How to Cite a Journal Article in APA 7 — Free Generator & Examples

To cite a journal article in APA 7, use this format: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of article in sentence case. Journal Name, volume(issue), pages. https://doi.org/[DOI]. Example: Lee, S. J. (2022). Effects of sleep deprivation on academic performance. Journal of Educational Psychology, 45(3), 12–28. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000123.

The free citation generator handles the formatting when you pick the Journal Article source type. Below is the detailed walkthrough including DOI rules, database-accessed articles, and multi-author citations.

APA 7 journal article format — element by element

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of article in sentence case. Journal Name, volume(issue), pages. https://doi.org/[DOI]

• Author: Last name, first initial(s). "Lee, S. J." for Sarah Jane Lee. Two authors: "Lee, S. J., & Smith, R. T." Three+: "Lee, S. J., Smith, R. T., & Jones, M." In-text with 3+ authors uses "Lee et al., 2022."
• Year: (2022) — just the publication year, in parentheses. For articles-in-press, use the year of the "published online" date.
• Article title: Sentence case — only capitalize first word and proper nouns. Not italicized. Not in quotes.
• Journal Name: Title case (capitalize major words). Italicized.
• Volume: Italicized along with the journal name. Example: Journal of Educational Psychology, 45.
• Issue: Not italicized, in parentheses. (3) — right after the italicized volume.
• Pages: Page range with en-dash (12–28), not italicized. Use full numbers (12–28, not 12–8).
• DOI: Formatted as a hyperlink: https://doi.org/[DOI]. Not italicized.

The generator applies all these rules automatically when you enter the data.

How to cite a journal article in the generator

1. Open the citation generator.
2. Click "Journal Article" in the source row.
3. Enter the author's last name and first initial(s) (e.g., "Lee" and "S. J.").
4. Enter the publication year (2022).
5. Enter the article title (in sentence case — the generator handles capitalization if you enter it otherwise).
6. Enter the journal name.
7. Enter volume, issue (optional but recommended), and page range.
8. Enter the DOI if available. Strongly recommended for all academic articles.
9. Click Generate. Copy the APA version.

Output example: Lee, S. J. (2022). Effects of sleep deprivation on academic performance. Journal of Educational Psychology, 45(3), 12–28. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000123.

Sell Custom Apparel — We Handle Printing & Free Shipping

DOI rules: use it when you have it

APA 7 strongly prefers DOI (Digital Object Identifier) over URL for journal articles. DOIs are permanent — they point to the article even if the publisher changes websites.

Where to find the DOI:

• On the article's first page (most modern articles).
• On the publisher's article page, usually labeled "DOI:" or "https://doi.org/...".
• On database records (PubMed, PsycINFO, Web of Science).
• On CrossRef.org — search by article title if stuck.

Format in APA 7: https://doi.org/[the DOI]

Example: https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000123

Old DOI formats (doi: 10.1037/..., dx.doi.org/...) should be updated to the modern https://doi.org/... format. The generator formats whatever you enter.

If the article genuinely has no DOI (older articles, some non-English journals, obscure publications), then and only then use the article's URL from the publisher's website.

Articles accessed through library databases

When you find an article through JSTOR, ProQuest, EBSCO, or another database, DO NOT include the database URL in the APA 7 citation. Rule: use the DOI if available. If no DOI, use the publisher's permanent URL. Never the database URL (those URLs are login-gated and useless to readers without your library's access).

Exception: for articles in databases with no DOI AND no public URL, APA 7 allows citation as-is without the URL. Example: Smith, J. (2019). Historical research on [topic]. Journal of Historical Studies, 22(1), 45–60.

Database name (ProQuest, JSTOR, etc.) is NOT included in APA 7 citations for regular journal articles. Only used for unusual cases like dissertation archives or certain archival databases — and even then only when the DOI/URL is unavailable.

Citing journal articles with multiple authors

APA 7 rules for multi-author journal citations:

1 author: Lee, S. J. (2022). ...

2 authors: Lee, S. J., & Smith, R. T. (2022). ... (Use "&" in the reference; "and" in-text.)

3–20 authors: List all, separated by commas, with "&" before the last. Lee, S. J., Smith, R. T., Jones, M., & Brown, K. (2022). ... In-text, use "Lee et al., 2022."

21+ authors: List first 19 authors, then an ellipsis (...), then the last author. Lee, S. J., Smith, R. T., ... Brown, K. (2022). ... In-text, use "Lee et al., 2022."

The generator supports one author. For multi-author citations, generate with the first author and manually add the remaining authors following these rules.

In-text rule worth remembering: APA 7 changed from APA 6. In APA 7, 3+ authors always becomes "Lee et al." in-text (first in-text citation included). No more "(Lee, Smith, & Jones, 2022)" on first mention.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to include the issue number if the journal paginates continuously?

Include it when available, regardless of pagination style. APA 7 recommends always including the issue number for consistency. If the issue truly isn't listed, skip it.

What if the article has a DOI and a URL?

Use the DOI. APA 7 prefers DOI over URL for journal articles. Only use the URL if there's no DOI.

How do I cite an article from a preprint server like arXiv or bioRxiv?

APA 7 treats preprints as a separate category: Author. (Year). Title. Preprint Server Name. URL. For example: Lee, S. J. (2022). Early findings on sleep research. arXiv. https://arxiv.org/abs/2201.12345. Our generator produces a journal-article version; modify to add "Preprint" label.

Should article titles be in "smart case" or sentence case?

APA 7 uses sentence case: only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized. If you paste a title copied from the article (which is often in title case), the generator doesn't auto-convert — retype or adjust to sentence case.