APA citation short guidelines
JCE is accepting manuscripts technically adjusted in accordance to APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition.
In-text citations briefly identify the source of information in the body text. Citation is a standardized method of presenting used intellectual sources and ideas in the preparation of a scientific paper. They correspond to a full reference entry at the end of your paper.
Citation is the literal quoting of someone else's words. A quote implies that a part of the text is taken over without any changes. Direct quoting implies a verbatim citation of the taken text, while paraphrasing as a descriptive statement and recounting in one's own words the essence of the quote represents indirect quoting.
The in-text citation can be placed in parentheses or naturally integrated into a sentence.
Parenthetical vs. narrative citations
Parenthetical:
Digital transformation represents a new, fourth industrial revolution that brings radical changes in business models and their performance (Lorenz et al., 2020).
When citing a specific part of a source, also include a page number (p.) or range (pp.), for example:
As regards to AI technologies, 28% of German enterprises make use of them, exceeding the EU average of 25%, while 57% have a medium or high intensity of green actions through ICT (compared to 66% in the EU average) (European Commission, 2021, p. 13).
Narrative: Witkowski (2017) points out that Industry 4.0 contributes to the development of logistics and supply chain management in particular.
APA in-text citations with multiple authors
If manucript has two authors, separate their surnames with an ampersand (&) in a parenthetical citation or “and” in a narrative citation. If there are three or more authors, only include the first author’s surnames followed by “et al.”, meaning “and others”.
Group authors known by their abbreviations (e.g., EC) are written in full the first time and are abbreviated in subsequent citations.
Table 3
APA in-text citation: Basic rules
Author type
|
Parenthetical
|
Narrative
|
One author
|
(Petković, 2017) |
Petković (2017) |
Two authors
|
(Petković & Heupel, 2020) |
Petković and Hupel (Petković & Heupel, 2020) |
Three or more authors
|
(Gligorić et al., 2020) |
Gligorić et al. (2020) |
Group authors
First citationa
Subsequent citations
|
(Center for project management and entrepreneurship [CPME], 2020)
(CPME, 2020) |
Center for project management and entrepreneurship (CPME, 2020)
CPME (2020) |
Group authors without their abbreviations
|
(Center for project management and entrepreneurship, 2020)
|
Center for project management and entrepreneurship (2020)
|
Note. The table presents the basic rules of parenthetical citation and descriptive, i.e. narrative, citation. a Define an abbreviation for the author group, choosing parenthetical citation format or descriptive citation format. After that, in each subsequent citation in the text, you do not state the full name of the institution, but state the abbreviation. The table content is taken and adapted from APA (2021, p. 407).
Direct quotes in APA Style
There are three main rules for quoting in APA Style (Scribbr, n.d.):
- If the quote is under 40 words, place it in double quotation marks.
- If the quote is 40 words or more, format it as a block quote.
- Cite the author, year, and page number with an APA in-text citation.
No author, date or page number
If the author, date of publication of the source, or page of the citation is unknown, the following table summarizes the citation instructions.
Table 4
Missing information in APA in-text citations
Unknown element |
Solution |
In-text citation |
Author |
Use the source title. |
(Source Title, 2020) |
Date |
Write “n.d.” for “no date”. |
(Jones, n.d.) |
Page number |
Use an alternative locator or |
(Johnson, 2020, para. 2) or |
Note. The table presents situations when the author is unknown, the date of publication of the source or the page of the quotation is unknown. The author.
No author
If the author of a source is unknown, try to determine if there is an organization or government responsible for creating the content. If so, include its name in the in-text citation (and reference entry).
Anonymous
A work is considered to have no author when its author is unknown or cannot reasonably be determined. In this case, in the reference list at the end of the text, move the title of the paper to the place of the author (followed by a period), before the date of publication (see Chapter 10, Example 49). (APA, 2020, p. 439)
Example: Generalized anxiety disorder. (2019).
If, and only if, the paper is signed "Anonymous", use "Anonymus" as the author in the text.
Anonymous (2017)
No publication date
If the publication date is unknown, write “n.d.” (no date) in the in-text citation.
(Johnson, n.d.)
No page number (alternative locators)
Direct quotations from sources that do not contain pages should not refer to the page number. Instead, you can reference another logical identifier: paragraph, chapter number, section number, table number, or something else. Older works (such as religious texts) may also contain special location identifiers such as verse numbers. In short: choose a page number replacement that makes sense for your source.
Examples (Petković, 2022, p.10):
Jones (1998) found a number of reasons for student dissatisfaction with prevailing citation practices (paras. 4–5).
A meta-analysis of the available literature (Jones, 1998) revealed inconsistency in large studies
student learning (Table 3).
Page numbers are only required with direct quotes in APA. If you are quoting from a work that does not have page numbers (e.g., webpages or YouTube videos), you can use an alternative locator, such as:
- (Liu, 2020, 03:26)
- (Johnson, 2019, Chapter 3)
- (McCombes, 2016, para. 4)
- (Davis, 2016, Slide 15)
- (Flores, 2020, Table 5)
- (Streefkerk, 2020, “No page number” section)
Multiple sources in one parenthesis
If a statement is supported by multiple sources, the in-text citations can be combined in one parenthesis. Order the sources alphabetically, and separate them with a semicolon.
When citing multiple works from the same author, list the years of publication separated by a comma.
Furthermore, contacts with customers can provide ideas about new products and services (Lee and Schmidt, 2016; Sarbu, 2021).
Several studies have replicated these results (Brown, 2009; Porter, 2004; Smith, 2015, 2017).
Avoiding ambiguity in APA in-text citations
When in-text citations are ambiguous because they correspond to multiple reference entries, apply the solutions outlined in the table below.
Table 5
Ambiguity in APA in-text citations
Situation |
Solution |
In – text citation |
Multiple works by the same author in the same year |
Add a lowercase letter after the year |
(Cooper, 2018a) |
Different authors with the same last name |
Include the authors’ initials. |
(H. Taylor, 2019) |
Multiple works with 3+ authors that shorten to the same form (i.e., same first author(s) and date) |
Include as many names as needed to distinguish the citations. |
(Cooper, Lee, et al., 2015) |
Note. Retrieved and adapted from https://www.scribbr.com/apa-style/tables-and-figures.