Journal articles appear often in research papers as a great source of recent, peer-reviewed research.
APA 7 uses a precise pattern for authors, date, article title, journal title, volume & issue numbers, page range, and DOI/URL. As one of the most common types of references cited in student research papers, it's important to cite these types of works correctly on your References page.
What this article covers
Author rules for one or more authors
How to format dates and titles
Volume, issue, and page numbers
DOI vs. URL
A complete sample entry
The standard pattern
A journal article is a classic example of a work that is contained inside of another work (e.g., an article inside of a journal).
Similar to Book references, a Journal Article reference can be broken into four parts: the author part, the date part, the title part, and the source part. Unlike books, which are stand-alone works, the Journal Article reference type has two parts for the Title part of the reference.
Author part
List authors in the order shown on the article. Invert the names and separate the first & middle initials with commas; use an ampersand before the final author. You should list up to 21 individual authors before condensing the list with a ellipsis.
Example: Strange, J., & Weber, K. H.Date part
Place the year in parentheses with a period after: (2020). Use (n.d.) if not available.Title Part
Article title
Not italicized. Use sentence case and end with a period.
Example: An analysis of recent biological evidence.
Journal title
Italicized and in Title Case, followed by a comma.
Example: Sasquatch Today,-
Source Part
Volume, issue, and pages
Italicize the volume number. Place the issue in parentheses right after the volume, not italicized. Add a comma, a space, then the page range with an en dash. End with a period.
Example: 14(2), 34–57.
DOI or URL
Prefer a DOI in URL form and omit the period at the end. Use a URL only if no DOI is available.
Example: https://doi.org/10.1000/sasquatch.2020.004
Example Reference
Author, F. M., & Author, F. M. (Year). Article title in sentence case. Journal Title in Title Case, Volume(Issue), page range. https://doi.org/xxxx
Strange, J., & Weber, K. H. (2020). An analysis of recent biological evidence. Sasquatch Today, 14(2), 34–57. https://doi.org/10.1000/sasquatch.2020.004
Tip 1: When page ranges are non-sequential, list all ranges separated by commas, for example 34–57, 61–65.
Tip 2: Don't forget to format your text with a hanging indent (unlike the example above).
Quick checklist
▢ Authors inverted, ampersand before the last author
▢ Year in parentheses with period afterward
▢ Article title in sentence case, not italicized
▢ Journal title and volume number italicized; issue number in parentheses
▢ Page range uses an en dash if spread over multiple pages
▢ DOI linked as a URL & no period after the DOI
With PERRLA
PERRLA can locate article details by DOI. The reference formats itself, and the entry appears on the References page with correct italics and punctuation.
Download PERRLA's APA 7 Checklist
It's a lot to remember all the rules, and if you aren't letting PERRLA do the formatting for you, use our brief checklist for your next APA 7 paper. Click here to get your copy now!
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Note for instructors & students: This article follows APA 7 student paper conventions.