Disclaimer: This guide follows the APA 6th ed. manual. The revised guide for the APA 7th ed. manual is now available here:
See the APA Style Guide to Electronic Resources for examples of how to cite online articles, books and book chapters, meetings, websites, and more. UAB Blazer ID and password are required to view this resource.
Provide the DOI when available; if no DOI is available, provide the URL of the journal's homepage. You do not need to list a retrieval date. Do not put a period at the end of the url or DOI. Don't know what a DOI is? Find the answer here.
Article with 1 to 2 Authors:
Reference List:
Rowney, R. & Barton, G. (2005). The role of public health nursing in emergency preparedness and response. Nursing Clinics of North America, 40, 499-509. doi:10.1016/j.cnur.2005.04.005
Or, if there was no doi:
Rowney, R. & Barton, G. (2005). The role of public health nursing in emergency preparedness and response. Nursing Clinics of North America, 40, 499-509. Retrieved from http://www.nursing.theclinics.com
In-text Citation:
(Rowney & Barton, 2005)
Citing More Than One Resource at a Time:
When citing more than one resource at the same spot in the text, separate the citations with a semicolon. The citations must be in the same order as they appear on the reference list (i.e. alphabetical order). For example:
(Bollet, 2002; Frumkin, 2005)
Article with 3 to 7 Authors:
When there are 3 to 7 authors, list all authors in the reference list.
Reference List:
Rohrer, J. E., Naessens, J. M., Liesinger, J., & Litchy, W. (2010). Comparing diverse health promotion programs using overall self-rated health as a common metric. Population Health Management, 13, 91-95. Retrieved from http://www.liebertpub.com/pop
In-text Citations:
For 3 to 5 authors, list all authors for the 1st in-text citation. For all subsequent citations list only the 1st author followed by et al.:
(Rohrer, Naessens, Liesinger, & Litchy, 2010) and (Rohrer et al., 2010)
For 6 or more authors, list only the first author, followed by et al.:
(Berman et al., 1998)
Article with 8 or More Authors:
Reference List: List the first 6 authors, insert 3 ellipses, and add last author name.
Chen, M. I., Lee, V. J., Lim, W. Y., Barr, I. G., Lin, R. T., Koh, G. C., ...Leo, Y. S. (2010). 2009 influenza A(H1N1) seroconversion rates and risks factors among distinct adult cohorts in Singapore. The Journal of the American Medical Association, 303, 1383-1391. doi:10.1001/jama.2010.404
In-text Citation: List the 1st author and et al.
(Chen et al., 2010)
Advanced Online Publication of an Article or ePub Ahead of Print:
Sometimes you will come across an article that has been published online, ahead of the print version (PubMed refers to these articles as ePub ahead of print). When citing an ePub ahead of print article your reference must indicate this status. Keep in mind that the article may not have a volume number or page numbers. When this is the case simply omit that part of the citation. See the example below:
Zhang, M. (2012). Translational control in plasmodium and toxoplasma parasites. Eukaryotic Cell. Advance online publication. doi:10.1128/EC.00296-12
Article with 1 to 2 Authors:
Print article references are cited like electronic articles except you will not have a doi or url.
Reference List:
Cropley, T. G. (2008). Dermatology and skin disease in the American Civil War. Dermatology Nursing, 20, 29-33.
Rowney, R., & Barton, G. (2005). The role of public health nursing in emergency preparedness and response. Nursing Clinics of North America, 40, 499-509.
In-text Citation:
(Cropley, 2008)
(Rowney & Barton, 2005)
Article with 3 to 7 Authors:
List all authors for the first in-text citation. For all subsequent citations, list only the first author followed by et al.
Reference List:
Rohrer, J. E., Naessens, J. M., Liesinger, J., & Litchy, W. (2010). Comparing diverse health promotion programs using overall self-rated health as a common metric. Population Health Management, 13, 91-95.
In-text Citation:
For 3 to 5 authors, list all authors for the 1st in-text citation. For all subsequent citations list only the 1st author followed by et al.:
(Rohrer, Naessens, Liesinger, & Litchy, 2010) then (Rohrer, et al., 2010)
For 6 or more authors, list only the first author, followed by et al.:
(Berman et al., 1998)
Article with 8 or More Authors:
Reference List:
List the first 6 authors, insert 3 ellipses, and add last author name.
Chen, M.I., Lee, V.J., Lim, W.Y., Barr, I.G., Lin, R.T., Koh, G.C., ...Leo, Y.S. (2010). 2009 influenza A(H1N1) seroconversion rates and risks factors among distinct adult cohorts in Singapore. The Journal of the American Medical Association, 303, 1383-1391.
In-text Citation:
List the 1st author and et al.
(Chen et al., 2010)
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