You can always use an online tool to create your APA journal citation, but tools are still prone to error. So, you should know how to write an APA citation for a journal. Tools can save you time, but knowing the citation format can help you fix any errors before submitting your paper. So what are the rules of APA citation for a journal article?

Let’s clarify the basics at the get-go: The volume number is italicized and the issue number is placed in parentheses. There is a comma between the journal title and the volume number. But there’s no comma nor a space between the volume number and the issue number. If you’re still confused, we’ve added an APA journal article citation example to clear things up for you.

How to write an APA journal citation

Here are some specifics of the APA citation format for a journal article:

• Write the title of the article in the sentence case (capitalize only the first word and proper nouns).
• Write the title of the journal in the title case and mention the volume number after adding a comma.
• Don’t italicize the comma between the journal title and volume number.
• Italicize both the journal title and volume number.
• Mention the issue number in parentheses right after the volume number, leaving no space.
• After the issue number and page range, mention the DOI and don’t add a period after it.
• If the article doesn’t have a DOI, mention the URL instead.

Suddenly the APA journal citation seems a lot easier, doesn’t it? So let’s simplify this a bit. Here’s an APA journal citation example:

Note that in the case of more than one author, the names are separated with commas and an ampersand (&). The most confusing parts of a journal citation in APA Style are the punctuation marks separating the journal title, volume number, and issue number. So make sure to commit those parts to your memory!

We’ve understood the basics of the APA journal citation format, so you won’t lose any marks on your APA reference page. Now, let’s find out how to do an in-text citation for a journal article in APA Style!

APA in-text citation for a journal article

The APA in-text citation for a journal article consists of the author’s last name and the article’s year of publication. You may add a page number or page range depending on the nature of your reference. The APA Style guide mentions two types of in-text citations: parenthetical and narrative.

A parenthetical citation is enclosed in parentheses and often accompanies a direct quote. It mentions the author’s last name, year of publication, and page number, all separated by commas.

(Author’s Last Name, Year, pp. XX–YZ)

(Wei, 2016, pp. 38–45)

The report observed that “the coal mine will spread over an area of 1300 hectares, displacing more than 10,000 people” (Wei, 2016, p. 38).

Note that a page range is indicated by “pp.” while a single page is denoted by “p.”. 

A narrative citation is one in which the author’s name is part of the text while the year of publication and page range are mentioned in parenthesis. 

Wei (2016) observed that “the coal mine will spread over an area of 1300 hectares, displacing more than 10,000 people” (p. 38).

If you’re directly quoting a paragraph of more than 40 words, you should indent it and add a parenthetical citation. This is called a block quotation, and it doesn’t feature quotation marks. In this case, this is what the APA in-text citation for a journal article will look like:

Epigenetic mechanisms encompass a variety of processes that regulate gene expression. One of the most well-studied mechanisms is DNA methylation, where methyl groups are added to cytosine bases in DNA, often repressing gene transcription. Histone modification is another crucial mechanism, involving chemical modifications to histone proteins around which DNA is wrapped, influencing chromatin structure and gene accessibility. (Lan, 2016, pp. 76–7)

Different types of APA journal article citations

While writing your dissertation or research paper, you’re likely to come across a wide variety of journal articles. Some will have some missing citation elements, while others will use different location markers. So, we’ll list the APA 7 journal article citation formats for all of them.

1. Journal article with three to twenty authors

List all the authors and add an ampersand (&) before mentioning the last author.

Morrison, T. O., Smith, A. B., Iman, L. S., Johnson, C. D., Williams, E. F., Iosua, Q. R., Chavez, K. W. Brown, G. H., Taylor, I. J., Anderson, K. L., & White, S. P. (2021). New Insights into Number Theory: Collaborative Efforts in Prime Factorization. Journal of Mathematical Research, 25(3), 123–135. https://doi.org/10.12345/jmathres.2021.123456 

 In-text citation: (Morrison et. al., 2021, pp. 123–135)

2. Journal article with more than 20 authors

List the names of 19 authors and add an ellipsis (…) before mentioning the last author, omitting the names in between.

Morrison, T. O., Smith, A. B., Iman, L. S., Johnson, C. D., Williams, E. F., Iosua, Q. R., Chavez, K. W. Brown, G. H., Taylor, I. J., Das S. S., Jones, K. C., Anderson, K. L., Davis, N. Y., Kutty, S. B., Garcia, G., Tanaka, L. M., White, I. P., Kim, R. M., Devereux, E., … Freeman, H. K. (2021). New Insights into Number Theory: Collaborative Efforts in Prime Factorization. Journal of Mathematical Research, 25(3), 123–135. https://doi.org/10.12345/jmathres.2021.123456

In-text citation: (Morrison et. al., 2021, pp. 123–135)

3. Online journal article

An APA online journal citation is the same as the basic journal citation minus the DOI but with an added article link.

Cole, R. (2023). Inter-rater reliability methods in qualitative case study research. Sociological Methods & Research. https://journals.sagepub.com/00491241231156971 

Note that our APA citation for an online journal lacks the volume number, issue number, and page range. In case of missing information, you may skip the element and list the next available one.

4. Journal article with a print version

Under APA style citation, you should mention the DOI of a print journal article if you’re able to find it. We’ve done the same in the APA journal citation example below.

Zhai, W. (2009). On the prime power factorization of n! Journal of Number Theory, 129(8), 1820–1836. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnt.2009.02.016 

In-text citation: (Zhai, 2009, pp. 1820–1836)

5. Retracted journal article

While writing the APA 7 journal citation for a retracted article, mention the details of the original articles first. Then, add the details of the retraction in parentheses, including as many details as you can.

Estruch, R. (2012). Effects of Mediterranean diet on the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease. The New England Journal of Medicine, 368(14), 1279–1290. https://doi.org/10.1186/isrctn35739639 (Retraction published 2018, The New England Journal of Medicine, 378[25], 2441–2442)

6. Journal article with an article number

In case a journal article has an article number, simply replace the page range with the article number.

Thomas, F.  & Jaleel, R. (2021). The effects of climate change on biodiversity. Environmental Science Journal, 15(2), Article e12345.  https://doi.org/10.12345/envsci.2021.123456

7. Abstract of a journal article

In the rare cases that you need to cite the abstract but not the whole article, you should add the accession number.

Thomas, F.  & Jaleel, R. (2021). The effects of climate change on biodiversity (Accession No. 1987643256) [Abstract from Environmental Science Abstracts]. Environmental Science Journal, 15(2), 145–168. https://doi.org/10.12345/envsci.2021.123456

Sometimes, databases use different terms for the accession number, like the PubMed ID. While writing your APA 7 journal article citation, use the term used by the database.

That concludes our guide on how to do an APA citation for journal articles. We hope it helps you write your citations correctly! But if you’re ever unsure about your writing, our paper editing services are at your disposal.

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