How to Cite a Journal Article in APA, MLA, Harvard and Chicago

Journal articles are the backbone of academic work, and their citations are among the most formulaic. They are also where small errors, such as a missing issue number, a bare DOI or the wrong capitalization, show up most often, because the details are buried in database records and the first pages of PDFs.

This guide shows how to collect the details, format them in four common styles and handle the awkward cases. The examples use invented sources to show the format.

The steps

The sections below take each step in turn.

Step 1: Collect the details

Open the article, or its record in your library database, and note:

• Authors, in the order shown.
• Year of publication.
• Full title, including any subtitle.
• Journal name, in full.
• Volume and issue numbers.
• Page range, or an article number for online-only journals.
• DOI, if there is one.

The first page of the PDF usually has all of this. Record the details before you move on to the next source.

Step 2: Find the DOI

A DOI, or digital object identifier, is a permanent code for an article. It often appears near the title or in the footer of the first page. If you cannot see one, search the article title on a DOI lookup service or the publisher's page. Styles ask you to write the DOI as a full link: https://doi.org/10.1234/abcd.

If there is no DOI, use a stable URL if the article is freely available online. For a print-only article, you can leave the location out in APA.

Step 3: Check what kind of article it is

Step 4: Format the reference

APA 7

Format: Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of article in sentence case. Title of Journal in Title Case, volume(issue), pages. https://doi.org/xxxx

Lee, J., & Patel, R. (2021). Practice and comprehension in first-year students. Journal of College Learning, 14(2), 112-129. https://doi.org/10.0000/example

The journal name and the volume are italicized, and the issue is in parentheses and not italicized. Use sentence case for the article title and title case for the journal.

MLA 9

Format: Author last name, First name, and First name Last name. "Title of Article in Title Case." Title of Journal, vol. x, no. x, Year, pp. xxx-xxx. DOI or URL.

Lee, Jordan, and Rina Patel. "Practice and Comprehension in First-Year Students." Journal of College Learning, vol. 14, no. 2, 2021, pp. 112-29. doi.org/10.0000/example.

Harvard (common pattern)

Format: Author surname, Initial. and Author surname, Initial. (Year) 'Title of article', Journal Title, volume(issue), pp. xxx-xxx. doi: xxxx

Lee, J. and Patel, R. (2021) 'Practice and comprehension in first-year students', Journal of College Learning, 14(2), pp. 112-129. doi: 10.0000/example.

Many versions also ask for an access date for online articles. Check your guide.

Chicago notes-bibliography

Note: 1. Author, "Title of Article," Journal Title volume, no. issue (Year): page, DOI or URL.

1. Jordan Lee and Rina Patel, "Practice and Comprehension in First-Year Students," Journal of College Learning 14, no. 2 (2021): 115, https://doi.org/10.0000/example.

Bibliography:

Lee, Jordan, and Rina Patel. "Practice and Comprehension in First-Year Students." Journal of College Learning 14, no. 2 (2021): 112-29. https://doi.org/10.0000/example.

Vancouver and other numbered styles

Lee J, Patel R. Practice and comprehension in first-year students. J Coll Learn. 2021;14(2):112-29. doi:10.0000/example

See our guide to Vancouver referencing for the rules on authors and journal abbreviations.

Step 5: In-text citations

Give the page number for direct quotations, and use the page where the passage actually appears, not the first page of the article.

Special cases

Many authors

APA lists up to 20 authors in the reference. MLA lists the first author followed by et al. when there are three or more. Harvard and Chicago versions differ, so check the rule your course follows.

Articles with no DOI

For a print article, list the volume, issue and pages and no location. For an article found online without a DOI, give a stable URL if the article is freely available.

Online-only articles with article numbers

Some journals publish without page numbers. APA: Journal of Open Learning, 5(1), Article e12345. MLA gives the article number after the issue, such as "no. 1, 2021, article 12345."

Retracted articles

If an article has been retracted, note this in your text, and avoid relying on it for evidence. Some styles ask you to include the retraction notice. Check the journal page and your style guide.

Preprints

If you cite a preprint, name the server, such as arXiv, and make clear that it has not been peer reviewed. Look for a published version, and cite that if one exists.

Choosing good articles

Prefer peer-reviewed journal articles, recent enough for your topic, from reputable publishers, with clear methods. Check the journal's reputation, and be cautious of journals that publish anything for a fee. If you are not sure, ask a librarian. Our guide to evaluating sources in the research cluster covers this in more detail.

Tools and checking

Library databases and reference managers can export citations in many styles. The exports are a good starting point but often contain errors, such as incorrect capitalization, missing issue numbers or wrong DOIs. Check each against the article. Our citation generator can build an entry you can compare with the examples here.

Common mistakes

• Leaving out the issue number.
• Using sentence case for the journal title in APA.
• Not italicizing the journal and volume where the style requires it.
• Writing the DOI without the https://doi.org/ prefix in styles that require a link.
• Using the wrong page numbers for quotations.
• Copying export errors from a database.
• Citing the abstract when you read the full article, or the reverse.

A quick checklist

• Do I have authors, year, title, journal, volume, issue and pages?
• Is the DOI present and written as a link?
• Is the capitalization and italics right for my style?
• Is the in-text citation correct, with a page for quotations?
• Is every article in the text in the list, and the reverse?

Final thoughts

A journal citation is a short list of facts in a fixed order. Collect them from the first page when you first read the article, find the DOI, and format the reference once. Then check your export against the real article, since database and tool errors are the most common reason for marks lost on references.