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
Clinical practice references
Avoid ezproxy links because an ezproxy link can only be accessed with a Massey login. If possible, use a publicly available link such as the journal or publisher homepage.
If the journal article has a DOI , include this in the reference.
If the journal has an article number instead of page range, use “Article” before the article number.
Include a retrieval date if the source is not archived or is expected to be updated.
You should include database details if the source is only available through a specific database, for example, Cochrane Database of Systemic Reviews or UpToDate. Provide the name of the database or archive for works of limited circulation for example, ProQuest Dissertations, or works in a university archive.
Do not include database information for works obtained from most academic research databases/platforms as the source can be found elsewhere for example, EBSCO Host, Google Scholar, JSTOR, Medline, ProQuest, PsycINFO.
Order: Authors. (Year of publication). Article title. Journal name in italics, volume number in italics, issue number if available, page number range of article number (if available). DOI or URL if no DOI is available
Examples
Thomson, P., Hudson, D., Richardson, A., Campbell, A., & Guihen, A. (2023). The placement experience of nursing students in managed isolation and quarantine facilities. Kaitiaki Nursing Research, 14(1), 12-18. https://kaitiaki.org.nz/
Qin, Y., She, H., Peng, W., Zhou, X., Wang, Y., Jiang, P., & Wu, J. (2023). The effect of caudal ropivacaine and morphine on postoperative analgesia in total laparoscopic hysterectomy: A prospective, double-blind, randomized controlled trial. Journal of Pain Research, 16, 3379–3390. https://doi.org/10.2147/JPR.S426820
Herrstedt, J., Clark-Snow, R., Ruhlmann, C. H., Jordan, K., & Scotte, F. (2024). 2023 MASCC and ESMO guideline update for the prevention of chemotherapy and radiation induced nausea and vomiting. ESMO Open, 9(2), Article 102195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esmoop.2023.102195
Parenthetical citations
(Thomson et al., 2023).
(Qin et al., 2023).
(Herrstedt et al., 2024).
Journal articles from a proprietary database
Articles in a proprietary database are only available from the database. Format proprietary databases like a journal where the article is not italicised but the database is italicised. If you refer to the database in-text, it is not italicised.
Give the year of the last update in the date position.
Some proprietary databases will change or be updated over time and not archived so you should include a retrieval date.
In the Cochrane Database of Systemic Reviews, the PDF of an article will show the year as the volume number and have an issue number and article number. If you view the online version of the article, then omit this detail but if you view the PDF, then include this detail.
Order: Authors. (Year of publication). Article title. Database name in italics. Retrieval date. DOI or URL if no DOI is available
Examples
Bradsher, R. W. (2024). Treatment of blastomycosis. UpToDate. Retrieved November 5, 2024, from https://www.uptodate.com/contents/treatment-of-blastomycosis
Sridharan, K., Mohan, R., Ramaratnam, S., & Panneerselvam, D. (2011). Ayurvedic treatments for diabetes mellitus. Retrieved November 22, 2024, from Cochrane Database of Systemic Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD008288.pub2
Parenthetical citations
(Bradsher, 2024).
(Sridharan et al., 2011).
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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