Do I need to include the retrieval date for online journal articles?

No. APA 7th edition does not require a retrieval date for journal articles unless the content is designed to change over time, which is rare for published research.

What should I do if the journal article has no DOI?

If an online journal article has no DOI, provide the direct URL of the article. If the article was found in an academic database and has no DOI, treat it as a print article and omit the URL.

How do I cite an article with more than 20 authors?

List the first 19 authors, insert an ellipsis (...), and then add the name of the final author. Do not use an ampersand before the final name in this specific case.

How to Cite an Online Journal Article in APA Style

How-to4 min·Updated May 2024

Overview

Citing an online journal article in APA 7th edition requires specific metadata to ensure readers can locate the source. You must include the author names, publication year, article title, journal name, volume, issue, page range, and a DOI. Follow these steps to build a perfect reference list entry and corresponding in-text citation.

Step 1: List the authors and date

Start your reference with the author's last name, followed by a comma and their initials. Use an ampersand (&) before the final author's name. Immediately follow this with the year of publication enclosed in parentheses. Period after the closing parenthesis. If there are multiple authors, separate them with commas. For works with 2 to 20 authors, list all of them in the reference entry.

Step 2: Format the article and journal titles

Write the article title in sentence case, meaning you only capitalize the first word, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns. Do not italicize the article title. Next, provide the journal title in italicized title case, capitalizing all major words. Follow the journal title with a comma.

Step 3: Provide volume, issue, and page numbers

Include the volume number in italics immediately after the journal title. Place the issue number in non-italicized parentheses directly after the volume, with no space between them. Add a comma, then provide the page range of the article. End this section with a period.

Step 4: Append the DOI or URL

The final element is the Digital Object Identifier (DOI). Present the DOI as a functional link starting with https://doi.org/. Do not put a period after the DOI link, as it may interfere with the URL functionality. If no DOI is available and you accessed the article on a website (not a database), provide the URL instead.

APA Journal Citation Example

Example

Reference List Entry:
`Grady, J. S., Her, M., Moreno, G., Perez, C., & Yelinek, J. (2019). Emotions in storybooks: A comparison of storybooks that represent ethnic and racial groups in the United States. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 8(3), 207–217. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000185` 

Parenthetical In-Text Citation:
`(Grady et al., 2019)`

Narrative In-Text Citation:
`Grady et al. (2019) argued that...`

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Italicizing the wrong title: Only the journal name and volume number should be italicized, never the article title.
Using 'Retrieved from': APA 7th edition has removed this phrase for journal articles; simply provide the DOI link.
Incorrect capitalization: Avoid using title case for the article title. Use sentence case instead.
Missing issue numbers: Always include the issue number in parentheses if the journal is paginated by issue.

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