The pattern at a glance
- Reference listAuthor, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Journal Name, volume(issue), pages. https://doi.org/xxxxItalics cover the journal name and the volume number, not the issue.
- Article number instead of pagesJournal Name, 20(1), Article 383. https://doi.org/xxxx
- In-text(Author, Year), (Author & Author, Year) or (Author et al., Year)
What an APA 7 journal reference contains
- Authors: surname and initials for up to 20 authors, with an ampersand before the last one.
- Year of the issue in parentheses. Use the year of the volume, even when the article went online the year before.
- Article title in sentence case, plain text, including the subtitle after a colon.
- Journal name in title case and italics, then a comma and the volume in italics.
- Issue number in parentheses directly after the volume, without italics or a space.
- Page range with an en dash, or Article followed by the article number for online-only journals.
- DOI written as https://doi.org/ plus the code. No "Retrieved from" and no database name.
Why a DOI lookup still needs a human check
Crossref, which the generator queries for DOIs, holds whatever the publisher deposited. For many SAGE articles that means the main title and the subtitle sit in separate fields, so a tool that reads only the title drops the subtitle. The Mueller and Oppenheimer example below shows the complete title the generator keeps when you check the form.
Dates are the second trap. A record may contain an online date, a print date and an issue date. APA wants the year of the published issue. Sweller's 1988 article received its digital copy in 2010; citing 2010 would be wrong.
Finally, look at capitalisation. Some journals deposit titles in capitals or with HTML entities, such as "&" in a journal name. Fix these in the form before adding the entry.
Field by field: the journal article form
These fields appear in the generator after a DOI lookup or when you open the journal form by hand.
| Field | What to enter | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Authors | All authors in the published order. | Under the article title. |
| Year | Year of the issue. | Journal header or footer of the first page. |
| Article title | Title plus subtitle, sentence case. | First page of the article. |
| Journal | Full journal name in title case. | Header of the article page. |
| Volume and issue | Two numbers, entered separately. | First-page footer or the table of contents. |
| Pages or article number | Page range, or the article number for online-only journals. | First and last page, or the citation line on the landing page. |
| DOI | The code that starts with 10. | Landing page or first-page footer. |
APA journal article examples with real DOIs
Three widely cited education and psychology articles, looked up by DOI and formatted by the generator's engine.
Two authors
APA 7th: Reference entry
Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81–112. https://doi.org/10.3102/003465430298487
In-text citation: (Hattie & Timperley, 2007)
A clean DOI record: volume 77, issue 1, pages 81-112. Note how the issue number sits in parentheses straight after the italic volume.
Checked against DOI record (checked on 25 October 2026). Crossref record: volume 77, issue 1, pages 81-112, print date March 2007.
Title with a subtitle
APA 7th: Reference entry
Mueller, P. A., & Oppenheimer, D. M. (2014). The pen is mightier than the keyboard: Advantages of longhand over laptop note taking. Psychological Science, 25(6), 1159–1168. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797614524581
In-text citation: (Mueller & Oppenheimer, 2014)
Crossref stores "Advantages of longhand over laptop note taking" as a separate subtitle. The reference keeps it after a colon with a capital letter, as APA requires.
Checked against DOI record (checked on 25 October 2026). Crossref stores the subtitle in a separate field, so a lookup that reads only the title field drops "Advantages of longhand over laptop note taking".
Seven authors
APA 7th: Reference entry
Freeman, S., Eddy, S. L., McDonough, M., Smith, M. K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H., & Wenderoth, M. P. (2014). Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(23), 8410–8415. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1319030111
In-text citation: (Freeman et al., 2014)
APA 7 lists every author up to 20 in the reference, so all seven names appear. In the text the citation shortens to Freeman et al. from the first mention.
Checked against DOI record (checked on 25 October 2026). Crossref record lists seven authors, volume 111, issue 23, pages 8410-8415.
Formatted by the same citation engine that runs the generator above (citeproc-js with the official CSL style file). Italics follow the style.
In-text citations for journal articles
APA 7 uses the surname of the first author and the year, with "et al." for three or more authors from the very first citation.
- Two authors, parenthetical: (Hattie & Timperley, 2007)
- Two authors, narrative: Hattie and Timperley (2007) separated feedback into four levels.
- Three or more authors: (Freeman et al., 2014)
- Direct quotation: (Mueller & Oppenheimer, 2014, p. 1166)
- Several sources at once: Alphabetical, separated by semicolons: (Freeman et al., 2014; Hattie & Timperley, 2007).
Common journal citation mistakes in APA
- Italicising the issue number. Only the journal name and the volume are italic. In 77(1) the 77 is italic and the (1) is not.
- Writing doi: before the code. APA 7 uses the link form https://doi.org/10..., not the older doi:10... label.
- Title case for the article title. Article titles are sentence case in APA; journal names are title case.
- Online-first year. When an article later appears in an issue, cite the issue year.
- Adding the database name. APA 7 does not ask for ProQuest, EBSCO or JSTOR in journal references.
APA article citation FAQ
How do I cite a journal article in APA 7?
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of article. Journal Name, volume(issue), pages. https://doi.org/code. In the text use (Author, Year).
What if the article has no DOI?
If you found it in an academic database, end the reference after the page range. If it is from a journal website, add the article URL.
How many authors do I list in APA 7?
Up to 20 in the reference list. With 21 or more, list the first 19, an ellipsis and the last author.
Do I need the issue number?
Yes, when the journal has issue numbers. Leave it out only for journals that number pages continuously without issues.
Style guides used on this page
Rules on this page were checked against these pages on 25 October 2026.