Do I include JSTOR, EBSCOhost, or the database name in an APA journal citation?

No, not for an ordinary journal article. APA 7 treats a database copy the same as print when there is no DOI: stop after the page range. Name the database only for limited-circulation or proprietary collections such as UpToDate or Cochrane reviews.

Should I include the issue number if the journal paginates continuously through the volume?

Yes. APA Style now says to always include the issue number for a journal article. That is a seventh-edition change from the older “optional when pages run on” advice.

What if the journal article has more than 20 authors?

In the reference list, write the first 19 names, an ellipsis, and the final author. Do not put an ampersand before that last name. In the text, cite the first author plus et al. and the year.

Do I include the month of publication for a journal article?

No. A journal reference uses the year only, unless the journal is quarterly and prints a season, as in the Lipscomb Winter 2021 example. Months belong to magazines and newspapers.

How do I cite a retracted journal article in APA 7?

Cite the original article, then add a parenthetical retraction note with its year, journal, volume, issue, and pages, as in Joly, Stapel, and Lindenberg (2008). Do not write Retracted in square brackets after the title. If you are citing the withdrawal notice itself, reproduce that notice’s title and author, as in The Editors of the Lancet (2010).

Do I need a retrieval date or the words Retrieved from?

Not for a typical journal article. APA 7 dropped Retrieved from in front of ordinary DOIs and URLs. Add a retrieval date only when the work is designed to change and is not archived, as in the Morey UpToDate example.

What if the article has an article number instead of pages?

Write the word Article and then the publisher’s identifier in place of the page range, as in Jerrentrup et al. (2018), Article e0193972. Do not invent pages from the PDF toolbar.

The article has both a DOI and a URL. Which one do I use?

Use the DOI, written as https://doi.org/..., and omit the URL. The Creating an APA Style Reference List Guide says not to include both.

How do I cite an article from a special issue?

Cite it as an ordinary journal article. Do not add the special-issue title. Use the Campbell, Lustig, and Hasher (2020) pattern only when the whole issue, not one article, is the source.

Should I cite the abstract if that is all my database shows?

Cite the full article when you can get it. If the abstract is truly all you have, APA Style lets you cite it as in Hare and O’Neill (2000): keep the article foundation, add the accession number, and write Abstract from plus the database name in square brackets.

How to Cite a Journal Article in APA (7th Edition) [2026]

How to Cite a Journal Article in APA: Quick Answer

Name every author in the published order, put the year in parentheses, write the article title in sentence case, and italicize the journal title and the volume. Place the issue number in parentheses immediately after the volume, with no space. Add the page range with an en dash, or the word Article plus the article number when the journal uses one. If the article has a DOI, end with that DOI and stop. If there is no DOI and you recovered the piece from a library database or a print issue, stop after the pages. If there is no DOI but a URL that still opens for a reader outside your campus, add that URL. In the text, cite the year only unless you are quoting.

APA 7 §10.1 journal templates

Reference, journal article with a DOI:

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of the article. Title of the Periodical, volume(issue), pages. https://doi.org/xxxxx

Reference, print or database article with no DOI:

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of the article. Title of the Periodical, volume(issue), pages.

Reference, online journal with a resolving URL and no DOI:

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of the article. Title of the Periodical, volume(issue), pages. https://xxxxx

Reference, article number instead of pages:

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of the article. Title of the Periodical, volume(issue), Article e1234567. https://doi.org/xxxxx

Reference, advance online publication:

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of the article. Title of the Periodical. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/xxxxx

Parenthetical citation:

(Author, Year)

Narrative citation:

Author (Year)

Three or more authors, in text:

(Author et al., Year)

Direct quotation, parenthetical:

(Author, Year, p. 12)

The APA Style journal page, aligned with Publication Manual and Concise Guide §10.1, states the DOI, issue-number, database, and URL tests in five sentences this page follows. The March 2026 reference guide and the February 2022 Creating an APA Style Reference List Guide add the punctuation and italics students still break.

APA Style on journal DOIs, issue numbers, databases, and URLs

If a journal article has a DOI, include the DOI in the reference.

Always include the issue number for a journal article.

If the journal article does not have a DOI and is from an academic research database, end the reference after the page range (for an explanation of why, see the database information page). The reference in this case is the same as for a print journal article.

Do not include database information in the reference unless the journal article comes from a database that publishes works of limited circulation or original, proprietary content, such as UpToDate.

If the journal article does not have a DOI but does have a URL that will resolve for readers (e.g., it is from an online journal that is not part of a database), include the URL of the article at the end of the reference.

APA instructional aids on author order, volume italics, DOI punctuation, and DOI-versus-URL

Invert names so that the last name comes first, followed by a comma and the initials. Leave a space between initials. Retain the order of authors’ names.

Italicize the volume number. Do not put a space between the volume number and the parentheses around the issue number.

Does the article have a DOI? Include a DOI for all works that have one. Do not put a period after the DOI.

Do not include both a DOI and a URL in a reference entry. If a work has both a DOI and a URL, include only the DOI.

DOI vs Database vs URL

Students lose marks here because they cite the discovery tool instead of the article. APA 7 asks what a later reader can recover. JSTOR, EBSCOhost, ProQuest, and Google Scholar are not the source. The journal is the source. Write the DOI when one exists, even if you first opened a PDF behind a campus proxy. A DOI already locates the work, so do not also paste the database URL. The DOI finder and the DOI formatting guide walk through the lookup when the header is blank.

Which ending APA 7 §10.1 actually wants
What you opened	DOI?	End the reference with
Any copy of an article that has a DOI	Yes	`https://doi.org/...` and nothing after it
Print issue or library database, no DOI	No	The page range. No database name, no proxy URL
Open online journal whose URL still works, no DOI	No	The article URL that a reader outside your campus can open
UpToDate or another limited-circulation database	Often no	The italic database name plus a retrieval date when the entry updates

The 3 March 2026 Common Reference Examples Guide uses Niepel, Hausen, Weber, and Möller (2025) as its current §10.1 journal sample. Grady et al. remains the long-standing five-author DOI case on the Style Center page. Pope and Wall (2025) keeps the journal’s bilingual title as printed. Rybaczewska and Sparks keeps the British spelling Ageing.

Official APA Style journal articles with a DOI

Reference (Niepel et al., 2025), Common Reference Examples Guide:

Niepel, C., Hausen, J. E., Weber, A. M., & Möller, J. (2025). Understanding mean-level and intraindividual variability in state academic self-concept: The role of students’ trait expectancies and values. Journal of Educational Psychology, 117(5), 772–788. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000946

Parenthetical citation:

(Niepel et al., 2025)

Narrative citation:

Niepel et al. (2025)

Reference (Grady et al., 2019):

Grady, J. S., Her, M., Moreno, G., Perez, C., & Yelinek, J. (2019). Emotions in storybooks: A comparison of storybooks that represent ethnic and racial groups in the United States. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 8(3), 207–217. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000185

Parenthetical citation:

(Grady et al., 2019)

Narrative citation:

Grady et al. (2019)

Reference (Pope & Wall, 2025):

Pope, J. P., & Wall, H. (2025). Is the goal intrinsic or extrinsic? Examining self-determination theory researchers’ and the general publics’ perceptions of exercise goals. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science/Revue canadienne des sciences du comportement, 57(3), 239–248. https://doi.org/10.1037/cbs0000411

Parenthetical citation:

(Pope & Wall, 2025)

Narrative citation:

Pope and Wall (2025)

Reference (Rybaczewska & Sparks, 2022):

Rybaczewska, M., & Sparks, L. (2022). Ageing consumers and e-commerce activities. Ageing and Society, 42(8), 1879–1898. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0144686X20001932

Parenthetical citation:

(Rybaczewska & Sparks, 2022)

Narrative citation:

Rybaczewska and Sparks (2022)

Publication Manual §10.1 still uses Ahmann et al. (2018) for an online journal with a resolving URL and no DOI. Paste a URL only when a reader who is not on your campus can open it.

Official APA Style journal article with a resolving URL and no DOI

Reference (Ahmann et al., 2018):

Ahmann, E., Tuttle, L. J., Saviet, M., & Wright, S. D. (2018). A descriptive review of ADHD coaching research: Implications for college students. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 31(1), 17–39. https://www.ahead.org/professional-resources/publications/jped/archived-jped/jped-volume-31

Parenthetical citation:

(Ahmann et al., 2018)

Narrative citation:

Ahmann et al. (2018)

Article Number Instead of Pages

Many open-access journals, including PLoS ONE, number each article instead of running pages through an issue. Do not invent a page range from your PDF viewer. APA 7 writes the word Article, then the publisher’s identifier.

APA Style on article numbers

If the journal article has an article number instead of a page range, include the word “Article” and then the article number instead of the page range.

Reference (Jerrentrup et al., 2018):

Jerrentrup, A., Mueller, T., Glowalla, U., Herder, M., Henrichs, N., Neubauer, A., & Schaefer, J. R. (2018). Teaching medicine with the help of “Dr. House.” PLoS ONE, 13(3), Article e0193972. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0193972

Parenthetical citation:

(Jerrentrup et al., 2018)

Narrative citation:

Jerrentrup et al. (2018)

Missing Volume, Issue, or Pages

APA 7 does not want you to invent a volume, issue, or page you cannot see. Omit the missing piece. If the journal is quarterly and prints a season, put that season in the date, as in the Lipscomb example. If volume, issue, and pages have not been assigned yet, that is an advance online publication, not a missing-data problem. The Style Center missing-volume case is Stegmeir (2016).

APA Style on missing periodical information

If the journal does not use volume, issue, and/or article or page numbers, omit the missing element(s) from the reference.

If the journal is published quarterly and the month or season (Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer) is noted, include that with the date element; see the Lipscomb example.

If the volume, issue, and/or article or page numbers have simply not yet been assigned, use the format for an advance online publication (see Example 7 in the Publication Manual) or an in-press article (see Example 8 in the Publication Manual).

Missing volume (Stegmeir, 2016):

Stegmeir, M. (2016). Climate change: New discipline practices promote college access. The Journal of College Admission, (231), 44–47. https://www.nxtbook.com/ygsreprints/NACAC/nacac_jca_spring2016/#/46

Missing volume with a season (Lipscomb, 2021):

Lipscomb, A. Y. (2021, Winter). Addressing trauma in the college essay writing process. The Journal of College Admission, (249), 30–33. https://www.catholiccollegesonline.org/pdf/national_ccaa_in_the_news_-_nacac_journal_of_college_admission_winter_2021.pdf

Missing issue (Sanchiz et al., 2017):

Sanchiz, M., Chevalier, A., & Amadieu, F. (2017). How do older and young adults start searching for information? Impact of age, domain knowledge and problem complexity on the different steps of information searching. Computers in Human Behavior, 72, 67–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.02.038

Missing pages (Butler, 2017):

Butler, J. (2017). Where access meets multimodality: The case of ASL music videos. Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy, 21(1). http://technorhetoric.net/21.1/topoi/butler/index.html

Parenthetical citations:

(Butler, 2017; Lipscomb, 2021; Sanchiz et al., 2017; Stegmeir, 2016)

Authors, Year, and In-Text Citations

List authors in the order printed on the article, inverted, with initials. Use an ampersand before the final name when there are two to twenty authors. For 21 or more, list the first 19, insert an ellipsis, and add the last author — no ampersand. That 20-author cap is an APA 7 change from the sixth-edition seven-author limit. In the text, two authors stay connected every time (& in parentheses, and in a narrative citation). Three or more authors become et al. from the first citation. Cite the year only in a paraphrase. When you quote, add a page or other locator. Months belong to magazines and newspapers, not to a scholarly journal volume. For the later-mention short form, see citing the same source more than once.

How many names APA 7 prints
Authors on the article	Reference list	In-text citation
One	The one name	(Author, Year)
Two	Both names with &	(Author & Author, Year)
Three to 20	Every name, & before the last	(First author et al., Year)
21 or more	First 19, ellipsis, last name	(First author et al., Year)

The 21-author pattern is a template, not a fabricated paper. Copy the names from the article you are citing. The multiple-authors guide walks through the same count rule across APA, MLA, and Chicago.

21-or-more author template, not an invented article

Reference template:

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., Author, C. C., Author, D. D., Author, E. E., Author, F. F., Author, G. G., Author, H. H., Author, I. I., Author, J. J., Author, K. K., Author, L. L., Author, M. M., Author, N. N., Author, O. O., Author, P. P., Author, Q. Q., Author, R. R., Author, S. S., ... Author, Z. Z. (Year). Title of the article. Title of the Periodical, volume(issue), pages. https://doi.org/xxxxx

Retracted Articles and Retraction Notices

A retracted article is still citable when you are discussing what it claimed. APA 7 does not put [Retracted] after the title. Write the original reference, then add the retraction in parentheses: year, journal, volume, issue, and pages. When you are citing the notice that withdrew the article, reproduce the notice title as printed and credit whoever signed it — often the editors. The Style Center pairs Joly, Stapel, and Lindenberg (2008) with two notices: de la Fuente et al. (2010) and The Editors of the Lancet (2010).

APA Style on retracted articles and retraction notices

Use this format to cite the retracted article itself, for example, to discuss the contents of the retracted article.

First provide publication details of the original article. Then provide information about the retraction in parentheses, including its year, journal, volume, issue, and page number(s).

Use this format to cite a retraction notice rather than a retracted article, for example, to provide information on why an article was retracted.

Reproduce the title of the retraction notice as shown on the work. Note that the title may include the words “retraction,” “retraction notice,” or “retraction note” as well as the title of the original article.

Retracted article (Joly et al., 2008):

Joly, J. F., Stapel, D. A., & Lindenberg, S. M. (2008). Silence and table manners: When environments activate norms. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34(8), 1047–1056. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167208318401 (Retraction published 2012, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38[10], 1378)

Parenthetical citation:

(Joly et al., 2008)

Narrative citation:

Joly et al. (2008)

Retraction notice (de la Fuente et al., 2010):

de la Fuente, R., Bernad, A., Garcia-Castro, J., Martin, M. C., & Cigudosa, J. C. (2010). Retraction: Spontaneous human adult stem cell transformation. Cancer Research, 70(16), 6682. https://doi.org/10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-10-2451

Retraction notice (The Editors of the Lancet, 2010):

The Editors of the Lancet. (2010). Retraction—Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children. The Lancet, 375(9713), 445. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60175-4

Special Issues, Abstracts, Monographs, and Supplemental Material

These four Style Center cases are easy to flatten into a normal journal line, and that is the mistake. Cite the whole special issue only when the issue itself is your source: editors go in the author slot, the issue title takes [Special issue], and you omit a page range. Cite an article inside that issue as an ordinary journal article — do not name the special issue. Cite an abstract from an indexing database only when the abstract is all you have. A monograph bound with an issue, or online-only supplemental material, needs the matching bracketed description.

APA Style on special issues, abstracts, monographs, and supplements

If you are citing an article within a special section or issue (rather than the entire issue or section), use the format for a journal article. You do not need to include the title of the special section or issue.

Although it is preferable to cite the whole article, the abstract can be cited if that is your only available source.

Include the description “[Supplemental material]” in square brackets after the article title.

Whole special issue (Campbell et al., 2020):

Campbell, K., Lustig, C., & Hasher, L. (Eds.). (2020). Aging and inhibition: The view ahead [Special issue]. Psychology and Aging, 35(5).

Parenthetical citation:

(Campbell et al., 2020)

Abstract only (Hare & O’Neill, 2000):

Hare, L. R., & O'Neill, K. (2000). Effectiveness and efficiency in small academic peer groups: A case study (Accession No. 200010185) [Abstract from Sociological Abstracts]. Small Group Research, 31(1), 24–53. https://doi.org/10.1177/104649640003100102

Monograph in a journal issue (Ganster et al., 1991):

Ganster, D. C., Schaubroeck, J., Sime, W. E., & Mayes, B. T. (1991). The nomological validity of the Type A personality among employed adults [Monograph]. Journal of Applied Psychology, 76(1), 143–168. http://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.76.1.143

Supplemental material (Freeberg, 2019):

Freeberg, T. M. (2019). From simple rules of individual proximity, complex and coordinated collective movement [Supplemental material]. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 133(2), 141–142. https://doi.org/10.1037/com0000181

Parenthetical citations:

(Freeberg, 2019; Ganster et al., 1991; Hare & O’Neill, 2000)

Advance Online Publication and In-Press Articles

Publication Manual §10.1 Example 7 covers an article that is peer-reviewed and posted before volume, issue, and pages exist. Italicize the journal, write Advance online publication. after the title, and add the DOI. Example 8 uses (in press) in place of the year when the article has been accepted but not yet published. Cite the version you actually read. When the issue later assigns pages, update the reference. Huestegge, Raettig, and Huestegge (2019) is the official advance-online sample university libraries reprint from §10.1. A preprint in a repository is not this format — that is §10.8, as in the Common Reference Examples Latimier PsyArXiv line.

Official advance-online sample and an in-press template

Advance online publication (Huestegge et al., 2019):

Huestegge, S. M., Raettig, T., & Huestegge, L. (2019). Are face-incongruent voices harder to process? Effects of face–voice gender incongruency on basic cognitive information processing. Experimental Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1027/1618-3169/a000440

Parenthetical citation:

(Huestegge et al., 2019)

Narrative citation:

Huestegge et al. (2019)

In-press article, template, not an invented article:

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (in press). Title of the article. Title of the Periodical.

UpToDate, Cochrane, and Other Limited-Circulation Databases

Ordinary journal PDFs from JSTOR or PubMed do not name the database. Cochrane reviews and UpToDate topics do, because those works live only there (§9.30). Format them like periodical articles. Italicize the database name in the reference. Do not italicize it in the sentence. For UpToDate, use the year of last update and a retrieval date, because the entry is designed to change and older versions are not archived. Publication Manual §10.1 Example 14 is Morey (2019).

APA Publication Manual on UpToDate

Articles in the UpToDate database are available only in that database (see Section 9.30) and have information that changes over time. In the reference list, format UpToDate articles like periodical articles. Do not italicize the database name if it appears in text.

Use the year of last update in the date element (see Section 9.15).

Include a retrieval date because the content is designed to change over time and versions of the page are not archived (See Section 9.16)

UpToDate (Morey, 2019), Publication Manual §10.1 Example 14:

Morey, M. C. (2019). Physical activity and exercise in older adults. UpToDate. Retrieved July 22, 2019, from https://www.uptodate.com/contents/physical-activity-and-exercise-in-older-adults

Parenthetical citation:

(Morey, 2019)

Narrative citation:

Morey (2019)

Cochrane review, template, not an invented review:

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of the review. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CDxxxxxx.pubN

Journal vs Magazine vs Newspaper

A journal volume is year-only in the date slot. A magazine or newspaper keeps the cover date. If the masthead is Psychological Review, Journal of Educational Psychology, or PLoS ONE, stay on this page. If the cover is The Atlantic, Newsweek, or Vanity Fair, use the APA magazine guide — that page’s Thomson and Nicholl strings come from the same March 2026 handout that supplies Niepel here. If the masthead is a daily paper, use the APA newspaper guide. A news site with no newspaper edition, such as CNN or Vox, is a webpage, not a journal.

Use the journal format when

The source is a scholarly or professional periodical with a volume
The date in the reference is the year only
You expect a DOI, an issue number, and pages or an article number
The assignment asked for APA and the object is a research article

Leave this page when

The cover is a magazine — use the magazine guide
The masthead is a newspaper — use the newspaper guide
You cited a proceedings talk, not a journal reprint — use the conference guide
You only have a website with no journal volume — use the website guide

Common Mistakes Students Still Make

Treating the issue number as optional. APA 6 often dropped the issue when pagination ran through the volume. APA 7 does not. Always include the issue when the journal prints one.
Writing `doi:` or `DOI:` instead of `https://doi.org/....` The current Crossref display form is a URL. Do not put a period after it.
Pasting both a DOI and a publisher URL. The Creating a Reference List guide says to keep the DOI only.
Pasting JSTOR, EBSCOhost, or a campus proxy into the reference. Those strings die when you leave campus. They are not the source. See the library-databases guide.
Adding “Retrieved from” or an access date to an ordinary journal article. Retrieval dates belong to unarchived, changing pages such as UpToDate, not to a DOI.
Title-casing the article. Sentence case for the article; title case and italics for the journal.
Italicizing the comma after the journal title, or the issue number. Only the journal name and the volume are italic. The issue stays roman inside the parentheses.
Writing `p.` or `pp.` before journal pages. Those abbreviations are for book chapters and some newspaper formats, not for journal articles.
Citing three authors in full on first mention. APA 7 uses et al. from the first in-text citation when there are three or more authors.
Putting [Retracted] after the title. Use the parenthetical retraction note shown in the Joly example.
Citing a special-issue article as if you were citing the whole issue. The article is ordinary §10.1. The Campbell pattern is only for the issue as a source.
Treating a preprint as a journal article. A PsyArXiv or medRxiv posting is §10.8 until a journal assigns volume data.

Where to Find the Pieces You Need

The first PDF page usually carries the journal name, year, volume, issue, and DOI near the header or copyright line. The database record repeats those fields and sometimes hides the DOI under “Identifiers.” If the PDF and the record disagree, prefer the article itself, then Crossref. The atomic how-to-cite page shows one formatted journal article; this guide is the workflow around it.

Article first page: journal title, year, volume, issue, pages or article number, DOI
Database record: the same fields, plus a DOI that the PDF forgot to print
Crossref metadata: the DOI to write as https://doi.org/...
Journal homepage: a resolving URL only when there is no DOI
Retraction notice: the signed title, not a homemade [Retracted] tag

Format the journal article in APA 7

Paste a DOI, PMID, or the article details into the APA generator when you want a formatted reference and an in-text citation you can check against §10.1. Then compare the hanging indent, italics, and DOI against the official examples on this page.

Open the APA citation generator

Frequently asked questions

Do I include JSTOR, EBSCOhost, or the database name in an APA journal citation?: No, not for an ordinary journal article. APA 7 treats a database copy the same as print when there is no DOI: stop after the page range. Name the database only for limited-circulation or proprietary collections such as UpToDate or Cochrane reviews.
Should I include the issue number if the journal paginates continuously through the volume?: Yes. APA Style now says to always include the issue number for a journal article. That is a seventh-edition change from the older “optional when pages run on” advice.
What if the journal article has more than 20 authors?: In the reference list, write the first 19 names, an ellipsis, and the final author. Do not put an ampersand before that last name. In the text, cite the first author plus et al. and the year.
Do I include the month of publication for a journal article?: No. A journal reference uses the year only, unless the journal is quarterly and prints a season, as in the Lipscomb Winter 2021 example. Months belong to magazines and newspapers.
How do I cite a retracted journal article in APA 7?: Cite the original article, then add a parenthetical retraction note with its year, journal, volume, issue, and pages, as in Joly, Stapel, and Lindenberg (2008). Do not write Retracted in square brackets after the title. If you are citing the withdrawal notice itself, reproduce that notice’s title and author, as in The Editors of the Lancet (2010).
Do I need a retrieval date or the words Retrieved from?: Not for a typical journal article. APA 7 dropped Retrieved from in front of ordinary DOIs and URLs. Add a retrieval date only when the work is designed to change and is not archived, as in the Morey UpToDate example.
What if the article has an article number instead of pages?: Write the word Article and then the publisher’s identifier in place of the page range, as in Jerrentrup et al. (2018), Article e0193972. Do not invent pages from the PDF toolbar.
The article has both a DOI and a URL. Which one do I use?: Use the DOI, written as https://doi.org/..., and omit the URL. The Creating an APA Style Reference List Guide says not to include both.
How do I cite an article from a special issue?: Cite it as an ordinary journal article. Do not add the special-issue title. Use the Campbell, Lustig, and Hasher (2020) pattern only when the whole issue, not one article, is the source.
Should I cite the abstract if that is all my database shows?: Cite the full article when you can get it. If the abstract is truly all you have, APA Style lets you cite it as in Hare and O’Neill (2000): keep the article foundation, add the accession number, and write Abstract from plus the database name in square brackets.

How to Cite a Journal Article in APA: Quick Answer

DOI vs Database vs URL

Article Number Instead of Pages

Missing Volume, Issue, or Pages

Authors, Year, and In-Text Citations

Retracted Articles and Retraction Notices

Special Issues, Abstracts, Monographs, and Supplemental Material

Advance Online Publication and In-Press Articles

UpToDate, Cochrane, and Other Limited-Circulation Databases

Journal vs Magazine vs Newspaper

Common Mistakes Students Still Make

Where to Find the Pieces You Need

Format the journal article in APA 7

Frequently asked questions

Related guides