Citation guides
How to Cite a Journal Article: APA, MLA, Harvard and Vancouver
How to reference a journal article in APA 7, MLA 9, Harvard and Vancouver, including DOI formatting, volume and issue numbers, articles with no DOI, preprints, online-first articles and papers with twenty or more authors.
Journal articles are the backbone of academic writing, and they are also the source type with the most moving parts: authors, year, article title, journal name, volume, issue, page range and a DOI. Get the order right once and every article you cite afterwards follows the same shape.
What you need before you start
Collect these seven pieces from the article's first page or its landing page. If one genuinely does not exist, the style tells you what to do, but never leave a field blank and hope nobody notices.
- Authors — every name, in the order printed on the article, not alphabetically.
- Year of publication.
- Article title.
- Journal name, written in full rather than the abbreviation, except in Vancouver.
- Volume, and the issue when the journal uses them.
- Page range of the whole article.
- DOI, if the article has one.
APA journal article reference
Sentence case for the article title, title case and italics for the journal, italics for the volume, and the DOI as a full link with no full stop after it. More APA patterns are in the APA referencing guide.
APA 7 reference list entry
APA in-text citation
MLA journal article reference
MLA puts the article title in quotation marks and italicises the journal, labels the volume and issue with "vol." and "no.", and writes the DOI with the https://doi.org/ prefix. The MLA citation generator handles the punctuation for you.
MLA 9 works cited entry
MLA in-text citation
Harvard journal article reference
Harvard has no single authority, so departments publish their own variants. The shape below is the common one; check your course guide, or use the Harvard reference generator.
Harvard reference list entry
Harvard in-text citation
Vancouver journal article reference
Vancouver is the numeric style used across medicine and nursing, including at Swedish institutions such as Karolinska. Sources are numbered in the order they first appear in your text, and journal names are abbreviated to their standard form.
Vancouver reference list entry
Vancouver in-text citation
Quick-reference: the same article in four styles
| Style | Article title | Volume/issue | In-text |
|---|---|---|---|
| APA 7 | Sentence case, no quotes | 45(2), 101-118 | (Berg & Lind, 2023) |
| MLA 9 | Title Case in "quotes" | vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 101-18 | (Berg and Lind 105) |
| Harvard | Sentence case in 'quotes' | 45(2), pp. 101-118 | (Berg and Lind 2023) |
| Vancouver | Sentence case, no quotes | 2023;45(2):101-18 | (1) |
Difficult cases, answered
Article with no DOI
End the APA reference after the page range if you read it through a library database. Add a URL only when the article is freely readable on the open web. Never paste the database link from your browser bar, because it usually contains a session token that stops working within hours.
APA, no DOI
Article published online first
The article has a DOI but no volume, issue or final pages yet. Say so explicitly rather than leaving gaps, and update the reference if the final version appears before you submit.
APA, advance online publication
Preprint (not yet peer reviewed)
Label it as a preprint and name the repository. This is an academic point rather than a formatting one: your reader needs to know the work has not been through review, and examiners notice when a preprint is presented as though it were a published study.
APA, preprint
Article with twenty-one or more authors
Large collaborations in physics and medicine routinely list hundreds. APA gives the first nineteen, an ellipsis, then the final author. Vancouver lists the first six followed by "et al."
APA and Vancouver
Article in a journal with no issue number
Some journals number pages continuously through a volume and publish no issue numbers. Simply omit the issue and keep the volume.
APA, volume only
Article you read as a PDF
The format you read it in changes nothing. Cite the article itself using the details on its first page. There is no need to mention that it was a PDF, and no need to record where the file sits on your computer.
Article in a language other than your own
Give the original title, then a translation in square brackets. APA and Harvard expect the bracketed translation; MLA treats it as optional.
APA, translated title
Article that has been retracted
Never cite a retracted paper as though its findings stand. If you must discuss it, label the retraction in the reference so your reader is not misled.
APA, retracted article
Common mistakes
- Copying the author order from the database. Some databases sort authors alphabetically. The reference must follow the order printed on the article, because that order carries meaning about contribution.
- Abbreviating the journal name outside Vancouver. APA, MLA and Harvard want the full name: Marine Geology, not Mar Geol.
- Citing the abstract only. If you have read only the abstract, you cannot fairly cite the study's findings. Get the full text or leave it out.
- Using the database URL. Proxy and session links break. Use the DOI, which is permanent by design.
- Giving only the first page. APA, MLA and Harvard want the full range of the article, not just where it starts.
Let the DOI do the work
A DOI is a unique key into CrossRef, the registry that publishers file their metadata with. That means a correct reference can be built from the identifier alone, with no typing and no transcription errors in author names or page ranges. Paste a DOI or an article link into the citation generator and the fields come back filled in, in whichever of the 150+ styles your course requires.
Written by Ihsan Hossain
Founder of CitApp, a citation tool built to make source formatting effortless for students. Guides on this blog are checked against the current official style guides (APA 7, MLA 9, and university Harvard variants).
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to include the DOI?
In APA and Vancouver, yes, whenever one exists. Harvard variants usually expect it too. MLA prefers a DOI over a URL but accepts either. A DOI is a permanent identifier, so a reference with one stays usable even when the journal redesigns its site — which is exactly why styles ask for it.
How do I find the DOI of an article?
It is normally printed on the first page of the PDF and on the article landing page, usually near the title or in the sidebar. If you cannot see one, search the title on the CrossRef website, which indexes almost every DOI ever issued. Pasting the article link or title into CitApp resolves it automatically.
What if the article has no DOI?
Older articles, many humanities journals and some regional publications never received one. In APA, end the reference after the page range if you read it in a database, or add the URL if the article is freely available on the open web. Do not invent a DOI, and do not use the database link, which is often session-specific and will break.
What is the difference between volume and issue?
The volume usually covers a year of publication and the issue is one instalment within it. In APA they are written as 45(2), meaning volume 45, issue 2, with only the volume italicised. If a journal numbers pages continuously through a volume, some styles let you omit the issue.
How do I cite an article that is published online first?
When an article is available with a DOI but has no volume, issue or page numbers yet, cite it as an advance online publication. Write the year, the article title, the journal name, then "Advance online publication" in place of the missing numbers, followed by the DOI. Update the reference once the final version appears.
Can I cite a preprint the same way as a published article?
No, and the difference matters academically. A preprint has not been peer reviewed, so it must be labelled as one, with the repository named (arXiv, bioRxiv, medRxiv). Treat the findings as provisional, and if the paper is later published in a journal, cite the published version instead.