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Referencing style

Journal articles

30 September 2023

You can reference journal articles using the American Psychological Association (APA) style. Learn how.

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Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year or Year, Month Date). Title of article: Subtitle of article. Title of Journalvol#(issue#), firstpage#–lastpage# or Article article#. DOI

Fort, D. J., Propst, T. L., Stover, E. L., Strong, P. L., & Murray, F. J. (1998). Adverse reproductive and developmental effects in Xenopus from insufficient boron. Biological Trace Element Research66(1–3), 237–259. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02783141

Grace, R. (2017). From liquidating mixed plastics waste to capturing your washing machine’s microfibers. Plastics Engineering, 73(6), 20–24. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1941-9635.2017.tb01726.x

Kacmar, K. M., Andrews, M. C., Harris, K. J., & Tepper, B. J. (2013). Ethical leadership and subordinate outcomes: The mediating role of organizational politics and the moderating role of political skill. Journal of Business Ethics115(1), 33–44. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-012-1373-8

Organ, C., Nunn, C. L., Machanda, Z., & Wrangham, R. W. (2011, August 30). Phylogenetic rate shifts in feeding during the evolution of HomoPNAS, 108(35), 14555–14559. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1107806108

 

In-text citations:

Fort et al. (1998) ... OR ... (Fort et al., 1998)

Grace (2017) ... OR ... (Grace, 2017)

Kacmar et al. (2013) ... OR ... (Kacmar et al., 2013)

Organ et al. (2011) ... OR ... (Organ et al., 2011)

 

  • In the examples above, Fort et al. (1998) is in a journal published seasonally, Grace (2017) is in a journal published monthly and Organ et al. (2011) is in a journal published weekly.

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year or Year, Month Date). Title of article: Subtitle of article. Title of Journalvol#(issue#), firstpage#–lastpage# or Article article#. URL

Leaupepe, M. (2017). Authentic leadership: Experiences from a Pasifika early childhood education program in teacher education. He Kupu–The Word5(1), 61–68. https://www.hekupu.ac.nz/article/authentic-leadership-experiences-pasifika-early-childhood-education-program-teacher

Nast, H. J. (2006). Loving... whatever: Alienation, neoliberalism and pet-love in the twenty-first century. ACME: An International e-Journal for Critical Geographies5(2), 300–327. https://acme-journal.org/index.php/acme/article/view/761

 

In-text citations:

Leaupepe (2017) ... OR ... (Leaupepe, 2017)

Nast (2006) ... OR ... (Nast, 2006)

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year or Year, Month Date). Title of article: Subtitle of article. Title of Journalvol#(issue#), firstpage#–lastpage# or Article article#.

Bourke, R., & Loveridge, J. (2014). Exposing the divide between assessment and the point of learning through student voice. New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies49(2), 149–161.

 

In-text citation: Bourke and Loveridge (2014) ...OR ... (Bourke & Loveridge, 2014)

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year or Year, Month Date). Title of article: Subtitle of article. Title of Journalvol#(issue#), Article article#. DOI or URL

Eriksen, M., Lebreton, L. C. M., Carson, H. S., Thiel, M., Moore, C. J., Borerro, J. C., Galgani, F., Ryan, P. G., & Reisser, J. (2014). Plastic pollution in the world’s oceans: More than 5 trillion plastic pieces weighing over 250,000 tons afloat at sea. PloS One9(12), Article e111913. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0111913

Huber, M., Knottnerus, J. A., Green, L., Horst, H. van der, Jadad, A. R., Kromhout, D., Leonard, B., Lorig, K., Loureiro, M. I., Meer, J. W. M. van der, Schnabel, P., Smith, R., Weel, C. van, & Smid, H. (2011, July 30). How should we define health? BMJ343(7817), Article d4163. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.d4163

 

In-text citations:

Eriksen et al. (2014) ... OR ... (Eriksen et al., 2014)

Huber et al. (2011) ... OR ... (Huber et al., 2011)

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year or Year, Month Date). Title of article: Subtitle of article. Title of JournalYear(issue#), firstpage#–lastpage# or Article article#. DOI or URL or nothing

Clune, M. (2019). Computational thinking in primary mathematics. Set2019(3), 43–50. https://doi.org/10.18296/set.0151

Matthews, N. (2011). Reflecting on Māori academic leadership. MAI Review2011(3), 1–4. http://www.review.mai.ac.nz/mrindex/MR/article/view/457.html

 

In-text citations:

Clune (2019) ... OR ... (Clune, 2019)

Matthews (2011) ... OR ... (Matthews, 2011)

 

  • Each year restarts issue numbering with issue 1.
  • The year occurs twice in the reference, in the date area and in the volume area.

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of article: Subtitle of article. Title of Journal. Advance online publication. DOI or URL

Bourke, L., Marriott-Fellows, M., Jones, A., Humphreys, L., Davies, S. J., Zuffiano, A., & López-Pérez, B. (2019). Writing with imagination: The influence of hot and cold executive functions in children with autism characteristics and typically developing peers. Reading and Writing. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-019-09989-w

 

  • Publishers label advance online publications in various ways, such as “online first publication” or “ahead of print”; this is standardised to “advance online publication” in the APA reference.

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year, Season or Year, Month or Year, Month Date). Title of article: Subtitle of article. Title of Journalvol#(issue#), firstpage#–lastpage# or Article article#. DOI or URL or nothing

Duyvestyn, H. (2021, June). Nursing support for people with mild mental health needs. Kai Tiaki: Nursing New Zealand27(5), 24–27.

Pandemic-proofing the planet. (2020, June 6). Economist435(9200), 64–67.

Swain, G. R. (2016–2017, Fall/Winter). How does economic and social disadvantage affect health? Focus33(1), 1–6. https://www.irp.wisc.edu/publications/focus/pdfs/foc331a.pdf

 

In-text citations:

Duyvestyn (2021) ... OR ... (Duyvestyn, 2021)

(“Pandemic-Proofing,” 2020)

Swain (2016–2017) ... OR ... (Swain, 2016–2017)

 

  • Non-academic periodicals include professional, trade and popular magazines.
  • For more about articles without authors, such as the “Pandemic-Proofing” example, see under Author Variations.

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year or Year, Season or Year, Month or Year, Month Date). Title of article: Subtitle of article. Title of Journalvol#(issue#), firstpage#–lastpage# or Article article#. DOI or URL or nothing

Brown, H. (2019–2020, Raumati–Summer). A treasure house for future generations. Te Karaka, (84), 28–31. https://ngaitahu.iwi.nz/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TE-KARAKA-84.pdf

Laud, L., Hirsch, S., Patel, P., & Wagner, M. (2010). Maximize student achievement with formative assessment. ASCD Express6(1). http://www.ascd.org/ascd-express/vol6/601-laud.aspx

Nichol, T. (2020, January 2). Unswimmable Auckland. Metro, 52–57.

Te whakataunga me te maimoatanga o ngā mate o te hinengaro Māori: Recognising and managing mental health disorders in Māori. (2010, June). Best Practice Journal, (28), 8–17. https://bpac.org.nz/BPJ/2010/June/docs/BPJ_28_june2010.pdf

 

In-text citation:

Brown (2019–2020) ... OR ... (Brown, 2019–2020)

Laud et al. (2010) ... OR ... (Laud et al., 2010)

Nichol (2020) ... OR ... (Nichol, 2020)

(“Te Whakataunga,” 2010)

 

  • Omit any missing part of the reference; other parts are not adjusted to accommodate the omission.
  • For more about articles without authors, such as the “Te Whakataunga” example, see under Author Variations.

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of article: Subtitle of article. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. DOI

Mehrholz, J., Pohl, M., Platz, T., Kugler, J., & Elsner, B. (2018). Electromechanical and robot‐assisted arm training for improving activities of daily living, arm function, and arm muscle strength after stroke. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD006876.pub5

 

In-text citation: Mehrholz et al. (2018) ... OR ... (Mehrholz et al., 2018)

 

  • Cochrane articles are formatted like journal articles. Do not italicise the database name if it appears in text.
Academic journal articles

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year or Year, Month Date). Title of article: Subtitle of article. Title of Journalvol#(issue#), firstpage#–lastpage# or Article article#. DOI or URL or nothing

 

Non-academic periodical articles (magazine articles)

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year or Year, Season or Year, Month or Year, Month Date). Title of article: Subtitle of article. Title of Journalvol#(issue#), firstpage#–lastpage# or Article article#. DOI or URL or nothing

 

Reference elements
  • Author (Last name, initials).
  • Date of publication.
    • For academic journal articles, use the (Year) of the volume only, except use the (Year, Month Day) of the issue for academic journals published weekly (APA Style Experts, personal communication, September 30, 2022).
    • For non-academic periodicals (professional, trade and popular magazines and so on), use the full date available, including seasons for magazines published seasonally (APA Style Experts, personal communication, September 30, 2022).
  • Title of the article – capitalise only the first word of the title and of the subtitle and any proper nouns.
  • Title of the journal – in italics with title case capitalisation.
  • Volume number in italics, issue number in parentheses if available.
  • Page numbers of the article or the article number instead if the journal uses article numbers.
  • DOI or URL or nothing.
    • Print journals: include the DOI if available, otherwise add nothing after the pages.
    • Electronic journals: include the DOI if available. If there is no DOI, include the URL but only if it is accessible for all readers (do not use a URL from LEARN or a library database). If there is no DOI or accessible URL, add nothing after the pages.
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