Cite journal articles in APA 7
Learn how to cite journal articles in APA 7 style. Use correct templates for single and multiple authors, print and online articles, with or without DOIs to reference sources accurately in your writing.
In-text citations
- When paraphrasing, include the author’s last name and the year of publication in round brackets.
- If you mention the author’s last name in the text, include the year of publication in brackets immediately after the last name.
- Place direct quotes between double quotation marks (" ") and provide the page number(s) from the journal.
| Citation format | Example |
| Paraphrase |
Recent studies indicate that . . . (Carbonaro, 2012). Carbonaro (2012) contends that . . . |
| Direct quote |
Carbonaro (2012) concludes that "MR-mammography allows an accurate evaluation of both breast lesions and axillary lymph nodes, useful to predict the nodal status" (p. 18). "MR-mammography allows an accurate evaluation of both breast lesions and axillary lymph nodes, useful to predict the nodal status" (Carbonaro, 2012, p. 18). |
Reference list
- Italicise the journal title and volume number. Place the issue number in round brackets immediately after the volume number, without italicising or adding a space.
- When the page numbers are given, include the article's page range and avoid using 'p.' or 'pp.'
- You do not need to include ‘Retrieved from’ or ‘Accessed from’ before a DOI or URL.
- DOIs should be formatted as clickable hyperlinks beginning with https:// or http://.
| Reference format | Example |
| Template | Author. (Year). Article title. Journal Name, vol(issue), xx–xx. DOI or URL |
| Reference list entry |
Carbonaro, L. A. (2012). Can we use MR-mammography to predict nodal status? European Journal of Radiology, 81(1), 17-18. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0720-048X(12)70007-4 |
In-text citations
- When paraphrasing, include both authors’ last names joined by an ampersand (&) and the year of publication in round brackets.
- If you mention the authors within the text, join both last names with ‘and’ and include the year of publication in brackets immediately after the last name.
- Place direct quotes between double quotation marks (" ") and provide the page number(s) from the journal.
| Citation format | Example |
| Paraphrase |
. . . identifies skills intrinsic to current nursing practitioners (Felton & Royal, 2015). Felton and Royal (2015) argue that . . . |
| Direct quote |
According to Felton and Royal (2015) "supporting the development of practitioners' skills within preregistration nursing education is complex" (p. 38). "supporting the development of practitioners' skills within preregistration nursing education is complex" (Felton & Royal, 2015, p. 38). |
Reference list
- List both authors and separate by an ampersand (&).
- Italicise the journal title and volume number. Place the issue number in round brackets immediately after the volume number, without italicising or adding a space.
- When the page numbers are given, include the article's page range and avoid using 'p.' or 'pp.'
- You do not need to include ‘Retrieved from’ or ‘Accessed from’ before a DOI or URL.
- DOIs should be formatted as clickable hyperlinks beginning with https:// or http://.
| Reference format | Example |
| Template | Author. (Year). Article title. Journal Name, vol(issue), xx–xx. DOI or URL |
| Reference list entry |
Felton, A., & Royal, J. (2015). Skills for nursing practice: Development of clinical skills in pre-registration nurse education. Nurse Education in Practice, 15(1), 38-43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2014.11.009 |
In-text citations
- When paraphrasing, use only the first listed author’s last name followed by ‘et al.’ (Latin for ‘and others’) and the year of publication in round brackets.
- If you mention the authors within the text, include the first author’s last name followed by ‘et al’ and the year of publication in brackets immediately after the last name.
- If cited again within that paragraph, omit the year of publication.
- Place direct quotes between double quotation marks (" ") and provide the page number(s) from the journal.
| Citation format | Example |
|
Paraphrase |
. . . outlining the thought processes (Demacheva et al., 2012). Demacheva et al. (2012) outlined the through processes relevant to ... Demacheva et al. also found that . . . |
| Direct quote |
"Our findings suggest that decoupling the when and the where attention modules may play an important role in creating magic effects" (Demacheva et al., 2012, p. 547). Demacheva et al. (2012) state "Our findings suggest that decoupling the when and the where attention modules may play an important role in creating magic effects" (p. 547). |
Reference list
- List all authors separated by commas and use an ampersand (&) before the last name.
- Italicise the journal title and volume number. Place the issue number in round brackets immediately after the volume number, without italicising or adding a space.
- When the page numbers are given, include the article's page range and avoid using 'p.' or 'pp.'
- You do not need to include ‘Retrieved from’ or ‘Accessed from’ before a DOI or URL.
- DOIs should be formatted as clickable hyperlinks beginning with https:// or http://.
| Reference format | Example |
| Template |
Author. (Year). Article title. Journal Name, vol(issue), xx–xx. DOI |
| Reference list entry |
Demacheva, I., Ladouceur, M., Steinberg, E., Pogossova, G., & Raz, A. (2012). The applied cognitive psychology of attention: A step closer to understanding magic tricks. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 26(4), 541-549. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.2825 |
In-text citations
- When paraphrasing, use only the first listed author’s last name followed by ‘et al.’ (Latin for ‘and others’) and year of publication in round brackets.
- If you mention the authors within the text, include the first author’s last name followed by ‘et al’ and the year of publication in brackets immediately after the last name.
- Place direct quotes between double quotation marks (" ") and provide the page number(s) from the journal.
| Citation format | Example |
| Paraphrase |
Human colonization of Australia … (Tobler et al., 2017). Tobler et al. (2017) state that . . . |
| Direct quote | Reconstructing the genetic history of Aboriginal Australia is greatly complicated by past government policies of enforced population relocation and child removal that have eroded much of the physical connection between groups and geography in modern Australia" (Tobler et al., 2017, p. 1). |
Reference list
- List the first nineteen authors, followed by an ellipsis (. . .), and then list the final author.
- Italicise the journal title and volume number. Place the issue number in round brackets immediately after the volume number, without italicising or adding a space.
- When the page numbers are given, include the article's page range and avoid using 'p.' or 'pp.'
- You do not need to include ‘Retrieved from’ or ‘Accessed from’ before a DOI or URL.
- DOIs should be formatted as clickable hyperlinks beginning with https:// or http://.
| Reference format | Example |
| Template | Author. (Year). Article title. Journal Name, vol(issue), xx–xx. DOI |
| Reference list entry |
Tobler, R., Rohrlach, A., Soubrier, J., Bover, P., Llamas, B., Tuke, J., Bean, N., Abdullah-Highfold, A., Agius, S., O'Donoghue, A., O'Loughlin, I., Sutton, P., Zilio, F., Walshe, K., Williams, A. N., Turney, C. S. M., Williams, M., Richards, S. M., Mitchell, ... Cooper, A. (2017). Aboriginal mitogenomes reveal 50,000 years of regionalism in Australia. Nature, 544(7649), 180-184. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature21416 |
In-text citations
- When paraphrasing, include the author(s) last name and the year of publication in round brackets.
- If you mention the author(s) last name in the text, include the year of publication in brackets immediately after the last name.
- Place direct quotes between double quotation marks (" ") and provide the page number(s) from the journal.
| Citation format | Example |
| Paraphrase |
Human colonization of Australia … (Tobler et al., 2017). Tobler et al. (2017) state that . . . |
| Direct quote | Reconstructing the genetic history of Aboriginal Australia is greatly complicated by past government policies of enforced population relocation and child removal that have eroded much of the physical connection between groups and geography in modern Australia" (Tobler et al., 2017, p. 1). |
Reference list
| Reference format | Example |
| Template | Author. (Year). Article title. Journal Name, vol(issue), xx–xx. |
| Reference list entry |
Normoyle, C. (2013). Nurses' wellbeing. Australian Nursing Journal, 20(10), 30–33. |
In-text citations
- When paraphrasing, include the author(s) last name and the year of publication in round brackets.
- If you mention the author(s) last name in the text, include the year of publication in brackets immediately after the last name.
- Place direct quotes between double quotation marks (" ") and provide the page number(s) from the journal. If no pages are stated, then include the section heading and paragraph number.
| Citation format | Example |
| Paraphrase |
Recent studies indicate that . . . (Walker & Buchbinder, 1997). Walker and Buchbinder (1997) contend that . . . |
| Direct quote | Walker and Buchbinder (1997) noted that "analysis of the determinants of frequency of use of the various diagnostic methods revealed that motion palpation was more commonly employed by younger chiropractors" (Discussion section, para. 6). |
Reference list
- Exclude the URL or database name if citing an online database or print journal article.
- For online articles from non-database URLs, provide the URL only if there is no DOI.
| Reference format | Example |
| Template | Author. (Year). Article title. Journal Name, vol(issue), xx–xx. URL |
| Reference list entry |
Walker, B., & Buchbinder, R. (1997). Most commonly used methods of detecting spinal subluxation and the preferred term for its description: A survey of chiropractors in Victoria, Australia. Journal of Manipulative & Physiological Therapeutics, 20(9), 583-589. http://www.jmptonline.org |
In-text citations
- When paraphrasing, include the author(s) last name and the year of publication in round brackets.
- If you mention the author(s) last name in the text, include the year of publication in brackets immediately after the last name.
- Place direct quotes between double quotation marks (" ") and provide the page number(s) from the journal.
| Citation format | Example |
| Paraphrase |
Age differences can influence searching behaviour due to ... (Sanchiz et al., 2017). Sanchiz et al. (2017) contend that ... |
| Direct quote | In a recent study, Sanchiz et al. (2017) found that "age-related differences in search efficiency can be explained by different searching strategies and information processing" (p. 77). |
Reference list
Journal article without a volume number
If a journal article does not have a volume number leave that element out of the reference.
| Reference format | Example |
| Template | Author. (Year). Article title. Journal Name, (issue), xx–xx. DOI or URL |
| Reference list entry |
Stegmeir, M. (2016). Climate change: New discipline practices promote college access. The Journal of College Admission, (231), 44–47. https://www.nxtbook.com/ygsreprints/NACAC/nacac_jca_spring2016/#/4 |
Journal article without an issue number
If a journal article does not have an issue number, leave that element out of the reference.
| Reference format | Example |
| Template | Author. (Year). Article title. Journal Name, vol, xx–xx. DOI or URL |
| Reference list entry |
Sanchiz, M., Chevalier, A., & Amadieu, F. (2017). How do older and young adults start searching for information? Impact of age, domain knowledge and problem complexity on the different steps of information searching. Computers in Human Behavior, 72, 67–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.02.038 |
In-text citations
- When paraphrasing, include the author’s last name and the year of publication in round brackets.
- If you mention the author’s last name in the text, include the year of publication in brackets immediately after the last name.
- Place direct quotes between double quotation marks (" ") and provide the page number(s) from the journal.
- If the pdf version includes page numbers e.g.,1-20 they can be used for in-text citations such as quotes but should not be included in the full reference entry.
- If the pdf version does not include page numbers, then use paragraph numbers for quotes, e.g., para 12.
| Citation format | Example |
| Paraphrase |
Many symptoms may affect the mental health of an individual after a traumatic event including ... (Biernacka et al., 2024). Biernacka et al. (2024) describe the symptoms of Complex Post-traumatic Distress Disorder (CPSTD) … |
| Direct quote | The symptoms of “Complex Post-traumatic Distress Disorder (CPSTD) … include feelings of worthlessness, shame and guilt, difficulty regulating emotions, and problems connecting with others” (Biernacka et al., 2024, p. 2). |
Reference list
Some journal articles use an article number instead of page numbers. The article number appears in the usual place for page numbers in the reference entry.
| Reference format | Example |
| Template | Author. (Year). Article title. Journal Name, vol(issue), Article number. DOI or URL |
| Reference list entry |
Biernacka, N., Talwar, S., & Billings, J. (2024). Trauma clinicians’ views of physical exercise as part of PTSD and complex PTSD treatment: A qualitative study. PLOS Mental Health, 1(4), Article e0000114. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pmen.0000114 |