Periodicals
Introduction
A periodical is a magazine or journal that comes out in regular installments. This page provides a number of examples of how to cite a periodical article. If you can’t find exactly what you’re looking for, try match the closest example or consult the official APA manual.
Basic Format
The basic format for articles is as follows:
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (year of publication). Title of the article. Periodical Title, volume number(issue number), page range, doi.
Here is what that looks like in practice:
Rush, N. M., Quick, C. F., & Scamper, A. (2016). The handwriting of psychology students analyzed through the notation of the ampersand in final exams. The Psychic Calligraphist, 22(1), 1-18, https://doi.org/10.1241/1487.983cbb
Notes:
- Provide initials for first names.
- Whenever you cite more than one author, use an ampersand before the final name.
- Don’t capitalize key words in your title. Only the first word and proper nouns need capitalization.
- Use italics for the periodical title and volume.
- Provide the issue number only if each issue starts pagination from page 1.
- For more information about DOIs, check out our separate page and consult the examples below.
- Depending on the citation, some details may be altered or omitted.
Variants
Article in Print
An article in print does not need a DOI number:
Kappa, A. B., Middlington, E. & Mooney, P. R. (2016). The non-uniformity of heterogeneous co-ed frat houses. Social Architectonics, 12, 99-108.
Article with DOI
When you add a DOI, make sure you omit the final period.
Wittles, Q. (2011). Freud and the art of doodling. Art and Psychology, 19, 22-33. https://doi.org/10.1091/1598300983
Article with URL
Plump, T. T., & Carrot, C. V. (2012). Quarterly sales of hamburgers and hotdogs in Hamburg and Frankfurt. Journal of Fast Food Economics, 9(3), 88-93. http://ufv.lib/us/12.9.3/sales
More Than Twenty Authors
When citing a source with more than twenty authors, delete every name after nineteenth and before the final one. Use three spaced periods to indicate the omission:
Seacrest, B. T., Reynolds, A. T., Etheridge, L., Cruise, T., Merkel, A., Bergkamp, N., Colon, S., Semi-Colon, B., Comma, N., Dash, Z., Potato, M., Waffle, C., Chocolate, K., Kamp, U., Fifteener, V. Jones, E, Watson, T. Chupkra, M., Klosur, I., . . . Ratzinger, W. (2015). Coping with the fears of brain freezes and melting ice-cream. Childlike Psychology, 5(2), 144-89. https://doi.org/10.8733/0988434.56.777
Article In Press
Whipper, T. X., & Knuckleboner, P. C. (in press). Some differences between the British and the Scottish clammy handshake. Journal of Body Language.
Magazine Article
If you’re citing a popular magazine (rather than an academic periodical), you may want to give the month and/or day of publication:
Slinky, B. (2014, May 3). The elephant in the room, or how to tranquilize an unusually obese man. Popular Anesthetist, 108(4), 33-35.
For magazines published online, add a URL.
Newspaper Article
For newspaper articles, provide the day and month, and, where appropriate, cite page numbers by the section of the paper:
Hendrix, K. (2001, November 2). Sociology professor wears pajamas to class. Blue River Gazette, B1, B7-B8.
In this example, the article can be found in section B.
For online newspapers, just replace the section with the URL of the article:
Hendrix, K. (2001, November 2). Sociology professor wears pajamas to class. Blue River Gazette. https://www.brgazette.com/2001/11/02/sociology-professor-wears-pajamas-to-class
Special Issue or Section
Sometimes a periodical is devoted entirely to a single issue or topic. If you would like to cite the issue as a whole, provide the names of the editors followed by the title of the issue and the designation “special issue”:
Crabby, M., & Grumby, Z. (Eds.). (2011). The anxiety of influence: Why the fear of plagiarism haunts academics [Special Issue]. Journal of Insipidity, 24(1).
If you’re citing just a section of the journal, change the description of the title and add page numbers:
Florist, F., Grist, M. J., & Groanwold, A. B. (Eds.). (2007). Animation and imagination: The dynamics of visualization in early childhood education [Special section]. Studies in Indoctrination, 88, 59-102.
For more information about citing periodicals, please see pp. 316-21 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.).