Referencing style

Reports and government publications

30 September 2023

You can cite reports and government publications in APA style. Learn how.

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The specific agency or person responsible for the report appears as the author. For agency authors, the names of parent agencies not present in the author name appear in the source element as the publisher.

See also Format of Group Author Names on the APA Style website, which explains how to identify the authors of a report and how to handle organisation names that have layers of hierarchy.
- Note: If only the name of the agency is presented on the title page or cover, treat the agency as the author in the reference, even if individuals are credited elsewhere in the work (e.g., in an acknowledgments section).

Reference list – print examples

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. or Agency. (Year). Title of report: Subtitle of report (Report Series No. # or Report No. # or nothing). Publisher.

Johnson, A. (2015). A mountain all can climb: A state of the nation report from the Salvation Army. The Salvation Army Social Policy & Parliamentary Unit.

Ministry of Health. (2006). Problem gambling intervention services in New Zealand: 2005 service-user statistics (Monitoring Report No. 8).

If there are a report series and number, provide these in parentheses after the title. If there is a report number without a series title, include (Report No. #) after the title.
Omit the publisher area when the author and publisher are the same.

In-text citations

Johnson (2015) ... OR ... (Johnson, 2015)

The Ministry of Health (2006) ... OR ... (Ministry of Health, 2006)

See Author Variations for the option of abbreviating organisation names in in-text citations.

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. or Agency. (Year). Title of report: Subtitle of report (Report Series No. # or Report No. # or nothing). Publisher. DOI or URL accessible to all readers or nothing

Bellamy, P. (2019). Youth gangs in New Zealand (Parliamentary Library Research and Information Research Paper No. 2019/04). Parliamentary Service. https://www.parliament.nz/media/6166/youth-gangs-in-new-zealand.pdf

International Transport Forum. (2017). Long-life surfacings for roads: Field test results: Research report. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789282108116-en

Mercury NZ. (2019). Annual report.

Schooling Analysis Unit. (2015). Attendance in New Zealand schools 2014. Ministry of Education. https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/schooling/2503/attendance-in-new-zealand-schools-2014

Starkey, L., Eppel, E., Sylvester, A., Daoud, R., & Vo, T. (2018). Equitable digital access to the internet beyond school: A literature review: Report commissioned by the Ministry of Education–Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga. Victoria University of Wellington. https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/188403/Equitable-digital-access-to-the-Internet-beyond-school-A-literature-review.pdf

Te Aka Matua o te Ture–Law Commission. (2020). The use of DNA in criminal investigations: Te whakamahi i te ira tangata i ngā mātai taihara (Report–Pūrongo No. 144). https://www.lawcom.govt.nz/sites/default/files/projectAvailableFormats/Law%20Commission%20-%20DNA%20in%20Criminal%20Investigations%20-%20Report%20144.pdf

Te Tari Taiwhenua–Department of Internal Affairs. (n.d.). Pūrongo ā tau—Annual report 2019. https://www.dia.govt.nz/diawebsite.nsf/Files/Annual-Report-2019/$file/Annual-Report-2019-Final-Audit-approved.pdf

Original Proprietary Database Content

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. or Agency. (Year). Title (Report Series No. # or Report No. # or nothing). Database. URL of homepage or login page

Euromonitor. (2019). Coffee in New Zealand: Country report. Passport. Retrieved June 6, 2020, from https://www.portal-euromonitor.com

Kelly, A. (2020). House construction in New Zealand (New Zealand Industry ANZSIC Report No. E3011NZ). IBISWorld. Retrieved June 6, 2020, from http://myibisworld.com

In-text citations

Bellamy (2019) ... OR ... (Bellamy, 2019)
Euromonitor (2019) ... OR ... (Euromonitor, 2019)
The International Transport Forum (2017) ... OR ... (International Transport Forum, 2017)
Kelly (2020) ... OR ... (Kelly, 2020)
Mercury NZ (2019) ... OR ... (Mercury NZ, 2019)
The Schooling Analysis Unit (2015) ... OR ... (Schooling Analysis Unit, 2015)
Starkey et al. (2018) ... OR ... (Starkey et al., 2018)
Te Aka Matua o te Ture–Law Commission (2020) ... OR ... (Te Aka Matua o te Ture–Law Commission, 2020)
Te Tari Taiwhenua–Department of Internal Affairs (n.d.) ... OR ... (Te Tari Taiwhenua–Department of Internal Affairs, n.d.)

See Author Variations for more about corporate authors in references and in-text citations.
If there are a report series and number, provide these in parentheses after the title. If there is a report number without a series title, include (Report No. #) after the title.
Omit the publisher area when the author and publisher are the same.
Include the URL when it is accessible to all readers. Do not use a URL from AKO | LEARN or a library database, as these are not accessible to all readers (e.g., Mercury NZ, 2019).
- Exception: Euromonitor (2019) and Kelly (2020) examples. For works from databases that publish original, proprietary material available only in that database, provide the URL of the database home page or login page. See also Databases With Original Proprietary Content (APA Style website).
- Include a retrieval date for changeable and unarchived reports (e.g., Euromonitor, 2019; Kelly, 2020).