Key points
When referencing journal sources, take note of the following points for each of the 4 key elements:
- Name of the author – write organisational authors in full, not abbreviations. The author or authors can be a person, people, a group or a combination of people and groups.
- Year of publication – if there is no year, use n.d., meaning 'no date'.
- Title – usually the article title for journal articles. Use upper-case letters for the first word of the title, the first word of any subtitle and proper nouns.
- Source – usually the journal name for journal articles. Where available, include the volume number, issue number and page range or article number.
Journal article
Order: Authors. (Year of publication). Article title. Journal name, volume number in italics (issue number), article page number range. DOI or URL
Always include the DOI if available.
Example
Castles, F. G., Curtin, J. C., & Vowles, J. (2006). Public policy in Australia and New Zealand: The new global context. Australian Journal of Political Science, 41(2), 131–143.
APA Style uses serial commas. If there are several authors, each is separated from the others with a comma and there is an ampersand (&) before the final author. For example, Cunningham, B. M., Nikolai, L. A., & Bazley, J. D.
Write organisational authors in full not abbreviations. For example, 'Ministry of Health' not 'MoH'.
Put the name of the journal in italics but not the article title. The article title is in upper-case letters for the first word of the title, the first word of any subtitle and proper nouns.
The name of the journal name has an upper-case letter for all words except trivial ones, for example, 'of' and 'in'.
The volume number is in italics. The issue number follows it in brackets but is not in italics. If available, include the issue number for journal articles.
Include the page number range – the first and last page of the full article, not just the pages you used.
Include DOIs for all journals where a DOI is available, even if you didn't access the source online.
Online journal articles and DOIs
The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is a unique number allocated to an online publication. It's often used to identify online journal articles and other online documents.
The DOI will usually appear as part of the source's copyright information.
You can look up a DOI at www.crossref.org/guestquery/
Order: Authors. (Year of publication). Article title. Journal name, volume number in italics(issue number), page number range of the article. DOI if available or URL
DOI example
Gelkopf, M., Ryan, P., Cotton, S., & Berger, R. (2008). The impact of “training the trainers” for helping tsunami-survivor children on Sri Lankan disaster volunteer workers. International Journal of Stress Management, 15(2), 117–135. https://doi.org/10.1037/1072-5245.15.2.117
URL examples
Baxter, S. (2009). Learning through experience: The impact of direct experience on children's brand awareness. Marketing Bulletin, 20. http://marketing-bulletin.massey.ac.nz/V20/MB_V20_A2_Baxter.pdf
Hsing, Y., Baraya, A., & Budden, M. (2005). Macroeconomic policies and economic growth: The case of Costa Rica. Journal of Applied Business Research, 21(2), 105–112. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242233504_Macroeconomic_Policies_And_Economic_Growth_The_Case_Of_Costa_Rica
Include a DOI for all journals where a DOI is available, even if you didn't access the sources online.
If available, include the DOI should be included rather than a URL.
Some journal articles will not have a DOI. If it's unavailable, a URL should be used instead of a DOI.
Don't place a full stop at the end of the DOI or URL as this may affect the functionality of the link.
Give the full URL address as it appears in your browser's address bar.
Journal article with an article number
Sometimes, articles have an article number instead of a page range. If so, put the word 'Article' then the number instead of the page range.
Order: Authors. (Year of publication). Article title. Journal name, volume number in italics (issue number), Article number. DOI if available or URL
Examples
Ji, Y., Kumar, K., & Waru, T. (2012). Biopathways accessible through sonar. PLoS One, 2(1), Article e0457835. https://doi.org/10.1468/journal.pone.0457835
Jerrentrup, A., Mueller, T., Glowalla, U., Herder, M., Henrichs, N., Neubauer, A., & Schaefer, J. R. (2018). Teaching medicine with the help of “Dr. House.” PLoS ONE, 13(3), Article e0193972. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0193972
Referencing disclaimer
This page is a guide to proper referencing. Your course, department, school or institute may prescribe specific conventions. Their recommendations supersede these instructions. If your questions are not covered here, ask your course coordinator or ask on our Academic Q&A forum.
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