To cite a journal article, you need the authors, year, article title, journal name, volume, issue, page range and DOI. Every style uses the same information; what changes is order, punctuation and emphasis.
This page cites one illustrative article in seven styles so you can compare them directly. The article and its DOI are invented for the example.
What Every Journal Citation Needs
Collect these details from the article's first page or the journal website: all author names, publication year, full article title, journal title, volume and issue numbers, first and last page (or article number) and the DOI. Then apply your style's order and punctuation.
| Detail | Example used on this page |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kwame Mensah, Fiona Hartley, Mei Chen |
| Year | 2022 |
| Article title | Nurse-led discharge education and readmission in heart failure: a cluster randomized trial |
| Journal | Journal of Advanced Nursing (abbreviated J Adv Nurs) |
| Volume, issue, pages | 78, 4, 1021 to 1033 |
| DOI | 10.0000/example.2022.001 (placeholder) |
APA 7th Edition
Reference: Mensah, K., Hartley, F., & Chen, M. (2022). Nurse-led discharge education and readmission in heart failure: A cluster randomized trial. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 78(4), 1021–1033. https://doi.org/10.0000/example.2022.001
In text: (Mensah et al., 2022) or Mensah et al. (2022). With a quotation: (Mensah et al., 2022, p. 1025).
APA uses sentence case for article titles, italicizes the journal name and volume, and uses "et al." in text from three authors onwards. List up to 20 authors in the reference.
MLA 9th Edition
Works Cited: Mensah, Kwame, et al. "Nurse-Led Discharge Education and Readmission in Heart Failure: A Cluster Randomized Trial." Journal of Advanced Nursing, vol. 78, no. 4, 2022, pp. 1021–33, https://doi.org/10.0000/example.2022.001.
In text: (Mensah et al. 1025)
MLA uses title case, quotation marks around the article title and "et al." after the first author when there are three or more. In-text citations give author and page, with no comma and no year.
Harvard (Cite Them Right)
Reference: Mensah, K., Hartley, F. and Chen, M. (2022) 'Nurse-led discharge education and readmission in heart failure: a cluster randomized trial', Journal of Advanced Nursing, 78(4), pp. 1021–1033. Available at: https://doi.org/10.0000/example.2022.001.
In text: (Mensah, Hartley and Chen, 2022)
Harvard is a family of styles, not one standard. This example follows Cite Them Right, which names up to three authors in text and uses "et al." for four or more. Your university's version may differ in punctuation, so follow its guide.
Chicago 18th Edition
Notes and Bibliography
First note: 1. Kwame Mensah et al., "Nurse-Led Discharge Education and Readmission in Heart Failure: A Cluster Randomized Trial," Journal of Advanced Nursing 78, no. 4 (2022): 1025, https://doi.org/10.0000/example.2022.001.
Short note: 2. Mensah et al., "Nurse-Led Discharge Education," 1027.
Bibliography: Mensah, Kwame, Fiona Hartley, and Mei Chen. "Nurse-Led Discharge Education and Readmission in Heart Failure: A Cluster Randomized Trial." Journal of Advanced Nursing 78, no. 4 (2022): 1021–33. https://doi.org/10.0000/example.2022.001.
The 18th edition uses "et al." in notes for three or more authors; the 17th edition did so only from four. The bibliography lists all authors up to six.
Author-Date
Reference: Mensah, Kwame, Fiona Hartley, and Mei Chen. 2022. "Nurse-Led Discharge Education and Readmission in Heart Failure: A Cluster Randomized Trial." Journal of Advanced Nursing 78 (4): 1021–33. https://doi.org/10.0000/example.2022.001.
In text: (Mensah et al. 2022, 1025)
Vancouver
Reference: 1. Mensah K, Hartley F, Chen M. Nurse-led discharge education and readmission in heart failure: a cluster randomized trial. J Adv Nurs. 2022;78(4):1021-33. doi:10.0000/example.2022.001
In text: a number in order of first citation, as superscript¹ or in brackets [1] or parentheses (1), depending on the journal or institution.
Vancouver, based on the NLM and ICMJE recommendations, uses abbreviated journal titles from the NLM catalog and no full stops in initials. List up to six authors; for more than six, list the first six followed by "et al."
IEEE
Reference: [1] K. Mensah, F. Hartley, and M. Chen, "Nurse-led discharge education and readmission in heart failure: A cluster randomized trial," J. Adv. Nurs., vol. 78, no. 4, pp. 1021–1033, 2022, doi: 10.0000/example.2022.001.
In text: [1], placed inside the sentence before punctuation.
IEEE puts initials before surnames, uses abbreviated journal titles and numbers references in order of first citation. Add the month before the year when it is known, for example "Apr. 2022".
DOIs, URLs and Articles Without Either
| Situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| Article has a DOI | Include it; APA, MLA, Harvard and Chicago present it as https://doi.org/... |
| No DOI, found online | Give a stable URL if your style asks for one; APA omits database URLs for most articles |
| No DOI, print only | End the reference after the page range |
| Article number instead of pages | Use the article number, for example "Article e0123" in APA |
| Advance online publication | Use the online year and DOI, and omit volume and pages until assigned |
Look up missing DOIs with the Crossref search tool rather than guessing. A wrong DOI is worse than none, because it sends readers to the wrong article.
Common Journal Citation Errors
- Using title case in APA article titles, which take sentence case.
- Forgetting the issue number or italicizing it in APA.
- Using full journal names in Vancouver or IEEE, which use NLM or IEEE abbreviations.
- Copying citations from databases without checking them against your style.
- Mismatches between in-text citations and the reference list.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Authors, year, article title, journal name, volume, issue, page range or article number, and the DOI if there is one.
In most styles, the journal title is italicized and the article title is not; MLA, Chicago and IEEE put the article title in quotation marks, and Harvard often uses single quotation marks.
It depends on the style: APA and MLA from three authors in text, Chicago 18th from three in notes and author-date, Cite Them Right Harvard from four, and Vancouver and IEEE only in long author lists in the reference.
Yes, whenever one exists, unless your instructor says otherwise. Most styles now format it as a URL.
Use the article number if it has one. For in-text quotations, APA allows a paragraph number or section heading instead of a page.
For Vancouver, use the NLM Catalog. For IEEE, use IEEE's own list of journal abbreviations.