APA 7th edition is the most widely used citation format in social sciences, psychology, nursing, and education. Whether you are writing a thesis, journal submission, or course assignment, getting your citations exactly right saves time at the submission stage. Use this generator to format any source type instantly — no account required.
Get free access to all citation tools
No credit card. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Generate APA 7th Edition Citation
APA 7th Edition — Complete Guide
APA 7th edition basics
APA 7th edition (published 2020) introduced several changes from the 6th edition. Author names are still formatted as Last name, First initial. Middle initial. — but APA 7th now allows up to 20 authors before using an ellipsis (…) and the final author, instead of the 6th edition's limit of 6 before "et al." Running heads are no longer required for student papers. DOI links are now formatted as hyperlinks (https://doi.org/…) rather than beginning with "doi:".
In-text citations use the author-date format: (Kumar, 2024) for a single author, or (Kumar & Singh, 2024) for two authors. Three or more authors are always shortened to the first author et al.: (Kumar et al., 2024) from the very first citation.
How to cite a journal article in APA 7th
Note: journal name and volume are both italicised. Issue number is in plain text inside parentheses immediately after the volume, with no space.
How to cite a book in APA 7th
Book titles are italicised and in sentence case (only the first word and proper nouns capitalised). Publisher location is no longer required in APA 7th — just the publisher name.
How to cite a website in APA 7th
Include a retrieval date only if the content is likely to change (e.g. a live dataset or wiki page). For stable pages, no retrieval date is needed.
How to cite a YouTube video in APA 7th
The channel name is the author. Add [Video] after the title in square brackets to indicate the medium.
APA 7th vs APA 6th — what changed
- Up to 20 authors listed before ellipsis (was 6 before et al.)
- DOI formatted as hyperlink: https://doi.org/… (was doi:10.…)
- Publisher location removed from book citations
- Running head removed from student papers
- Three or more authors always cited as et al. from first mention (was first citation spelled out)
- "Retrieved from" removed for stable URLs
10 common APA citation mistakes
- Capitalising all words in the title (sentence case only in APA)
- Not italicising the journal name and volume number
- Writing "doi:" instead of "https://doi.org/"
- Using "and" instead of "&" in the reference list
- Including publisher location for books
- Missing the issue number after volume
- Adding "Retrieved from" to stable URLs
- Using "pp." before page numbers in journal references
- Writing full first names instead of initials
- Listing authors alphabetically — references are listed in the order they appear in the reference list, alphabetically by first author surname
Frequently Asked Questions
What fields use APA citation style?
APA is the standard for psychology, social sciences, nursing, education, business, and many health science journals. If your university is in these fields and does not specify a style, APA 7th edition is a safe default.
How many authors before et al. in APA 7th?
In the reference list, list up to 20 authors. If there are 21 or more, list the first 19, then an ellipsis (…), then the final author. In in-text citations, any work with 3 or more authors is always cited as "First Author et al." from the first mention.
Do I need a retrieval date for websites in APA 7th?
Only for content that may change, such as social media posts, live databases, or Wikipedia. For stable institutional or journal pages, no retrieval date is needed — just the URL.
Does APA 7th require a DOI?
Include the DOI whenever one is available. If an article has no DOI but is from a database, no URL is needed — the reference ends after the page numbers. If there is no DOI and the article is only available online, include the URL.
Can ScholarFlow format my entire bibliography in APA 7th?
Yes. ScholarFlow detects your target journal or style, reformats all references automatically, and checks for common APA errors like missing DOIs, wrong capitalisation, and incorrect author format. Upload your bibliography and get a corrected version in seconds.
Get the Indian Researcher's Citation Handbook (PDF)
15-page quick reference for IEEE, APA, Nature, Elsevier & ACS — used by 1,000+ Indian PhD scholars. Free.
Format your entire bibliography automatically
ScholarFlow · IEEE · APA · Nature · Elsevier · ACS · 50+ journals