How to Cite a Journal Article in APA 7th Edition
Learn how to cite a journal article in APA 7th edition with our complete guide. Includes examples for 1-20 authors, online articles, and DOIs.
Staring at a journal article wondering how to make your citation fit APA 7th edition rules?
You’re not alone. Journal articles are the most commonly cited source in academic writing, yet they’re also the source that trips up students the most. One article might have three authors. Another might have twenty. Some have DOIs, some don’t, and some were published online ahead of print with no page numbers yet.
APA 7th edition has a clear set of rules for all of these scenarios. Once you understand the structure, you’ll be able to cite any journal article correctly in under a minute. Let’s break it down.
The Basic Structure
Every APA 7th edition journal article citation follows this format:
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of the article. Title of the Journal, Volume(Issue), Page range. DOI
Let’s look at each element individually.
Author Names
List each author’s last name followed by their initials. Use a comma between authors and an ampersand (&) before the last author. Include up to 20 authors in the reference list — yes, twenty. For articles with 21 or more authors, list the first 19, then an ellipsis, then the final author.
Correct: Davis, T. R., & Thompson, L. K.
Incorrect: Thomas Davis and Lisa Thompson
Publication Year
Place the year in parentheses after the author names, followed by a period. Use the year of the final published version, not the year of the preprint or early online release.
Example: Chen, M. (2024).
Article Title
Write the article title in sentence case — capitalize only the first word, proper nouns, and the first word after a colon. No italics, no quotation marks.
Correct: The effects of remote learning on student engagement: A longitudinal study.
Incorrect: The Effects of Remote Learning on Student Engagement: A Longitudinal Study.
Journal Title, Volume, and Issue
The journal title is italicized and written in title case (capitalize major words). The volume number is also italicized but not preceded by “Vol.” The issue number goes in parentheses, not italicized, immediately after the volume. No space between the volume and the issue parentheses.
Example: Journal of Educational Psychology, 115(3)
Page Range and DOI
For articles with page numbers, include the full range separated by an en dash. For articles published online ahead of print that don’t yet have page numbers, use the article number instead. End the citation with a DOI hyperlink if one is available.
Example with DOI: Journal of Educational Psychology, 115(3), 412–428. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000789
Example without DOI: Journal of Educational Psychology, 115(3), 412–428.
Real-World Examples
1 Author
Reference list: Nguyen, H. T. (2025). Bilingual education and cognitive development in early childhood. Child Development Research, 42(1), 88–104. https://doi.org/10.1234/cdr.2025.01088
In-text citation: (Nguyen, 2025) or Nguyen (2025)
2 Authors
Reference list: Williams, J. R., & Patel, S. K. (2024). Climate adaptation strategies in coastal urban planning. Urban Studies Quarterly, 61(4), 312–335. https://doi.org/10.5678/usq.2024.61312
In-text citation: (Williams & Patel, 2024)
3 or More Authors
Reference list (3–20 authors): Martinez, A. L., O’Brien, K. M., & Singh, R. (2026). Machine learning applications in diagnostic radiology. Journal of Medical Informatics, 18(2), 156–172. https://doi.org/10.9012/jmi.2026.18156
In-text citation: (Martinez et al., 2026)
21+ Authors
Reference list: Garcia, M. A., Thompson, R. J., Lee, S. H., Chen, W., Kumar, A., Johnson, P. D., Martinez, L., Brown, T. E., Wilson, K. R., Anderson, J. M., Taylor, D. R., Thomas, G. P., White, S., Harris, L. M., Clark, B. A., Miller, R. T., Davis, C. E., Patel, N. K., Hall, J. W., … Morgan, T. F. (2025). Global genomic surveillance of emerging viral pathogens. Nature Medicine, 31(7), 1102–1118. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-025-03456-7
In-text citation: (Garcia et al., 2025)
Online Article with No DOI
If a journal article has no DOI but is available online, provide the URL of the journal’s homepage rather than the direct article link. This is a change from APA 6th edition, which required the direct URL.
Example: Foster, D. L. (2024). Narrative identity in modern autobiography. Literary Studies Review, 39(2), 45–62. https://www.literarystudiesjournal.com
Advance Online Publication
For articles published ahead of print, replace the volume, issue, and page numbers with “Advance online publication.” Include the DOI.
Example: Kim, J. S., & Rodriguez, P. A. (2026). Quantum computing applications in drug discovery. Nature Computational Science. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43588-026-00123-4
Creating an In-Text Citation for a Journal Article
Once you have your reference list entry correct, in-text citations are straightforward. For a journal article, follow the standard APA author-date format:
| Number of Authors | First Citation | Subsequent Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1–2 authors | (Smith & Jones, 2025) | (Smith & Jones, 2025) |
| 3+ authors | (Smith et al., 2025) | (Smith et al., 2025) |
APA 7th edition streamlined this: for any source with three or more authors, use “et al.” from the very first citation. No need to list all authors in the first citation like APA 6th required.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Even experienced writers make these errors. Watch out for them:
- Capitalizing the article title. Use sentence case for the article title, not title case. Title case is only for the journal name.
- Forgetting the page range. If the article has page numbers, include them. Don’t drop them just because you accessed the article online.
- Omitting the DOI. APA 7th edition encourages hyperlinked DOIs. If a DOI exists, include it as a live link.
- Using “Vol.” and “No.” APA 7th doesn’t use abbreviations for volume or issue. Just the italicized volume number followed by the issue in parentheses.
- Listing 21+ authors incorrectly. Remember: 19 authors, then an ellipsis, then the final author. No ampersand before the last author in this case.
Simplify Journal Article Citations with Formatly
Getting every element right — the author order, the italics, the DOI formatting, the issue parentheses — takes time and focus you could spend on your actual research. Formatly handles all of this automatically.
Upload your document, select APA 7th edition, and Formatly formats every journal article citation correctly, including author lists, italics, and DOIs. Upload your document and format it in 30 seconds.
Format your manuscript in under 30 seconds
Stop fighting with margins, headings, and lists. Upload your document and let our engine instantly apply APA, MLA, Chicago, or Harvard standards — with full tracked changes.