How to Cite a Journal Article
Your bibliography
0 sourcesHow to cite a journal article means listing the author, year, article title, journal name, volume, issue, page range, and DOI in your style’s exact order. This page explains the rules and generates APA, MLA, and Chicago citations free.
How do I cite a journal article with this tool?
Paste the article’s DOI or title into the generator, pick your style, and the tool retrieves author names, journal, volume, issue, pages, and year automatically, then outputs a formatted citation you can copy. You review the result and fix any missing detail.
Metadata from publishers is not always complete, so confirm three things before you paste the citation into your paper: every author’s name and initials, the volume and issue numbers, and the exact page range. A DOI lookup is the most reliable input because it pulls structured data straight from the registration agency rather than guessing from a title.
What counts as a journal article?
A journal article is a scholarly, peer-reviewed piece published in an academic periodical that appears in numbered volumes and issues. It differs from a magazine or newspaper article because it reports original research or scholarship and carries a volume number, an issue number, and continuous page numbering.
The distinction matters because style manuals treat scholarly journals, popular magazines, and newspapers differently. A journal citation always includes the volume and issue, whereas a magazine citation leads with a full date and a newspaper citation adds a section. If your source has a volume number and a DOI, you are almost certainly citing a journal article.
- Authors — inverted, initials only, ampersand before the last name.
- Year — publication year in parentheses, followed by a period.
- Article title — sentence case, not italicised.
- Source — journal name and volume italicised; issue in parentheses; page range.
- DOI — formatted as a full https link, no period after it.
How do you cite a journal article in-text?
In-text citations point the reader to the full reference using the author’s surname and a locator. APA and MLA both use parentheses inside the sentence, while Chicago’s notes-bibliography system uses a numbered footnote. Each style handles multiple authors and page numbers differently, as the table shows.
| Style | In-text form | With a direct quotation |
|---|---|---|
| APA 7 | (Duckworth et al., 2007) | (Duckworth et al., 2007, p. 1090) |
| MLA 9 | (Duckworth et al.) | (Duckworth et al. 1090) |
| Chicago 18 (notes) | Footnote 1 | Duckworth et al., “Grit,” 1090. |
APA uses et al. from the first citation whenever a work has three or more authors. MLA also shortens three-or-more-author works to the first author plus et al., but never puts a comma between the name and the page number. Chicago’s first footnote gives the full details; later notes give a short form.
How do you write the full reference entry?
The reference-list, works-cited, or bibliography entry carries the complete source details in the order your style dictates. All three styles include the same facts—authors, title, journal, volume, issue, pages, year, and DOI—but they punctuate, capitalise, and sequence them in distinct ways.
APA 7Duckworth, A. L., Peterson, C., Matthews, M. D., & Kelly, D. R. (2007). Grit: Perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(6), 1087–1101. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.92.6.1087
MLA 9Duckworth, Angela L., et al. “Grit: Perseverance and Passion for Long-Term Goals.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 92, no. 6, 2007, pp. 1087–1101. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.92.6.1087
Chicago 18Duckworth, Angela L., Christopher Peterson, Michael D. Matthews, and Dennis R. Kelly. “Grit: Perseverance and Passion for Long-Term Goals.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 92, no. 6 (2007): 1087–1101. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.92.6.1087
Note the capitalisation split: APA puts the article title in sentence case, whereas MLA and Chicago use title case. APA and MLA both spell out author initials or full names with the journal italicised, but only Chicago places the year in parentheses before the page range with a colon.
| Element | APA 7 | MLA 9 | Chicago 18 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Article title case | Sentence case | Title case, in quotes | Title case, in quotes |
| Volume/issue label | 92(6) | vol. 92, no. 6 | 92, no. 6 |
| Author names | Initials | Full, first author inverted | Full, first author inverted |
| Year position | After authors | After issue | In parentheses before pages |
Should you include a DOI, URL, or database name?
Include the DOI whenever the article has one, formatted as a full https://doi.org/ link in all three styles. A DOI is a permanent identifier, so it is always preferred over a URL. Only fall back to a URL or database when no DOI exists.
APA 7 no longer requires the database name for articles from academic databases like JSTOR, PsycINFO, or ProQuest; you give the DOI and stop there. If a journal article has no DOI and comes from one of those subscription databases, APA omits the URL entirely because the link is not stable for other readers. MLA 9, by contrast, does list the database as a container—for example JSTOR—followed by the DOI or a stable URL. Chicago accepts a DOI, a database name, or a stable URL, in that order of preference.
How accurate is this generator, and what are its limits?
The generator applies official style rules with high consistency, but it can only format the data it receives, so publisher metadata errors flow straight into your citation. Treat every output as a strong draft that still needs a human proofread against the article itself.
Three problems recur. First, some DOIs return author names in the wrong order or drop middle initials, which you must correct by hand. Second, journals that use article numbers instead of page ranges—common in open-access publishing—may leave the page field blank, so add the article or e-locator number yourself. Third, sentence-case conversion can mishandle proper nouns and chemical or gene names in APA titles; capitalise those manually. Verifying the author list, the volume and issue, and the page range takes under a minute and eliminates nearly every graded error.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a DOI to cite a journal article?
No. A DOI is strongly preferred and should be included whenever it exists, but articles without one are still fully citable. In APA you simply end the reference after the page range; in MLA and Chicago you may add a stable URL instead.
How do I cite a journal article that has no DOI?
Cite it exactly like a DOI article but omit the DOI. For a print or database-only article with no DOI, APA ends after the page range with no URL, MLA lists the database as the container plus any stable URL, and Chicago gives the database name or a permalink.
Do I italicise the article title or the journal name?
Italicise the journal name, never the article title. In all three styles the periodical name is set in italics; APA leaves the article title in plain sentence case, while MLA and Chicago place the article title in quotation marks with title-case capitalisation.
How do I handle a journal article with more than 20 authors in APA?
List the first 19 authors, insert an ellipsis, then add the final author’s name—do not use an ampersand before it. For works with up to 20 authors, list all of them separated by commas with an ampersand before the last.
How do I cite an article I accessed through JSTOR or another database?
Use the DOI if one is present, regardless of the database. APA 7 does not name academic databases like JSTOR at all, MLA lists the database as a container followed by the DOI or stable URL, and Chicago may name the database when no DOI is available.
What do I use when the article has an article number instead of page numbers?
Cite the article or e-locator number in place of the page range. Many open-access journals number articles rather than pages, so APA and Chicago use the article number, and MLA cites it in the page position (for example, “Article 12”).
Related tools & guides
Ready to build your reference? Switch styles instantly with our APA citation generator, format Works Cited entries in the MLA citation generator, or produce footnotes and bibliographies with the Chicago citation generator. If you are still learning the fundamentals, our explainer on what a citation is covers why sourcing matters before you tackle how to cite a journal article in your own paper.