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How to Cite a Book in APA 7

APA 7 cites a book as a stand-alone work: the authors or editors, the copyright year, an italic sentence-case title, any edition or volume in roman parentheses, the publisher, and a DOI written as https://doi.org/... when one exists. This page follows the APA Style book and ebook references page — checked against the Alamo Colleges reprint — the APA Style edited book chapter references page via the Alamo chapter reprint, the Reference Guide for Journal Articles, Books, and Edited Book Chapters last updated 23 March 2026, the Common Reference Examples Guide last updated 3 March 2026, and the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition, §10.2 and §10.3. It is the APA book guide, not the MLA book, Chicago book, APA journal, APA dissertation, or reprinted and translated works tutorial.

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How to Cite a Book in APA: Quick Answer

Name the authors in the published order, put the copyright year in parentheses, and italicize the book title in sentence case. Place an edition, volume, or similar label in parentheses after the title, still in roman type. Write the publisher next, without a city. If the book has a DOI, end with that DOI and stop. If there is no DOI and you recovered an ebook from a library database, stop after the publisher: the reference looks like print. If there is no DOI but a URL that still opens for a reader, add that URL. In the text, cite the year only. Cite a chapter only when the book is edited and the chapter has its own author.

APA 7 §10.2 and §10.3 book templates

Reference, print or database book with no DOI:

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of the book. Publisher.

Reference, book with a DOI:

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of the book (2nd ed.). Publisher. https://doi.org/xxxxx

Reference, ebook with a resolving URL and no DOI:

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of the book (3rd digital ed.). Publisher. https://xxxxx

Reference, edited book:

Editor, E. E. (Ed.). (Year). Title of the book. Publisher.

Reference, chapter in an edited book:

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of the chapter. In E. E. Editor (Ed.), Title of the book (pp. 15–32). Publisher. https://doi.org/xxxxx

Parenthetical citation:

(Author, Year)

Narrative citation:

Author (Year)

Direct quotation:

(Author, Year, p. 42)

The APA Style book page, aligned with Publication Manual §10.2, states the print-and-ebook, copyright-year, edition, DOI, location, URL, and database tests in the sentences this page quotes. The 23 March 2026 reference guide adds the edition-before-volume order and the semicolon between multiple publishers.

APA Style on books, ebooks, editions, DOIs, and databases

Provide the author, year of publication, title, and publisher of the book. Use the same format for both print books and ebooks.
Use the same formats for both print books and ebooks. For ebooks, the format, platform, or device (e.g., Kindle) is not included in the reference.
Use the copyright date shown on the book’s copyright page as the year of publication in the reference, even if the copyright date is different than the release date.
Include any edition information in parentheses after the title, without italics.
If the book includes a DOI, include the DOI in the reference after the publisher name.
Do not include the publisher location.
If the ebook without a DOI has a stable URL that will resolve for readers, include the URL of the book in the reference (as in the Svendsen and Løber example, which is from the iBog database, where ebooks are referred to as “internetbooks”). Do not include the name of the database in the reference.
If the ebook is from an academic research database and has no DOI or stable URL, end the book reference after the publisher name. Do not include the name of the database in the reference. The reference in this case is the same as for a print book.

The 23 March 2026 Reference Guide for Journal Articles, Books, and Edited Book Chapters restates the DOI punctuation, the edition-and-volume order, and the database test students still break.

APA Style reference guide on book DOIs, editions, volumes, and publishers

Does the book have a DOI? Include a DOI if available. Do not include a URL or database information for works from academic research databases. Include a URL for ebooks from other websites. Do not put a period after the DOI or URL.
Does the book have an edition or volume number? If so, include the number in parentheses after the title but before the period. If both, show edition first and volume second, separated by a comma. Do not put a period between the title and the parenthetical information.
Include the name of the publisher, followed by a period. Do not include the publisher location. Are there multiple publishers? If so, separate them with a semicolon.

DOI vs Database vs URL

Students lose marks here because they cite Kindle, EBSCOhost, or the campus proxy instead of the book. APA 7 asks what a later reader can recover. A DOI already locates the work, so do not also paste a database URL. A ProQuest or EBSCOhost ebook with no DOI and no public URL ends after the publisher, the same way a print copy does. Write a URL only when it still opens for a reader who is not logged in, as in the official Svendsen and Løber internetbook.

Which ending APA 7 §10.2 actually wants
What you openedDOI?End the reference with
Any copy of a book that has a DOIYeshttps://doi.org/... and nothing after it
Print copy or library database, no DOINoThe publisher. No database name, no Kindle tag, no proxy URL
Ebook whose URL still works, no DOINoThe book URL that a reader outside your campus can open
Kindle, Apple Books, or another retail file of the same editionIf the book has oneThe print publisher and the DOI when one exists. Not the store URL

Authored Books: Print, Ebook, and DOI

The three official authored-book examples below come from the current APA Style book page. Jackson is the edition-plus-DOI case. Sapolsky is the ordinary print or ebook case that stops after the publisher. Svendsen and Løber is the digital edition whose public URL replaces a DOI. The 3 March 2026 Common Reference Examples Guide then gives Levenson, Jinich, Vaz, and Rousmaniere (2025) as its current §10.2 authored-book sample. Use the same four-part order for all four: author, year, italic title, publisher.

Official APA Style authored books

Reference (Jackson, 2019):

Jackson, L. M. (2019). The psychology of prejudice: From attitudes to social action (2nd ed.). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000168-000

Parenthetical citation:

(Jackson, 2019)

Narrative citation:

Jackson (2019)

Reference (Sapolsky, 2017):

Sapolsky, R. M. (2017). Behave: The biology of humans at our best and worst. Penguin Books.

Parenthetical citation:

(Sapolsky, 2017)

Narrative citation:

Sapolsky (2017)

Reference (Svendsen & Løber, 2020):

Svendsen, S., & Løber, L. (2020). The big picture/Academic writing: The one-hour guide (3rd digital ed.). Hans Reitzel Forlag. https://thebigpicture-academicwriting.digi.hansreitzel.dk/

Parenthetical citation:

(Svendsen & Løber, 2020)

Narrative citation:

Svendsen and Løber (2020)

Reference (Levenson et al., 2025), Common Reference Examples:

Levenson, H., Jinich, S., Vaz, A., & Rousmaniere, T. (2025). Deliberate practice in emotionally focused couple therapy. American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000436-000

Parenthetical citation:

(Levenson et al., 2025)

Narrative citation:

Levenson et al. (2025)

Jackson is the official second-edition example, so (2nd ed.) sits after the title and is not italic. When a shop page, ebook file, or press release shows a different year from the copyright page, APA Style says to use the copyright year on the copyright page of the copy you actually read. Do not swap in the Amazon publication date. Levenson et al. (2025) is four authors, so the first in-text citation already shortens to et al.

Edited Books

An edited book has an editor on the title page and chapter authors inside. When you cite the whole volume, the editors take the author position and the role is abbreviated once, after the last name. When you used only one chapter, skip this form and use the chapter form in the next section.

APA Style on editor abbreviations

Use the abbreviation “(Ed.)” for one editor and the abbreviation “(Eds.)” for multiple editors after the editor names, followed by a period. In the case of multiple editors, include the role once, after all the names.

Kesharwani is the single-editor case. Hygum and Pedersen is the two-editor ebook with a resolving URL. Torino et al. is the five-editor DOI case, so the in-text citation shortens to the first editor plus et al.

Official APA Style edited books

Reference (Kesharwani, 2020):

Kesharwani, P. (Ed.). (2020). Nanotechnology based approaches for tuberculosis treatment. Academic Press.

Parenthetical citation:

(Kesharwani, 2020)

Narrative citation:

Kesharwani (2020)

Reference (Hygum & Pedersen, 2010):

Hygum, E., & Pedersen, P. M. (Eds.). (2010). Early childhood education: Values and practices in Denmark. Hans Reitzels Forlag. https://earlychildhoodeducation.digi.hansreitzel.dk

Parenthetical citation:

(Hygum & Pedersen, 2010)

Narrative citation:

Hygum and Pedersen (2010)

Reference (Torino et al., 2019):

Torino, G. C., Rivera, D. P., Capodilupo, C. M., Nadal, K. L., & Sue, D. W. (Eds.). (2019). Microaggression theory: Influence and implications. John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119466642

Parenthetical citation:

(Torino et al., 2019)

Narrative citation:

Torino et al. (2019)

Chapter in an Edited Book vs a Chapter in an Authored Book

This is the failure mode that turns a correct book into a broken reference. If one person or one team wrote every chapter, you have an authored book: cite the whole book, then name the chapter only in the text. If different people wrote different chapters and an editor assembled them, you have an edited book: cite the chapter you used, not the whole volume, unless you really used the book as a whole. The APA Style blog on book chapters and the edited-chapter page both draw that line.

APA Style on authored-book chapters

Do not create references for chapters of authored books. Instead, write a reference for the whole authored book and cite the chapter in the text if desired.
Write the word “In” and the initials and last name (not inverted) of each editor. Use “(Ed.)” for one editor or “(Eds.)” for multiple editors. End with a comma.

McEwen and Wills is the official authored-book chapter in the text. Aron, Dillard, and Thestrup are the official edited-chapter references from the Style Center page. Dillard keeps the edition with the page range. Thestrup has no page range on the Style Center page because that internetbook does not print one; it does have a chapter URL. Zeleke, Hughes, and Drozda (2020) is the current §10.3 sample in the 3 March 2026 Common Reference Examples Guide.

Official APA Style chapters and in-text chapter locators

If a chapter without a DOI has a stable URL that will resolve for readers, include the URL of the chapter in the reference (as in the Thestrup example, which is from the iBog database). Do not include the name of the database in the reference.

Authored-book chapter, parenthetical:

(McEwen & Wills, 2014, Chapter 16, p. 363)

Authored-book chapter, narrative:

McEwen and Wills (2014, Chapter 16, p. 363)

Reference (Aron et al., 2019):

Aron, L., Botella, M., & Lubart, T. (2019). Culinary arts: Talent and their development. In R. F. Subotnik, P. Olszewski-Kubilius, & F. C. Worrell (Eds.), The psychology of high performance: Developing human potential into domain-specific talent (pp. 345–359). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000120-016

Parenthetical citation:

(Aron et al., 2019)

Narrative citation:

Aron et al. (2019)

Reference (Dillard, 2020):

Dillard, J. P. (2020). Currents in the study of persuasion. In M. B. Oliver, A. A. Raney, & J. Bryant (Eds.), Media effects: Advances in theory and research (4th ed., pp. 115–129). Routledge.

Parenthetical citation:

(Dillard, 2020)

Narrative citation:

Dillard (2020)

Reference (Thestrup, 2010):

Thestrup, K. (2010). To transform, to communicate, to play—The experimenting community in action. In E. Hygum & P. M. Pedersen (Eds.), Early childhood education: Values and practices in Denmark. Hans Reitzels Forlag. https://earlychildhoodeducation.digi.hansreitzel.dk/?id=192

Parenthetical citation:

(Thestrup, 2010)

Narrative citation:

Thestrup (2010)

Reference (Zeleke et al., 2020), Common Reference Examples:

Zeleke, W. A., Hughes, T. L., & Drozda, N. (2020). Home–school collaboration to promote mind–body health. In C. Maykel & M. A. Bray (Eds.), Promoting mind–body health in schools: Interventions for mental health professionals (pp. 11–26). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000157-002

Parenthetical citation:

(Zeleke et al., 2020)

Narrative citation:

Zeleke et al. (2020)

In an edited-chapter reference, invert only the chapter authors. After In, write the editors as initials then surname, add (Ed.) or (Eds.), and follow that with a comma, the italic book title, and the page range in the same parentheses as any edition. The March 2026 reference guide says to write edition first and pages second when both appear, as Dillard does.

Book With a New Foreword

When a later printing adds a foreword or introduction by someone else, APA Style keeps the original author in the author slot and names the new contributor after with. The official book-page case is Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s On Death and Dying, reissued with a foreword by Ira Byock. Cite the book author in the text unless you are quoting the foreword itself.

APA Style on a book with a new foreword

Use this format when a person other than the original author has added a new part to the work, such as a foreword or introduction.
Provide the author of the whole book in the main author element of the reference. Then provide the name of the person who wrote the foreword, introduction, or other new part, in parentheses, after the word “with.”

Reference (Kübler-Ross, 1969/2014):

Kübler-Ross, E. (with Byock, I.). (2014). On death & dying: What the dying have to teach doctors, nurses, clergy & their own families (50th anniversary ed.). Scribner. (Original work published 1969)

Parenthetical citation of the book:

(Kübler-Ross, 1969/2014)

Narrative citation of the book:

Kübler-Ross (1969/2014)

Parenthetical citation of the foreword:

(Kübler-Ross, 1969/2014, foreword by Byock, p. xv)

Republished Books and Dual Dates

A reprint, a later edition that restores an older text, or a newly edited public-domain work uses two years. The year in the usual date slot is the copy you held. The original year goes at the end in parentheses. Both years appear in the text, earlier first, with a slash. For translations and more dual-date cases, use the reprinted and translated works guide. The official book-page case is Watson and Rayner’s Little Albert text, edited by Webb and reissued in 2013.

APA Style on republished books

Provide the year of the republication in the main date element of the reference. Provide the year of original publication at the end of the reference in parentheses after the words “Original work published.”
Both publication years appear in the in-text citation, separated with a slash, with the earlier year first.

Reference (Watson & Rayner, 1920/2013):

Watson, J. B., & Rayner, R. (2013). Conditioned emotional reactions: The case of Little Albert (D. Webb, Ed.). CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. https://a.co/06Se6Na (Original work published 1920)

Parenthetical citation:

(Watson & Rayner, 1920/2013)

Narrative citation:

Watson and Rayner (1920/2013)

Reprinted Chapter From Another Book

A chapter that first appeared in an earlier collection and was later reprinted needs both years and a closing parenthesis that names the original book. The official edited-chapter page uses Urie Bronfenbrenner’s 1973 essay as reprinted in his 2005 SAGE volume. This is not the same as citing a chapter that was written for the book you hold.

APA Style on a reprinted edited-book chapter

For a reprinted work (a work that has been published in two places at once), provide both years in the in-text citation, separated with a slash, with the earlier year first.
Provide the title, page range, editor, year of publication, and publisher of the original work in parentheses after the information about the work that you used.

Reference (Bronfenbrenner, 1973/2005):

Bronfenbrenner, U. (2005). The social ecology of human development: A retrospective conclusion. In U. Bronfenbrenner (Ed.), Making human beings human: Bioecological perspectives on human development (pp. 27–40). SAGE Publications. (Reprinted from Brain and intelligence: The ecology of child development, pp. 113–123, by F. Richardson, Ed., 1973, National Educational Press)

Parenthetical citation:

(Bronfenbrenner, 1973/2005)

Narrative citation:

Bronfenbrenner (1973/2005)

Several Volumes of a Multivolume Work

When you used more than one volume of a handbook, cite the set. The official book-page case is Harris, Graham, and Urdan’s APA Educational Psychology Handbook. Name the editors-in-chief even when later volumes list different volume editors. If you used only one untitled volume, the 23 March 2026 reference guide puts the edition first and the volume second in the same parentheses.

APA Style on multivolume books

Provide the name(s) of the editor(s)-in-chief as the editors of the work, even if the volume editors are different.

Reference (Harris et al., 2012):

Harris, K. R., Graham, S., & Urdan T. (Eds.). (2012). APA educational psychology handbook (Vols. 1–3). American Psychological Association.

Parenthetical citation:

(Harris et al., 2012)

Narrative citation:

Harris et al. (2012)

One untitled volume, edition then volume:

Editor, E. E. (Ed.). (Year). Title of the handbook (2nd ed., Vol. 1). Publisher.

When the Author Is the Publisher

APA 6 told students to repeat the group name and write Author in the publisher slot. APA 7 dropped that. The creating a reference list handout and the APA Style diagnostic manual references both omit the publisher when it is the same group that authored the book. The current DSM-5-TR is the case students still format as if it were a trade book from American Psychiatric Publishing. The Publication Manual itself is the same pattern with a DOI.

APA Style on author-as-publisher books and the DSM-5-TR

When the author and the publisher of a work are the same (as in many reports, books, and websites published by group authors), include the group name in the author element and omit it from the source element.
Because the author and the publisher are the same, “American Psychiatric Association” is written only in the author element.

Reference, DSM-5-TR with a DOI:

American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425787

Reference, print DSM-5-TR with no DOI to add:

American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.).

Parenthetical citation:

(American Psychiatric Association, 2022)

Narrative citation:

American Psychiatric Association (2022)

Reference, Publication Manual with a DOI:

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

Parenthetical citation:

(American Psychological Association, 2020)

Spell out American Psychiatric Association in the reference list. In the text you may introduce a common abbreviation on first mention, then use it: the first citation can read (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2022) and later ones (APA, 2022). Do not put American Psychiatric Publishing, the ISBN, or a database name after the title. Do not confuse the American Psychiatric Association, which publishes the DSM, with the American Psychological Association, which publishes the Publication Manual.

Audiobooks

Most commercial audiobooks of the same edition as the print book are cited as books. Publication Manual §10.2 example 22 is Susan Cain’s Quiet, narrated by Kathe Mazur. Add the narrator and [Audiobook] only when the content differs (for example an abridged file), you are discussing the narration, or you quote the audio (Publication Manual §8.28). If the audio edition appeared in a different year from the print book, treat it as a republished work (§9.41). Quote with a timestamp, not a page number.

APA Style on audiobooks

It is not necessary to note when you used an audiobook versus a book or an ebook when the content is the same, even if the format is different.

Reference (Cain, 2012), Publication Manual example 22:

Cain, S. (2012). Quiet: The power of introverts in a world that can’t stop talking (K. Mazur, Narr.) [Audiobook]. Random House Audio. http://bit.ly/2G0Bpbl

Parenthetical quotation with a timestamp:

(Cain, 2012, 1:20:39)

Narrative citation:

Cain (2012)

APA Book Citations vs MLA and Chicago

The same Jackson book looks different once the style changes. APA 7 uses sentence case and a DOI, and it drops the city. MLA 9 uses title case, a period after the author, and often an access date for a database file. Chicago Notes-Bibliography uses a footnote, title case, and a city before the publisher. If your syllabus named MLA or Chicago, leave this page and open the matching book guide.

The same authored book, three styles
StyleWhat changes for a book
APA 7Sentence-case italics, no city, DOI when one exists, year in the text.
MLA 9Title-case italics, publisher, year at the end, pages in the text. See cite a book in MLA.
CMOS 18Title-case italics, city and publisher in notes, shortened later notes. See cite a book in Chicago.

Mistakes That Mix APA 6 With APA 7

  • Publisher city. New York, NY or Washington, DC after the publisher is sixth-edition residue. APA 7 names the publisher only.
  • Author as publisher. Do not write Author in the publisher slot. Omit the repeated group name.
  • Title case on the book title. The cover may use title case. The reference uses sentence case: first word, first word after a colon, and proper nouns.
  • Kindle edition as the source. Do not write [Kindle edition] or paste an Amazon URL for an ordinary commercial ebook. Use the publisher. Add a DOI when the book has one.
  • Database name. EBSCOhost, ProQuest Ebook Central, and Google Books are recovery tools, not publishers, unless the work exists only in a limited-circulation database.
  • Period after the DOI. The 2026 reference guide says not to put a period after a DOI or URL.
  • Chapter of an authored book in the reference list. Cite Sapolsky’s whole book, then write (Sapolsky, 2017, Chapter 3, p. 88) in the text. Do not invent a chapter reference.
  • Whole edited book when you used one chapter. Cite Aron, Dillard, Thestrup, or Zeleke, not only the editor’s volume, if a chapter is what you read.
  • ISBN. APA 7 does not ask for it.
  • Page range for the whole book. Pages belong on edited chapters and in in-text quotations, not on a whole-book reference.
  • Edition after volume. If both appear, the 23 March 2026 reference guide puts the edition first: (2nd ed., Vol. 1), not (Vol. 1, 2nd ed.).
  • Psychiatric versus Psychological. The DSM is American Psychiatric Association. The Publication Manual is American Psychological Association.

Where to Find Each Element

  • Title page: authors or editors, title, subtitle, edition
  • Copyright page: the copyright year APA wants, the publisher, and any DOI printed as https://doi.org/...
  • Chapter opening page and table of contents: chapter author, chapter title, and the page range for an edited volume
  • Crossref or the publisher site: a book DOI the PDF forgot to print

If no date appears on the copy you used, write (n.d.) in place of the year and see how to cite a source with no date. If the title page has no personal author, start with the title or the group author and see how to cite a source with no author. For 21 or more authors, list the first 19, an ellipsis, and the final name. For a course textbook assigned as a whole, see also how to cite a textbook.

Format the book in APA 7

Enter the ISBN, DOI, or book details in the APA generator, then check the hanging indent, sentence-case italics, edition parentheses, publisher, and ending against the official Jackson, Sapolsky, Svendsen, Levenson, Aron, and Watson examples on this page.

Open the APA citation generator

Frequently asked questions

Do I include the publisher location in APA 7 book citations?
No. APA Style says not to include the publisher location. Write Penguin Books or American Psychological Association, not New York, NY or Washington, DC.
Do I cite the Kindle file differently from the hardcover?
No, not for an ordinary commercial ebook of the same edition. APA Style uses the same author-year-title-publisher form for print books and ebooks, and it does not name Kindle as a format. Add a DOI when one exists. Do not add Kindle edition or the store URL.
Should I include the ISBN?
No. APA 7 does not require the ISBN. Author, year, title, publisher, and a DOI or resolving URL are enough for a reader to recover the book.
How do I cite a chapter of a book that has no editor?
Cite the whole authored book, then add the chapter in the text, as APA Style does with McEwen and Wills (2014, Chapter 16, p. 363). Do not build a chapter reference for a book one author wrote from start to finish.
How do I cite a chapter in an edited book?
Start with the chapter author and a roman chapter title. After In, name the editors in normal order, add (Eds.), italicize the book title, and put the page range in parentheses, as in Aron et al. (2019), pages 345–359, or Zeleke et al. (2020), pages 11–26. Add a DOI when the chapter has one.
What if the ebook has no DOI?
If you opened it in a library database, stop after the publisher, the same as print. If a public URL still resolves, add that URL, as APA Style does for Svendsen and Løber (2020). Do not name EBSCOhost or ProQuest.
How do I cite a republished or reprinted book?
Use the year of the copy you read in the usual date slot, then add (Original work published year) at the end. In the text, write both years with a slash, earlier first, as in (Watson & Rayner, 1920/2013) or (Kübler-Ross, 1969/2014).
How do I cite the DSM-5-TR in APA 7?
Treat it as a book whose author and publisher are the same group. Write American Psychiatric Association (2022), italicize the title, add (5th ed., text rev.), and end with the DOI when you used the online manual. Do not repeat the association as the publisher, and do not write American Psychological Association.
What year do I use if the copyright page and the release date disagree?
Use the copyright year on the copyright page of the copy you read, even when a shop page or ebook file shows a later release date. That is the APA Style book-page rule. The official Jackson example is dated 2019; match the copyright page on your own copy rather than a store listing.
Do I mark an audiobook as [Audiobook] in APA 7?
Only when the content differs from print, you are discussing the narration, or you quote the audio. Publication Manual example 22 is Cain (2012), narrated by Mazur. If the audio year differs from the print year, treat the file as republished. Quote with a timestamp such as (Cain, 2012, 1:20:39).