APA Citation Style, 7th edition: Journals

How do you cite online articles?

Online articles follow the same guidelines as printed articles. Include all information the online host makes available, including an issue number in parentheses. If the DOI (digital object identifier) is available use it in your citation instead of the URL.

Hint!

• If you are accessing the article through a database, you may need to do a quick search to locate the home page of the journal
• It is not necessary to include database information
• Do NOT include retrieval dates unless the source material may change over time
• When the DOI is available used it instead of the URL
• If there is NO DOI use the home page URL of the journal

This section will cover the following examples:

• Journal Article with One Author
• Journal Article with Two Authors
• Journal Article with Three to Twenty Authors
• Magazine Article
• Newspaper Article

For more examples and information, consult the following publications:

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.)

Call Number: BF76.7 .P83 2020

Locations: Main Reference Collection 1st Floor (1 copy); Book Stacks (5 copies)

For each type of source in this guide, both the general form and an example will be provided.

The following format will be used:

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase) - entry that appears in the body of your paper when you express the ideas of a researcher or author using your own words.  For more tips on paraphrasing check out The OWL at Purdue.

In-Text Citation (Quotation) - entry that appears in the body of your paper after a direct quote.

References - entry that appears at the end of your paper.

Information on citing and several of the examples were drawn from the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.).

What is a DOI? A DOI (digital object identifier) is a unique alphanumeric string assigned by a registration agency (the International DOI Foundation) to identify content and provide a persistent link to its location on the internet. 

NOTE: It is regarded as the most important part of the citation because it will accurately direct users to the specific article.

Think of it as a "digital fingerprint" or an article's DNA!

The rules for DOIs have been updated in the 7th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. They should be included as URLs, rather than just the alphanumeric string.

Correct:  

• http://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2288-12-114
• http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2288-12-114

Incorrect:     

• doi: 10.1186/1471-2288-12-114
• Retrieved from http://doi:10.1186/1471-2288-12-114