How to Cite a Journal Article in Chicago Style
Chicago cites a journal article by author, article title, italicized journal, volume, issue, year, and pages — plus a DOI URL when one exists. This page follows the Notes-Bibliography and Author-Date Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guides and The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th edition (2024), §§14.67–14.86. It is the scholarly-journal page. Weekly magazines and daily newspapers use different locating facts.
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How to Cite a Journal Article in Chicago: Quick Answer
Name the author, put the article title in quotation marks and headline-style capitalization, italicize the journal, and retrieve the piece by volume and issue. In a note, cite the page you actually quoted. In the bibliography, give the inclusive page range for the whole article. If you read the article online, add a URL — preferably a DOI written as https://doi.org/... (CMOS 13.7) — or, when that URL is a poor substitute, the name of the library database. Author-Date uses the same facts but moves the year next to the name and writes the issue in parentheses after the volume, without the word no.
| System | Form | Pattern |
|---|---|---|
| Notes-Bibliography | First note | Given Family, “Title of Article,” Journal Title Volume, no. Issue (Year): Page, DOI or Database. |
| Notes-Bibliography | Shortened note | Family, “Shortened Title,” Page. |
| Notes-Bibliography | Bibliography | Family, Given. “Title of Article.” Journal Title Volume, no. Issue (Year): Page range. DOI or Database. |
| Author-Date | In text | (Family Year, Page) |
| Author-Date | Reference list | Family, Given. Year. “Title of Article.” Journal Title Volume (Issue): Page range. DOI or Database. |
Author-date already places the year after the name, so the date element after the journal is usually just the issue number in parentheses. Notes-Bibliography keeps the year in parentheses after no. Issue.
CMOS 18 journal templates
Notes-Bibliography first note:
First Name Last Name, “Title of Article,” Journal Title Volume, no. Issue (Year): Page, https://doi.org/xxxxx.
Notes-Bibliography bibliography:
Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Journal Title Volume, no. Issue (Year): Page range. https://doi.org/xxxxx.
Author-Date in text:
(Last Name Year, Page)
Author-Date reference:
Last Name, First Name. Year. “Title of Article.” Journal Title Volume (Issue): Page range. https://doi.org/xxxxx.
Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide, Notes and Bibliography
Journal articles are usually cited by volume and issue number. In a note, cite specific page numbers. In the bibliography, include the page range for the whole article. For articles consulted online, include a URL (preferably one based on a DOI; see CMOS 13.7); alternatively, list the name of the database.
Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide, Notes and Bibliography, “Journal article.” CMOS points to 14.67–14.86 for journals, 13.7 for DOI URLs, and 14.71 for article IDs.
Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide, Author-Date
Journal articles are usually cited by volume and issue number. In the reference list, include the page range for the whole article. In the text, cite specific page numbers. For articles consulted online, include a URL (preferably one based on a DOI; see CMOS 13.7) in the reference list entry; alternatively, list the name of the database.
Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide, Author-Date, “Journal article.”
CMOS 18 §§14.70 and 14.72, as reprinted by Douglas College
A month or season need not be included in addition to the year for journals that include both a volume and an issue number.
If it is available, a URL based on a DOI (appended to https://doi.org/) is preferable to the URL that appears in your browser's address bar when viewing the article.
If an article is from a library database, it may be preferable to list the name of the database rather than the URL.
These three sentences are CMOS 18 §§14.70 and 14.72 as the Douglas College Chicago 18th Articles guide reprints them. The handbook HTML itself is paywalled. The Quick Guide Kwon, Lindquist, and Dittmar samples follow the first sentence: year only, no month.
The one-page how-to-cite companion shows a single formatted journal article. This guide is the workflow around it: which Chicago system, which locator, and how CMOS 18 treats long author lists and article IDs.
Journal, Magazine, or Newspaper?
Students lose points when they force a peer-reviewed article into the magazine date-only pattern or treat Critical Inquiry like a website. A scholarly journal is built to be retrieved by volume, issue, page range, and often a DOI. A magazine is built to be retrieved by the week or month on the cover. A newspaper is a dated dispatch that may exist in several editions the same day. This page is only the journal pattern.
| You are citing | Typical locating facts | Use this guide |
|---|---|---|
| Peer-reviewed journal (American Journal of Sociology, Critical Inquiry, PLOS ONE) | Volume, issue, page range or article ID, DOI | This page (CMOS 14.67–14.86) |
| Weekly or monthly magazine (New Yorker, Atlantic, Harper's Magazine) | Cover date; optional note page; URL or database | Magazine articles in Chicago (14.87–14.88) |
| Daily newspaper or news site | Full date; optional edition or section; URL or database | Newspaper articles in Chicago (14.89–14.98) |
| Ordinary website that is not a dated periodical article | Site owner, page title, revision or access date | Websites in Chicago (14.104) |
A science story in Scientific American is still a magazine article even when it reports a journal study. Cite the version you read. If you later quote the underlying journal article, that second source uses this page. For help telling scholarly periodicals from popular ones, see Scholarly vs Popular Sources.
Current Edition: Chicago 18th (2024)
Cite journals from The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th edition, published by the University of Chicago Press in September 2024. Older handouts still describe the 17th edition (2017), where journal articles lived near §§14.168–14.187 and author lists in a bibliography ran to ten names. CMOS 18 moved journals to §§14.67–14.86 and tightened the author count. Turabian, the student handbook built on Chicago, uses the same journal punctuation in both systems.
Three 18th-edition habits show up constantly. First, a DOI is written as a URL that begins https://doi.org/, not as a bare doi: string and not as the proxy address in your browser bar (CMOS 13.7; see How to Use DOIs). Second, a month or season is optional when the journal already has both a volume and an issue; the official Quick Guide examples for Kwon, Lindquist, and Dittmar give the year only. Third, CMOS 18 no longer asks you to list every author on a long science paper: notes and author-date citations use first author plus et al. as soon as there are three authors.
| Question | CMOS 18 paragraph | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Signed journal article | 14.67–14.86 | Author, title, italicized journal, volume, issue, year, pages; DOI or database if online |
| DOI versus URL versus database | 13.7 and 14.72 | Prefer https://doi.org/...; if there is no DOI, use a stable URL or the database name |
| Article ID instead of pages | 14.71 | Bibliography uses the article ID (for example e0318239). The current Quick Guide Snyder note cites PDF pages and then repeats that ID before the DOI. |
| Many authors | 13.78 and the Quick Guide | Two authors: list both. Three or more: first author plus et al. in a note. Bibliography lists up to six; more than six lists the first three plus et al. |
| Issue with no volume | 14.70 | Write Journal Title, no. Issue (Month Year). The Beattie Past and Present handbook sample is the standard case. |
Which Chicago System to Use
Chicago is one manual with two documentation systems. History, literature, art history, and most other humanities programs expect Notes-Bibliography: a numbered footnote or endnote on first mention, a shortened note after that, and a bibliography. Sociology, some political science, and many science journals that still accept Chicago expect Author-Date: a parenthetical citation in the sentence and a reference list. If your department has not named a system, match the syllabus or the journal you are writing for — do not mix footnotes with author-date citations in one paper. The Chicago notes-bibliography and Chicago author-date style pages show the surrounding paper format.
| Field | Usual system | Why it fits journal articles |
|---|---|---|
| History, literature, art history | Notes-Bibliography | Notes can carry the page you quoted, a short comment, and a DOI without breaking the sentence. |
| Religious studies, philosophy, musicology | Notes-Bibliography | Humanities readers expect a bibliography that can sit beside archival and book sources. |
| Sociology, some social sciences | Author-Date | The year sits next to the name, which matters when you are comparing recent articles. |
| Student papers using Turabian | The system your instructor names | Turabian 9th still follows CMOS 17 author-count habits; journal punctuation (volume, no., DOI URL) is the same pattern CMOS 18 kept. Ask which edition your instructor wants. |
Notes-Bibliography Format
A first note gives the author in normal order, the article title in quotation marks, the italic journal, then volume, no. plus issue, the year in parentheses, the cited page, and the DOI or database. Later notes drop to the author's last name, a shortened title, and the page. CMOS 18 prefers that shortened form over ibid.
Worked example: one author with a DOI
Hyeyoung Kwon's 2022 American Journal of Sociology article is a Chicago Quick Guide example. The note cites the pages actually quoted; the bibliography gives the full article span 1818–59 and the DOI URL.
Official CMOS Quick Guide example
First note:
1. Hyeyoung Kwon, “Inclusion Work: Children of Immigrants Claiming Membership in Everyday Life,” American Journal of Sociology 127, no. 6 (2022): 1842–43, https://doi.org/10.1086/720277.
Shortened note:
2. Kwon, “Inclusion Work,” 1851.
Bibliography:
Kwon, Hyeyoung. “Inclusion Work: Children of Immigrants Claiming Membership in Everyday Life.” American Journal of Sociology 127, no. 6 (2022): 1818–59. https://doi.org/10.1086/720277.
Worked example: two authors with a DOI
For two authors, CMOS lists both names in the note and in the bibliography. Invert only the first name in the bibliography. The Quick Guide uses Emily L. Dittmar and Douglas W. Schemske in American Naturalist.
Official CMOS Quick Guide example
First note:
3. Emily L. Dittmar and Douglas W. Schemske, “Temporal Variation in Selection Influences Microgeographic Local Adaptation,” American Naturalist 202, no. 4 (2023): 480, https://doi.org/10.1086/725865.
Shortened note:
4. Dittmar and Schemske, “Temporal Variation,” 480.
Bibliography:
Dittmar, Emily L., and Douglas W. Schemske. “Temporal Variation in Selection Influences Microgeographic Local Adaptation.” American Naturalist 202, no. 4 (2023): 471–85. https://doi.org/10.1086/725865.
Worked example: database instead of a DOI
When an older article has no DOI and the library URL is a session string, CMOS prefers the database name. The Quick Guide's B. T. Hebert example ends with EBSCOhost, not a proxy link. Do not add the database name if you already have a DOI.
Official CMOS Quick Guide example
First note:
5. B. T. Hebert, “The Island of Bolsö: A Study of Norwegian Life,” Sociological Review 17, no. 4 (1925): 310, EBSCOhost.
Shortened note:
6. Hebert, “Island of Bolsö,” 311.
Bibliography:
Hebert, B. T. “The Island of Bolsö: A Study of Norwegian Life.” Sociological Review 17, no. 4 (1925): 307–13. EBSCOhost.
Worked example: seven authors and an article ID
CMOS 18 changed the long-author rule. In a note, list only the first author plus et al. as soon as there are three authors — not four, which was the older classroom shortcut. In the bibliography, list up to six authors; for more than six, list the first three plus et al. The Quick Guide's Snyder example credits seven authors. Because PLOS ONE numbers articles rather than paging the issue, the bibliography uses the article ID (CMOS 14.71). The current Notes-Bibliography Quick Guide also repeats that ID in the first note, after the PDF pages you quoted.
Official CMOS wording on many authors
Journal articles often list many authors, especially in the sciences. For works by two authors, list both in the bibliography and in a note (as in the Dittmar and Schemske example above). For three or more authors, list up to six in the bibliography; for more than six authors, list the first three, followed by “et al.” (“and others”). In a note, list only the first, followed by “et al.” Note that the bibliography entry for the Snyder example below (which credits seven authors) includes an article ID in place of a page range; in a note, specific page numbers may be cited as shown (see CMOS 14.71 for details).
Official CMOS Quick Guide Snyder example (current Notes-Bibliography form)
First note:
7. Carl D. Snyder et al., “Extant Life Detection Using Label-Free Video Microscopy in Analog Aquatic Environments,” PLOS ONE 20, no. 3 (2025): 9–10, e0318239, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0318239.
Shortened note:
8. Snyder et al., “Extant Life Detection,” 12.
Bibliography:
Snyder, Carl D., Manuel Bedrossian, Casey Barr, et al. “Extant Life Detection Using Label-Free Video Microscopy in Analog Aquatic Environments.” PLOS ONE 20, no. 3 (2025): e0318239. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0318239.
Copy that first-note order when you quote a PDF that starts at page 1: cited pages, then the article ID, then the DOI. The shortened note on the live Quick Guide cites page 12, not the 9–10 span from the first note. The bibliography still replaces the page range with e0318239. The PLOS ONE record lists seven authors and the 12 March 2025 publication date.
Worked example: humanities article with a DOI
Benjamin Lindquist's 2023 Critical Inquiry essay is the Quick Guide's humanities journal example. The punctuation is the same as Kwon: volume, no. issue, year, pages, DOI.
Official CMOS Quick Guide example
First note:
9. Benjamin Lindquist, “The Art of Text-to-Speech,” Critical Inquiry 50, no. 2 (2023): 230, https://doi.org/10.1086/727651.
Shortened note:
10. Lindquist, “Text-to-Speech,” 231–32.
Bibliography:
Lindquist, Benjamin. “The Art of Text-to-Speech.” Critical Inquiry 50, no. 2 (2023): 225–51. https://doi.org/10.1086/727651.
Author-Date Format
Author-Date uses the same source facts. The year moves next to the author. The issue number sits in parentheses immediately after the volume, with a space before the opening parenthesis and no no. The in-text citation is (Family Year, page). The official Author-Date Quick Guide still cites Snyder as (Snyder et al. 2025, 9–10); it does not repeat the article ID in the parenthetical.
Official CMOS Quick Guide Author-Date examples
In-text:
(Kwon 2022, 1842–43)
Reference list:
Kwon, Hyeyoung. 2022. “Inclusion Work: Children of Immigrants Claiming Membership in Everyday Life.” American Journal of Sociology 127 (6): 1818–59. https://doi.org/10.1086/720277.
In-text:
(Dittmar and Schemske 2023, 480)
Reference list:
Dittmar, Emily L., and Douglas W. Schemske. 2023. “Temporal Variation in Selection Influences Microgeographic Local Adaptation.” American Naturalist 202 (4): 471–85. https://doi.org/10.1086/725865.
In-text:
(Hebert 1925, 310)
Reference list:
Hebert, B. T. 1925. “The Island of Bolsö: A Study of Norwegian Life.” Sociological Review 17 (4): 307–13. EBSCOhost.
In-text:
(Lindquist 2023, 230)
Reference list:
Lindquist, Benjamin. 2023. “The Art of Text-to-Speech.” Critical Inquiry 50 (2): 225–51. https://doi.org/10.1086/727651.
In-text:
(Snyder et al. 2025, 9–10)
Reference list:
Snyder, Carl D., Manuel Bedrossian, Casey Barr, et al. 2025. “Extant Life Detection Using Label-Free Video Microscopy in Analog Aquatic Environments.” PLOS ONE 20 (3): e0318239. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0318239.
Official CMOS wording on Author-Date authors
Journal articles often list many authors, especially in the sciences. For works by two authors, list both in the reference list and the text (as in the Dittmar and Schemske example above). For three or more authors, list up to six in the reference list; for more than six authors, list the first three, followed by “et al.” (“and others”). In the text, list only the first, followed by “et al.” Note that the Snyder example below (which credits seven authors) includes an article ID in place of a page range; see CMOS 14.71 for details.
Key Differences: Notes vs Author-Date
| Feature | Notes-Bibliography | Author-Date |
|---|---|---|
| Citation in the paper | Numbered footnote or endnote | Parenthetical (Family Year, page) |
| End list | Bibliography | Reference list |
| Year placement | In parentheses after volume and issue | Immediately after the author name |
| Issue punctuation | Volume, no. Issue (Year) | Volume (Issue) |
| First note or first mention | Full citation | Short parenthetical; full data lives in the reference list |
| Later mentions | Shortened note (Family, “Title,” page) | Same parenthetical, with a new page if needed |
| Three or more authors | First author plus et al. in the note | First author plus et al. in the text |
| Article ID in the citation | Current Quick Guide Snyder note: pages, then ID, then DOI | ID in the reference list only; parenthetical stays (Family Year, page) |
Failure Modes Students Actually Hit
DOI, URL, or database name
If the article has a DOI, write it as https://doi.org/ plus the DOI suffix and stop. Do not also list JSTOR, Project MUSE, or the name of your campus proxy. If there is no DOI, prefer a permalink the publisher printed. If the only link you have is a search-session URL, name the database instead, as the Hebert example does with EBSCOhost. How to Find a DOI walks through Crossref lookup when the PDF forgot to print one.
Issue with no volume
Some journals number issues only. CMOS 14.70 then wants the issue after a comma and no., plus a month or season with the year. J. M. Beattie's Past and Present article is the handbook's standard case — issue 62, February 1974, no volume. It is not in the current Quick Guide journal set (that set is Kwon, Hebert, Lindquist, Dittmar, and Snyder). University CMOS reprints still use Beattie for the issue-only pattern: Murdoch and Sacramento State give the Notes-Bibliography bibliography with the year only; the Author-Date handbook form keeps February because the year already follows the name.
CMOS 14.70 issue-only handbook example (Beattie)
Author-Date reference:
Beattie, J. M. 1974. “The Pattern of Crime in England, 1660–1800.” Past and Present, no. 62 (February): 47–95.
Author-Date in-text:
(Beattie 1974, 47)
Notes-Bibliography note:
11. J. M. Beattie, “The Pattern of Crime in England, 1660–1800,” Past and Present, no. 62 (February 1974): 47.
Notes-Bibliography bibliography:
Beattie, J. M. “The Pattern of Crime in England, 1660–1800.” Past and Present, no. 62 (1974): 47–95.
If you read Beattie on JSTOR, you may add the stable URL https://www.jstor.org/stable/650463 or the database name JSTOR. Do not invent a DOI for a 1974 article that does not have one.
Volume with no issue
If the journal paginates by volume only, omit no. and the issue parentheses. A month or season may still help when the volume is the only number. Do not invent an issue. The pattern is a labelled template, not a made-up article:
Template only — substitute a real article you have in hand
Notes-Bibliography bibliography:
Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Journal Title Volume (Year): Page range. https://doi.org/xxxxx.
Author-Date reference:
Last Name, First Name. Year. “Title of Article.” Journal Title Volume: Page range. https://doi.org/xxxxx.
Ahead of print, forthcoming, or in press
If the version of record is not yet assigned a volume and issue, say so instead of inventing numbers. CMOS treats an online-first article as published ahead of print when the journal has posted it with a DOI but not yet placed it in an issue. Use forthcoming when the piece has been accepted but has no public version. Update the citation once volume, issue, and pages exist. These two lines are templates:
Templates only — do not copy them as if they were real articles
Ahead of print, Author-Date:
Last Name, First Name. Year. “Title of Article.” Journal Title. Published ahead of print, Month Day, Year. https://doi.org/xxxxx.
Forthcoming, Notes-Bibliography bibliography:
Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Journal Title. Forthcoming.
No author, no date, or no pages
Do not write Anonymous. If a journal article has no personal author, begin the note with the article title and list the journal or the corporate author in the bibliography as the source requires. If there is no year, Chicago uses n.d. and you should look harder first — most journals print one. If an online article has no pagination, omit the page in the note or cite a section heading or paragraph only when a reader can find it. See How to Cite a Source with No Author and How to Cite a Source with No Date.
Access dates
Formally published journal articles with a DOI or a stable published URL do not take an access date. Save access dates for undated web content, not for Kwon or Lindquist. If you needed a Wayback Machine snapshot because the publisher URL died, cite that archived link instead of inventing a retrieval date for a live DOI.
A Practical Workflow
Before you leave the PDF
- Copy authors in the published order; count them before you type et al.
- Copy the article title in headline-style capitalization
- Copy the journal title and drop an initial The if CMOS examples for that title do
- Record volume, issue, year, and either the page range or the article ID
- Prefer the DOI; if there is none, save a permalink or the database name
- Note the specific page you quoted, separate from the inclusive span
- If the journal uses an article ID, keep that ID for the bibliography and, in a first note, after the quoted PDF pages
- Decide now whether the paper uses notes or author-date — do not mix them
Then format once in the system your course named. The Chicago generator and the journal-article generator will arrange the same fields. The Chicago cheat sheet is the punctuation reminder. For APA’s and MLA’s versions of the same source type, see How to Cite a Journal Article in APA and How to Cite a Journal Article in MLA.
Generate the Chicago journal citation
Paste the DOI or enter the author, article title, journal, volume, issue, year, and pages. Switch between notes-bibliography and author-date without retyping the source.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How do I cite a journal article in Chicago style?
- Give the author, article title in quotation marks, italicized journal, volume, issue, year, and pages. In notes-bibliography that is a first note plus a bibliography line. In author-date it is (Family Year, page) plus a reference-list entry that writes the issue as Volume (Issue). CMOS 18 §§14.67–14.86.
- Do I include a DOI in a Chicago journal citation?
- Yes, when the article has one. Write it as a URL beginning https://doi.org/ (CMOS 13.7). That URL is better than the address in your browser bar. If there is no DOI, use a stable URL or the database name. See How to Use DOIs.
- Should I include the database name?
- Not if you already have a DOI. CMOS lists a database such as EBSCOhost, JSTOR, or Project MUSE only when that name is the best locator — usually an older article with no DOI and a session-specific URL. The Quick Guide Hebert example is the model.
- How many authors do I list in CMOS 18?
- Two authors: list both everywhere. Three or more: first author plus et al. in a note or in an author-date parenthetical. The bibliography or reference list includes up to six names; more than six names become the first three plus et al. CMOS 17 listed up to ten in the bibliography — do not follow an old handout.
- Do I need page numbers for an online journal article?
- Include the inclusive page range in the bibliography when the article is paginated. In a note or parenthetical, cite the page you quoted. If the journal uses an article ID instead of pages, put that ID in the bibliography (CMOS 14.71). The current Quick Guide Snyder note also repeats e0318239 after the quoted PDF pages 9–10, then the DOI; the shortened note cites page 12.
- Why does the Snyder note list both pages and e0318239?
- Because PLOS ONE identifies the article as e0318239 while the PDF is paginated from 1. CMOS 14.71 puts the ID in the bibliography in place of a page range. The live Notes-Bibliography Quick Guide now shows the cited pages, then that ID, then the DOI in the first note. Author-date keeps the ID in the reference list only.
- How do I cite an article published ahead of print?
- Keep the author, title, journal, and DOI, and write Published ahead of print with the posting date instead of inventing a volume and issue. When the article later appears in an issue, replace that phrase with the volume, issue, year, and pages. For a piece that is accepted but not yet posted, Chicago uses Forthcoming.
- Is a journal cited the same way as a magazine in Chicago?
- No. Journals use volume, issue, and a page range or article ID. Magazines use the cover date and usually omit inclusive pages from the bibliography (CMOS 14.87–14.88). See How to Cite a Magazine Article in Chicago Style.
- Does Turabian cite journal articles differently from Chicago?
- The journal punctuation is the same. Turabian is the student handbook built on Chicago. CMOS 18 tightened author lists — three or more names become first author plus et al. in a note, and the bibliography caps at six. Turabian 9th still reflected CMOS 17. Follow the edition your department named. See Turabian vs Chicago.
- Should I use ibid. for a journal I just cited?
- CMOS 18 prefers a shortened note — Family, “Shortened Title,” page — over ibid. If you cite the same source and the same page immediately again, you may shorten further to Family, page, but the titled short form is never wrong.
- Do I need an access date for a journal article?
- Not when the article is formally published and you have a DOI or a stable published URL. Access dates belong on undated web pages, not on Kwon 2022 or Lindquist 2023.
Related Guides
- How to Cite a Journal Article in Chicago (one-page companion)
- How to Cite a Magazine Article in Chicago Style
- How to Cite a Newspaper Article in Chicago Style
- How to Cite a Journal Article in APA
- How to Cite a Journal Article in MLA
- APA vs Chicago
- Turabian vs Chicago
- How to Use DOIs
- How to Find a DOI
- Scholarly vs Popular Sources
- Chicago notes-bibliography style page
- Chicago author-date style page
- Chicago cheat sheet
- Journal article citation generator