APA journal citations use author, year, article title, journal title, volume(issue), pages, and a DOI or URL when available.
You can write a clean APA journal citation in under a minute once you know what stays, what drops, and where punctuation goes. This page gives you a repeatable setup for both the reference list and in-text citations, with quick checks that catch the slips instructors grade hardest.
If you searched “how to cite journals in apa style” because your paper is due soon, start with the tables and the step list. Then plug your article details into the templates and run the final checks near the end.
Journal Citation Parts You Need Every Time
APA 7th edition journal references are built from the same core parts. Get these right and your citation will look “APA” even when the source is odd, missing pages, or online-only.
| Element | What To Write | Common Slip |
|---|---|---|
| Author | Last name, initials; list up to 20 authors | Using full first names or leaving out commas |
| Year | (Year). | Using a full date when the journal uses issues |
| Article Title | Sentence case; end with a period | Capitalizing Every Word Like A Heading |
| Journal Title | Title case and italic | Putting the journal title in sentence case |
| Volume | Italic number | Forgetting italics on the volume |
| Issue | (Issue) right after volume; not italic | Italics on the issue or missing parentheses |
| Pages Or Article Number | Page range (pp. not used) or e-locator | Adding “pp.” or dropping the dash in ranges |
| DOI Or URL | Use DOI in https format; else a stable URL | Using “doi:” or a database login link |
How To Cite Journals In Apa Style For Journal Articles
Use this standard pattern for most peer-reviewed articles:
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of the article in sentence case. Title of Journal, Volume(Issue), page–page. https://doi.org/xxxxx
Notice the rhythm: initials after each author, year in parentheses, article title in sentence case, journal title and volume italic, issue in parentheses, then pages, then DOI or URL.
Step 1: Pull The Source Details From The Article Itself
Skip the database citation generator at first. Grab details from the PDF or the journal’s own page, since those are closer to the record editors publish.
- Authors: Copy the author list in order, keeping hyphens and particles like “de” or “van.”
- Year: Use the year the journal assigns to the issue, not the day you downloaded it.
- Title: Copy the article title, then convert it to sentence case.
- Journal: Use the journal’s title as printed, not an abbreviation, unless your instructor asks for abbreviations.
- Volume, issue, pages: Check the first page, header, or the journal page.
- DOI: Look for “https://doi.org/” or “DOI:” near the abstract.
Step 2: Put The Article Title In Sentence Case
Sentence case means you capitalize the first word, plus proper nouns and acronyms. Everything else drops to lower case, even if the journal site shows title case.
If the title contains a colon, keep the first word after the colon capitalized. Keep Greek letters, gene names, and branded terms as printed.
Step 3: Format The DOI The APA 7 Way
APA treats a DOI like a link. Use the full “https://doi.org/” form with no period after it. If you need to find a DOI, the Crossref DOI lookup can help when you have the title and author.
Step 4: Choose A URL Only When A DOI Is Missing
If there’s no DOI, use a stable URL that a reader can open without your library login. Prefer the publisher or journal page over a database session link. If your article is behind a paywall, keep the URL anyway when it’s stable and points to the article record.
When you use a URL, trim it. Delete tracking strings that start with “?” or “&” and remove “session” pieces that expire. If both a PDF link and an article record link exist, pick the record link so a reader gets the abstract, metadata, and download options in one place. Keep the link plain, no underline styling you add by hand.
Step 5: Check Punctuation And Italics Before You Submit
Most point losses come from tiny formatting slips. Scan for these before you hit upload:
- Commas between authors and initials
- An ampersand before the last author in the reference list
- A period after the year and after the article title
- Italics on the journal title and the volume number
- No “pp.” before page ranges
Citing Journal Articles In APA Style Inside Your Paper
Your reader needs two things: a short pointer in the sentence and a full entry in the reference list. In-text citations stay light so the writing flows.
Parenthetical Citations
Use parentheses when the author name isn’t already part of your sentence:
- One author: (Smith, 2022)
- Two authors: (Smith & Lee, 2022)
- Three or more authors: (Smith et al., 2022)
Narrative Citations
Use the author name as part of your sentence, then put the year in parentheses right after it:
- Smith (2022) found that …
- Smith and Lee (2022) reported that …
- Smith et al. (2022) argued that …
Direct Quotes And Page Numbers
If you quote, add a page number right after the year. Use “p.” for one page and “pp.” for a range in the in-text citation only:
- (Smith, 2022, p. 14)
- (Smith, 2022, pp. 14–15)
If the article has no page numbers, use the paragraph number when the source shows stable paragraphs, like (Smith, 2022, para. 6).
Reference List Formatting In Word And Google Docs
Even perfect text can lose points if the reference list layout is off. APA reference lists use double spacing and a hanging indent so the first line starts at the margin and the rest of the entry tucks in.
Hanging Indent Setup
In Microsoft Word, select your references, open the Paragraph settings, then set “Special” to Hanging and the value to 0.5 inch. In Google Docs, use Format > Align & indent > Indentation options, then set Special indent to Hanging at 0.5 inch.
Spacing And Line Break Checks
Keep entries double-spaced with no extra blank line between items. If your doc adds space after paragraphs, set “Spacing After” to 0. Then scan for broken lines inside a single citation, since a pasted DOI can force odd wraps.
Alphabetizing Quick Rule
Sort by the first author’s last name. If two entries start with the same author, order them by year, oldest first. If the author and year match, add “a,” “b,” and “c” after the year and use the same letters in your in-text citations.
Author Rules That Trip People Up
Author formatting looks simple until you hit group authors, many-author papers, and names with particles. Use these rules and you’ll avoid most grading notes.
Up To Twenty Authors In The Reference List
APA 7 lets you list up to 20 authors before you use an ellipsis. That means most modern journal papers get every author spelled out in the reference list entry.
Write each author as “Last, F. M.” with commas between authors and an ampersand before the final name.
More Than Twenty Authors
List the first 19 authors, then an ellipsis (three dots with spaces), then the final author. Don’t add an ampersand before the ellipsis.
Group Authors
If an organization is the author, write the organization name in the author position. In-text, you can abbreviate after the first mention if the abbreviation is clear and used again.
When Volume, Issue, Pages, Or Dates Get Weird
Some journals publish online-first articles, use article numbers, or reset page numbers each issue. APA still gives you a clean way to cite them.
| Case | Reference List Template | In-Text Template |
|---|---|---|
| Online-Only With Article Number | Author. (Year). Title. Journal, Volume(Issue), Article e12345. DOI/URL | (Author, Year) |
| Advance Online Publication | Author. (Year). Title. Journal. DOI/URL | (Author, Year) |
| No Issue Number Listed | Author. (Year). Title. Journal, Volume, pages. DOI/URL | (Author, Year) |
| Issue Has Its Own Page Range | Author. (Year). Title. Journal, Volume(Issue), pages. DOI/URL | (Author, Year) |
| Supplement Or Special Issue | Author. (Year). Title. Journal, Volume(Suppl. X), pages. DOI/URL | (Author, Year) |
| Magazine Article With Date | Author. (Year, Month Day). Title. Magazine, Volume(Issue), pages. URL | (Author, Year) |
| Missing Pages On A Web Record | Use the PDF pages or the e-locator from the article | (Author, Year) |
That “advance online” line is the one that feels bare. It’s fine. Without volume, issue, or pages, the DOI or stable URL becomes the locator a reader uses.
Official APA Guidance And How To Verify Your Draft
If your instructor is strict, match your draft against official examples. The APA maintains a set of journal article reference models on its own site. Use APA Style journal article reference examples to double-check edge cases like more than 20 authors or advance online publication.
Two Fast Self-Checks
- Swap test: Can a classmate open your DOI or URL and land on the same article record?
- Skim test: Can you spot author, year, journal, volume, and locator in three seconds?
Reference List Entry Walkthrough With A Realistic Template
Here’s a fill-in pattern you can keep in your notes. Replace each bracket with your details and keep the punctuation as shown.
[Last, A. A., Last, B. B., & Last, C. C.] ([Year]). [Article title in sentence case]. [Journal Title], [Volume]([Issue]), [page–page or e-locator]. [https://doi.org/xxxxx]
Common Fixes When A Generator Gets It Wrong
Auto-citations are decent at collecting fields, then they stumble on APA formatting. If you pasted a generated reference, run these fixes in order:
- Convert the article title to sentence case.
- Remove “Retrieved from” for journal articles.
- Replace “doi:” with the https DOI link.
- Confirm italics on the journal title and volume.
- Remove extra database names unless your instructor asks for them.
Mini Checklist Before You Turn It In
This is the fast sweep that catches the usual mistakes. Read it once, then run it line by line on your own reference list.
- Your reference list is alphabetized by the first author’s last name.
- Each journal entry has a year in parentheses, followed by a period.
- Article titles are in sentence case, not title case.
- Journal titles are in title case and italic.
- Volume numbers are italic; issue numbers are not.
- Page ranges use an en dash and no “pp.” label.
- Every DOI is written as a full https link with no period after it.
- Every in-text citation has a matching reference list entry.
If you’re still stuck, re-read the pattern and rebuild one citation from scratch. That reset is often faster than hunting stray commas.
When you know the pattern, “how to cite journals in apa style” stops being a stressful search and turns into a quick editing routine you can reuse for every class now.