APA Citation Help, 7th Edition for Medicine, Nursing, & Health Sciences

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These are the most common journal formats. Detailed information on journal citations can be found in Chapter 10 of the 7th edition of the APA manual (pp. 316-319). 
Additional examples: 

Journal Article with a DOI

Generic: 

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of article: Title of subtitle if provided. Title of Journal, volume(issue), pp-pp. https://doi.org/xxxxxxxxxxxx
Example: 

Goldstein, O., Shaham, Y., Naftali, T., Konikoff, F. L., Lavy, A., & Shaoul, R. (2009). Toilet reading habits in Israeli adults.  Neurogastroenterology and Motility, 21(3), 291-295. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2982.2008.01204.x

 

If there is no DOI, leave that attribute out of the citation. Make a good faith effort to find the DOI. It can usually be found online in the article record, but is also often printed on the first or last page of the article.

Infographic detailing where to find citation information on a PubMed record page

Journal Article, Advanced Publication (Epub ahead of Print)

Generic: 

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of article: Title of subtitle if provided. Title of Journal. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/xxxxxxxxxxxx
Example: 

Jahanbakhsi, A. P., & Kheiralipour, K. (2019). Influence of vermicompost and sheep manure on mechanical properties of tomato fruit. Food Science & Nutrition. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/fsn3.877

 

Always cite the most recent version of the article - if the article has been officially published, use the regular journal citation format. 

Important Points for Citing Journals

  • Whenever possible, include the Digital Object Identifier [DOI], even if you accessed the resource on paper.
    • ​​The correct format for a DOI is a URL and is hyperlinked.
    • The URL should be formatted https://doi.org/xxxxxxxxxxx
      • Even if an article uses the previous DOI format (http://dx.doi.org/xxxxx, use the most current one, which is listed above)
    • The DOI (the xxxxx part of the example URL above) can usually be found online in the article record, but is also often printed on the first or last page of the article.
  • Provide surnames and initials for up to and including 20 authors. 
    • When there are 21 or more authors, list the first 19, insert an ellipsis (...) and then add the final author's name. 
  • A group author may be included as an author. This could include government agencies, associations, non-profit organizations, hospitals, task forces, etc. A group author may publish on its own or in conjunction with individuals or other groups.
    • Spell out the full name of the group author in the reference list followed by a period: American Music Association. 
    • When there are multiple layers of, for example, government agencies listed as the author, use the most specific agency as the author in the reference list entry. Only use the parent agency if it would cause confusion to use the most specific agency.
      • The names of the parent agencies can appear as the publisher if that is part of the reference list entry. ​
  • Use the full journal title (not an abbreviation) unless that abbreviation is part of the official title. Maintain punctuation and capitalization used by the journal.
  • Italicize the journal title. 
  • For the article title, use sentence case (only capitalize the first word of the title and subtitle, and any other words that would normally be capitalized such as proper nouns).
  • If the article has an article number or eLocator, use this instead of page numbers

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