]
Full-Text Available Online (Not as Part of a Library Database):
Steinberg, M. P., & Lacoe, J. (2017). What do we know about school discipline reform? Assessing the alternatives to suspensions and expulsions. Education Next, 17 (1), 44–52. https://www.educationnext.org/what-do-we-know-about-school-discipline-reform-suspensions-expulsions/
Example: (Steinberg & Lacoe, 2017)
(Author's Last Name, Year, p. Page number)
Example: (Steinberg & Lacoe, 2017, p. 47)
Full-Text Available in Library Database:
Jungers, W. L. (2010). Biomechanics: Barefoot running strikes back. Nature, 463 (2), 433-434.
Example: (Jungers, 2010)
Example: (Jungers, 2010, p. 433)
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- Last Updated: Nov 7, 2024 4:55 PM
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