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• How to Cite a Journal Article | APA, MLA, & Chicago Examples

How to Cite a Journal Article | APA, MLA, & Chicago Examples

Published on March 9, 2021 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on August 23, 2022.

To cite an article from an academic journal, you need an in-text citation and a corresponding reference listing the name(s) of the author(s), the publication date, the article title and journal name, the volume and issue numbers, the page range, and the URL or DOI .

Different citation styles present this information differently. The main citation styles are APA , MLA , and Chicago style .

You can use the interactive example generator to explore the format for APA and MLA journal article citations.

Table of contents

Citing an article in apa style, citing an article in mla style, citing an article in chicago style, frequently asked questions about citations.

In an APA Style journal article reference , the article title is in plain text and sentence case, while the journal name appears in italics, in title case.

The in-text citation lists up to two authors; for three or more, use “ et al. ”

When citing a journal article in print or from a database, don’t include a URL. You can still include the DOI if available.

You can also cite a journal article using our free APA Citation Generator . Search by title or DOI to automatically generate a correct citation.

Generate accurate APA citations with Scribbr

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In an MLA Works Cited entry for a journal article , the article title appears in quotation marks, the name of the journal in italics—both in title case.

List up to two authors in both the in-text citation and the Works Cited entry. For three or more, use “et al.”

A DOI is always included when available; a URL appears if no DOI is available but the article was accessed online . If you accessed the article in print and no DOI is available, you can omit this part.

You can also use our free MLA Citation Generator to create your journal article citations.

Generate accurate MLA citations with Scribbr

In Chicago notes and bibliography style, you include a bibliography entry for each source, and cite them in the text using footnotes .

A bibliography entry for a journal article lists the title of the article in quotation marks and the journal name in italics—both in title case. List up to 10 authors in full; use “et al.” for 11 or more.

In the footnote, use “et al.” for four or more authors.

A DOI or URL (preferably a DOI) is included for articles consulted online; for articles consulted in print, omit this part.

Chicago also offers an alternative author-date style of citation. Examples of how to cite journal articles in this style can be found here .

The elements included in journal article citations across APA , MLA , and Chicago style are the name(s) of the author(s), the title of the article, the year of publication, the name of the journal, the volume and issue numbers, the page range of the article, and, when accessed online, the DOI or URL.

In MLA and Chicago style, you also include the specific month or season of publication alongside the year, when this information is available.

The DOI is usually clearly visible when you open a journal article on an academic database. It is often listed near the publication date, and includes “doi.org” or “DOI:”. If the database has a “cite this article” button, this should also produce a citation with the DOI included.

If you can’t find the DOI, you can search on Crossref using information like the author, the article title, and the journal name.

The abbreviation “ et al. ” (Latin for “and others”) is used to shorten citations of sources with multiple authors.

“Et al.” is used in APA in-text citations of sources with 3+ authors, e.g. (Smith et al., 2019). It is not used in APA reference entries .

Use “et al.” for 3+ authors in MLA in-text citations and Works Cited entries.

Use “et al.” for 4+ authors in a Chicago in-text citation , and for 10+ authors in a Chicago bibliography entry.

Check if your university or course guidelines specify which citation style to use. If the choice is left up to you, consider which style is most commonly used in your field.

• APA Style is the most popular citation style, widely used in the social and behavioral sciences.
• MLA style is the second most popular, used mainly in the humanities.
• Chicago notes and bibliography style is also popular in the humanities, especially history.
• Chicago author-date style tends to be used in the sciences.

Other more specialized styles exist for certain fields, such as Bluebook and OSCOLA for law.

The most important thing is to choose one style and use it consistently throughout your text.

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Caulfield, J. (2022, August 23). How to Cite a Journal Article | APA, MLA, & Chicago Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved November 9, 2023, from https://www.scribbr.com/citing-sources/cite-a-journal-article/

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APA 6th ed. Style Guide: Scholarly Journal Articles

• Getting Started
• Scholarly Journal Articles
• Books & Reports
• Newspapers & Magazines
• Web Sources & Multimedia
• Legal Sources
• Citing Sources in Text
• Formatting an APA Paper
• APA Sample Paper This link opens in a new window

On This Page

Journal Article with DOI

Journal Article without a DOI

Journal Article with seven or more authors

Essential Elements

Citations for scholarly articles should include the following:

1. Name of Author(s)

2. Year of Publication

3. Full Title of Article

4. Title of Journal (italicized)

5. Volume Number of Journal

6. Page Numbers of Article

General Format Guidelines for Scholarly Articles

What is a DOI (digital object identifier)??

• the DOI system provides persistent identification for managing digital content.
• if a DOI is available, it is used in place of a URL.  
• DOI numbers can often be found on the first page of an online source, or with the article's bibliographic information on the item record page.
• DOIs are now displayed as permanent URLs: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0024996

For more information, see "The DOI System" (p. 5) in  APA Style Guide to Electronic References .

Sample Citations - Scholarly Articles

Journal Article with DOI (Digital Object Identifier):

All of the following are currently considered correct DOI display guidelines:

• https://doi.org/10.1037/arc0000014​
• http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/arc0000014
• doi:10.1037/arc0000014

If you consulted the article in print, you do not need to include a DOI or URL. 

Journal Article without a DOI (when DOI is not available):

If no DOI is assigned to the online content, include the URL for the journal home page.

Use this format: Retrieved from http://xxxx 

No retrieval date is needed because the journal article content will not change over time.  

Journal Article With Seven or More Authors

When a reference has 1-7 authors, spell out all authors' names in the reference list citation. If a source has 8 or more authors, list the first six, insert an ellipses, and then provide the name of the final author.

Example (article with 8 or more authors) :

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• Library Guides

APA 7th Referencing

• Journal Articles

APA 7th Referencing: Journal Articles

• In-text referencing
• Compiling a Reference list
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• DOIs and Live hyperlinks
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• Sample Reference List

On this page

Basic format to reference journal articles.

• Referencing journal articles: Examples

APA Referencing: journal articles from Victoria University Library on Vimeo .

Select the 'cc' on the video to turn on/off the captions.

A basic reference list entry for a journal article in APA must include:

• Author or authors.  The surname is followed by first initials.
• Year of publication of the article (in round brackets).
• Article title.
• Journal title (in italics ).
• Volume of journal (in italics ).
• Issue number of journal in round brackets (no italics).
• Page range of article.
• DOI  or URL
• The first line of each citation is left adjusted. Every subsequent line is indented 5-7 spaces.

Example:  

Ruxton, C. (2016). Tea: Hydration and other health benefits. Primary Health Care , 26 (8), 34-42. https://doi.org/10.7748/phc.2016.e1162

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Citation Guide: Scholarly Journal Articles

• Citations Home
• Title of Source
• Title of Container
• Other Contributors
• Publication Date
• Optional Elements
• In-Text Citations
• Books & eBooks
• Scholarly Journal Articles
• Dissertations/Theses
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• Sample CSE/CBE Paper
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• MC Writing Center

Essential Elements

Scholarly article citations should include the following information:

• Authors names
• Year of publication
• Title of article
• Title of journal
• Volume of journal
• Page number(s) of article

For electronic sources, you may also need:

• The DOI (if available)
• The URL address of the journal publisher

- Only the first word of the article's title and subtitle should be capitalized, except for proper nouns.

- Do not use quotation marks around article titles.

- Italicize journal titles. All of the main words should be capitalized.

- If your citation includes a DOI or URL, do not end the citation with a period.

Sample Citations - Scholarly Articles

Scholarly Article in a Print Journal with no DOI present

Note that if a DOI is available for an article whether in print or electronic format it should be included at the end of the citation

Scholarly Article by Multiple Authors

Two to Twenty Authors

List each author in the same order they appear in the article's byline. Use the ampersand (&) rather than the word "and."

Wenneker, C.P., Wigbolus, D.H., & Spears, R. (2005). Biased language use in

         stereotype maintenane: The role of encoding and goals. Journal of Personality

         and Social Psychology, 89 (4), 504-516. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.89.4.504

Twenty-one or More Authors

List the first nineteen authors. Insert an ellipses (...) after the name of the nineteenth author followed by the name of the last author listed .

Kalnay, E., Kanamitsu, M., Kistler, R., Collins, W., Deaven, D., Gandin, L., Iredell, M.,

          Saha, S., White, G., Woollen, J., Zhu, Y., Chelliah, M., Ebisuzaki, W., Higgins, W.,

         Janowiak, J., Mo, K.C., Ropelewski, C., Wang, J., Leetmaa, A., ... Joseph, D. (1996).

         The NCEP/NCAR 40-year reanalysis project. Bulletin of the American Meteorological

         Society, 77 (3), 437-471. http://doi.org/fg6rf9

Scholarly Article Accessed Online

APA style does not distinguish between articles accessed through a database and articles accessed via the Web. The exact citation formation will depend on whether the article has a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) available.

• If the article information DOES include a DOI, place it at the end of the citation.
• If the article information DOES NOT include a DOI, then consider how you accessed the article. If you accessed the article via a Database then no URL is necessary. If the article is only accessible via a website then include the URL at the end of the citation.

Example - Journal Article with DOI :

  Martens, S., & Valchev, N. (2009). Individual differences in teh attentional blink: The

          important role of irrelevent information. Experimental Psychology, 56(1), 18-26.

          https://doi.org/10.1027/1618-3169.56.1.18

Example - Journal Article without DOI :

  Montgomery, M.B. (2009). Historical and comparative perspectives on a-prefixing in the

          English of Appalachia. American Speech, 84 (1), 5-26.

If you accessed an article from a database and there is no DOI present, cite it as if it is a print source with no DOI. 

   Ahmann, E., Tuttle, L.J., Saviet, M. & Wright, S. D. (2018). A descriptive review of ADHD

          coaching research: Implications for college students. Journal of Postsecondary Education

          and Disability, 31 (1), 17-39. http://www.ahead.org/professional-resources/publications/jped/

          archived-jped/jped-volume-31

 If the article is only available on a website you include the URL at the end of the citation and not widely available in databases.

DOI Tutorial

Check out the link below to view APA's 3-minute video tutorial on how to find DOI's in your sources.

• APA's How to Find a DOI

Digital Object Identifiers

What Is a Digital Object Identifier?

A Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is a unique set of numbers and letters that can be assigned to a particular article to help identify it. Unlike a URL or Web address, an article's DOI always remains the same. Each article has a unique DOI - think of it as a "digital thumbprint."

How are DOIs used in APA citations?

DOIs are used in APA citations to help scholars find cited articles more efficiently. Unlike URL links and Web addresses, which can break or change, a DOI provides a consistent way to look up a referenced article. If you have a DOI for your article, include it at the end of the citation.

Where can I find an article's DOI?

Not all articles are assigned DOIs yet, but if available, the DOI will usually be included with the rest of the electrontic citation information for your article. This may be on the first or last page of the article, or there may be a separate link to citation information. You can also check the CrossRef database to see if a DOI is available for your article.

More about DOIs

DOI Flowchart

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Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

In-Text Citations: The Basics

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

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Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

APA (American Psychological Association) style is most commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences. This resource, revised according to the 6 th edition, second printing of the APA manual, offers examples for the general format of APA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the reference page. For more information, please consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association , (6 th ed., 2 nd printing).

Note:  This page reflects APA 6, which is now out of date. It will remain online until 2021, but will not be updated. The equivalent APA 7 page can be found here .

Reference citations in text are covered on pages 169-179 of the Publication Manual. What follows are some general guidelines for referring to the works of others in your essay.

Note:  On pages 65-66, the Publication Manual suggests that authors of research papers should use the past tense or present perfect tense for signal phrases that occur in the literature review and procedure descriptions (for example, Jones (1998) found or Jones (1998) has found ...). Contexts other than traditionally-structured research writing may permit the simple present tense (for example, Jones (1998)  finds ).

APA citation basics

When using APA format, follow the author-date method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the year of publication for the source should appear in the text, for example, (Jones, 1998), and a complete reference should appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.

If you are referring to an idea from another work but NOT directly quoting the material, or making reference to an entire book, article or other work, you only have to make reference to the author and year of publication and not the page number in your in-text reference. All sources that are cited in the text must appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.

In-text citation capitalization, quotes, and italics/underlining

• Always capitalize proper nouns, including author names and initials: D. Jones.

( Note: in your References list, only the first word of a title will be capitalized: Writing new media .)

• When capitalizing titles, capitalize both words in a hyphenated compound word: Natural-Born Cyborgs .
• Capitalize the first word after a dash or colon: "Defining Film Rhetoric: The Case of Hitchcock's Vertigo ."
• Italicize the titles of longer works such as books, edited collections, movies, television series, documentaries, or albums: The Closing of the American Mind ; The Wizard of Oz ; Friends .
• Put quotation marks around the titles of shorter works such as journal articles, articles from edited collections, television series episodes, and song titles: "Multimedia Narration: Constructing Possible Worlds;" "The One Where Chandler Can't Cry."

Short quotations

If you are directly quoting from a work, you will need to include the author, year of publication, and page number for the reference (preceded by "p."). Introduce the quotation with a signal phrase that includes the author's last name followed by the date of publication in parentheses.

According to Jones (1998), "Students often had difficulty using APA style, especially when it was their first time" (p. 199).

Jones (1998) found "students often had difficulty using APA style" (p. 199); what implications does this have for teachers?

If the author is not named in a signal phrase, place the author's last name, the year of publication, and the page number in parentheses after the quotation.

She stated, "Students often had difficulty using APA style" (Jones, 1998, p. 199), but she did not offer an explanation as to why.

Long quotations

Place direct quotations that are 40 words or longer in a free-standing block of typewritten lines and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, indented 1/2 inch from the left margin, i.e., in the same place you would begin a new paragraph. Type the entire quotation on the new margin, and indent the first line of any subsequent paragraph within the quotation 1/2 inch from the new margin. Maintain double-spacing throughout. The parenthetical citation should come after the closing punctuation mark.

Students often had difficulty using APA style, especially when it was their first time citing sources. This difficulty could be attributed to the fact that many students failed to purchase a style manual or to ask their teacher for help. (p. 199)

Summary or paraphrase

If you are paraphrasing an idea from another work, you only have to make reference to the author and year of publication in your in-text reference, but APA guidelines encourage you to also provide the page number (although it is not required).

According to Jones (1998), APA style is a difficult citation format for first-time learners.

APA style is a difficult citation format for first-time learners (Jones, 1998, p. 199).

APA Citation Guide (7th edition) : Journal Articles

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Volume, issue, and number in a journal citation, journal article from library database with doi - one author, journal article from library database with doi - two to twenty authors, journal article from library database no doi - one author, journal article from library database no doi - two to twenty authors, journal article from a website - one author, journal article in print - one author, when you have 21 or more authors, in-text citation for two or more authors/editors, works by the same author with the same year, in-text citation for group or corporate authors, what is a doi.

DOI Numbers in Library Databases

Some electronic content is assigned a unique number called a Digital Object Identifier (DOI). If a DOI is provided for a journal article, include it after the page numbers of the article as a hyperlink - https://doi.org/xxxxx

You do not need to put a period after a DOI number.

Hanging Indents:

All citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent in a Reference List.

A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.

Hyperlinks:

It is acceptable for hyperlinks to be blue and underlined (live) or black without underlining.

All hyperlinks must include https://

Do not put a period after DOIs or hyperlinks.

How Do I Know If It's a Journal?

Photo from Flickr under Creative Commons license, created by the.Firebottle

Not sure whether your article is from a journal? Look for these characteristics:

• Main purpose is often to report results of original search
• Articles usually have a very narrow, technical subject focus
• May see labeled sections such as the abstract, discussion, results, and conclusion
• Author of the article is an expert or specialist in the field and often their credentials are listed
• Article is intended for students, scientists, researchers and/or professionals instead of the general public
• Usually includes a References list at the end

Articles may also come from magazines or newspapers . 

Today, scientific articles can have many authors due to large-scale experiments run by large teams. In some research areas, an article can even have hundreds of authors! Generally, the first author is considered the lead author, so when citing it is important not to change the order co-authors are listed in. For details on how to balance efficiency and accuracy when citing academic articles with long lists of authors, see the various examples on this page.

Italicize titles of journals, magazines and newspapers. Do not italicize the titles of articles.

Capitalize only the first letter of the first word of the article title. If there is a colon in the article title, also capitalize the first letter of the first word after the colon.

If an item has no date, use the short form n.d. where you would normally put the date.

Volume and Issue Numbers

Italicize volume numbers but not issue numbers

Retrieval Dates

Most articles will not need these in the citation. Only use them for online articles from places where content may change often, such as a social media site like Academia.edu.

Page Numbers

If an article doesn't appear on continuous pages, list all the page numbers the article is on, separated by commas. For example (4, 6, 12-14)

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Journal, Volume Number (Issue Number), first page number-last page number. https://doi.org/DOInumber

Author's  Last N ame, First Initial. Second Initial if Given., & Last Name of Second Author, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of  Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Journal, Volume Number (Issue Number), first page number-last page number. https://doi.org/DOInumber 

Note : Separate the authors' names by putting a comma between them. For the final author listed add an ampersand (&) after the comma and before the final author's last name.

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Journal, Volume Number (Issue Number), first page number-last page number. 

Note : The APA Manual (7th ed.) recommends not including the database or the URL of the journal home page for online articles without a DOI. 

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given., & Last Name of Second Author, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Journal, Volume Number (Issue Number), first page number-last page number if given. 

Note : In the reference list invert all authors' names; give last names and initials for only up to and including twenty authors. When a source has twenty-one or more authors, include the first twenty authors’ names, then three ellipses (…), and add the last author’s name. 

Note:  The APA Manual (7th ed.) recommends not including the library database for journal articles without a DOI as these works are widely available.

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Journal, Volume Number (Issue Number if given). URL

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Journal, Volume Number (Issue Number), first page number-last page number.

When a journal article has twenty-one or more authors:

References List

List the first nineteen authors followed by three spaced ellipse points (. . .) , and then the last author's name.

When you are citing two different sources that share the same author and year of publication, assign lowercase letters after the year of publication (a, b, c, etc.). Assign these letters according to which title comes first alphabetically. Use these letters in both in-text citations and the Reference list.

Example In-Text :

Paraphrasing content from first source by this author (Daristotle, 2015a). "Now I am quoting from the second source by the same author" (Daristotle, 2015b, p. 50).

Example Reference List entries:

Daristotle, J. (2015a). Name of first article .  Made Up Journal, 26 (39), 18-19. 

Daristotle, J. (2015b). Title of second article. Another Made Up Journal, 35 (1), 48-55. 

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• Library Catalogue

What information do I need to cite a journal article?

Journal articles (also called academic or scholarly or peer-reviewed articles) can be found either online or in print. For help finding journal articles using the Library Catalogue and databases see our guide .

Unsure what peer reviewed means? See What is a peer-reviewed journal ? 

Electronic article

When you find an article online, using resources such as the Library Catalogue or databases subscribed to by SFU, you are using an electronic journal article.

Typically when citing an article you need the following: author, title of article, date of publication, title of publication, volume, issue, page numbers, and either a DOI or URL.

Author(s)  Michael Kainsose, Marc Schafe

Article title Consistencies far beyond chance: an analysis of learner perceptions of reflective symmetry

Journal title  South African Journal of Education

Page numbers 1-17

DOI/URL  no DOI for this article

To print this guide : For the best printing results for the electronic article guide, use the  printer-friendly PDF format .

Print article

Author(s)  Kathleen Azali, Andreiw Budiman

Article title  Design it yourself surabaya: Reflective notes on designing a festival

Date July 2016

Journal title  PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies

Page numbers  1-9

DOI/URL http://dx/doi.org/10.5130/portal.v13i2.5024 

 To print this guide:   For the best printing results for the print article guide, use the  printer-friendly PDF format .

• What information do I need to cite a book ?
• What information do I need to cite a webpage ?