How To Cite A Review Article APA | Clean Citation Wins

Guide / By

In APA 7, a review article is cited like any journal article: author, year, title, journal, volume(issue), pages, and a DOI or URL when available.

Working with a review paper and need the reference to look right on the first try? This guide walks you through the exact pieces to collect, the order to place them, and the small style moves that keep your entry clean. You will also see live examples, a step plan, and two quick tables you can scan while you write.

How To Cite A Review Article In APA Format

A review article is a journal paper that surveys and synthesizes prior studies. In APA, you handle it the same way you handle any standard journal article. No special tag is needed after the title, and the journal name and volume appear in italics. If the issue number exists, place it in regular type inside parentheses right after the volume number. End with a DOI as a live link whenever that DOI is present.

APA Elements For A Review Article Reference
Element What To Write Notes / Example
Author Last name, Initials. Nguyen, T. H.
Year (Year). (2024).
Title Sentence case; only proper nouns capitalized. Mapping migraine care across clinics
Journal Journal Title Headache Reports
Volume(issue) Volume(issue) 29(3)
Pages xx–xx 215–232
DOI / URL Use https://doi.org/… if present; else a stable URL. https://doi.org/10.1234/abcd.5678

Use the author–date system for in-text citations and present DOIs as live links as shown in APA’s guidance on DOIs and URLs. If a journal does not print issue numbers, leave that part out.

Step-By-Step Reference Build

  1. List authors exactly as shown on the article, keeping the order. Place a comma between names and an ampersand before the final author.
  2. Add the year in round brackets, followed by a period.
  3. Add the article title in sentence case. Do not italicize the title and do not add a bracketed label like “[Review article]”.
  4. Write the journal title and the volume in italics. Add the issue number in regular type right after the volume, inside parentheses.
  5. Add the page range. Use an en dash, not a hyphen.
  6. Finish with the DOI as a full https://doi.org/ link. If no DOI, add a stable journal URL; avoid session links.

APA In-Text Citations For Review Articles

Use the author’s last name and the year for every citation. That pair can sit in parentheses, or the name can appear in the sentence with the year in brackets. Add a page number only when you quote or need to point readers to a specific spot in a long piece.

  • Parenthetical: (Rahman & Ali, 2022)
  • Narrative: Rahman and Ali (2022)
  • Quotation: (Rahman & Ali, 2022, p. 418)

Examples You Can Copy

Single Author, With DOI

Vargas, L. M. (2023). Sleep, circadian timing, and adolescent learning: A synthesis. Education & Health Review, 41(2), 85–104. https://doi.org/10.5678/ehr.2023.41207

Two Authors, No Issue Number

Chen, Y., & Solano, J. P. (2021). Soil carbon trends in drylands: A global review. Earth Systems Letters, 12, 301–322. https://doi.org/10.1000/esl.2021.00301

Three To Twenty Authors

List all names in the reference. Insert an ampersand before the last author only. Example layout:

Hassan, S., Noor, T., Petrov, I., Almeida, R., & Cole, D. (2022). Wearable sensors for home rehab: An updated review. Digital Medicine Reports, 9(1), 11–29. https://doi.org/10.9723/dmr.2022.90111

Advance Online Publication

If the article appears online before the final issue, use the phrase “Advance online publication” in place of volume, issue, and pages, and include the DOI.

Okeke, M., & Wright, P. (2024). Imaging biomarkers for knee injury: A living review. Sports Radiology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.2468/srad.2024.8890

No DOI Available

When no DOI exists, include a stable journal or publisher URL. Leave out a database link that expires after login.

Diaz, C. R., & Karim, Z. (2020). Urban shade canopy and cool city planning: A review. City Climate Notes, 7(4), 211–228. https://www.cityclimatenotes.org/articles/uc2020

Common Mistakes And Quick Fixes

Many slips come from small details. Titles in sentence case, journal names in title case, volume in italics, issue in regular type, and a live DOI link are the usual checkpoints. Another frequent miss: adding bracket labels where none are needed. For a review article, the title stands on its own.

Edge Cases And What To Do
Situation Reference Entry Fix In-Text Tip
No issue number Write the volume only; skip the parentheses (Singh, 2021)
Eight or more authors List up to 20; for 21+, keep the first 19, add an ellipsis, then the final author Use the first author et al. after the first full cite when needed
Missing page range Use the article number if given; else omit pages Normal author–date rules still apply

Formatting Notes That Save Time

Capitalization And Italics

Article titles use sentence case. Proper nouns stay capped. Journal titles use title case and italics. The volume number also takes italics, while the issue number does not. That contrast helps readers read the entry at a glance.

Punctuation And Spacing

Keep a period after the year, after the title, and after the page range. Place a comma after the journal title and after the volume(issue). Use a thin, clean space on each side of an en dash in ranges if your editor allows it; many sites render a tight en dash well, so spacing can follow house style.

DOIs, URLs, And Access Dates

Present the DOI as a live https link. Skip “Retrieved from” and skip access dates for stable content. If a URL must be used, prefer a publisher page that is open to the public. A link that demands login will fail many readers.

Worked Walkthrough

Say you have a PDF labeled as a review on sleep tech in teens. Scan the first page for the list of authors, the year near the title, and the journal masthead. Copy the exact article title. Next, grab the journal title and the volume and issue. Find page numbers at the header or footer of the PDF. Then scroll to the first page or the landing page to locate the DOI; if found, copy the full string that starts with https://doi.org/

Now place the pieces in order. Authors come first. Year in brackets next. Title in sentence case. Journal in italics, then the volume in italics, the issue in round brackets, and the page range. End with the DOI. Read the line out loud once to catch double spaces and stray commas.

Template You Can Adapt

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of review in sentence case. Journal Title, Volume(Issue), xx–xx. https://doi.org/xxxxx

Troubleshooting With Databases

Database export tools can be handy, yet they can drop pieces. Check for title case leaks in the article title, stray caps in the journal name, and a DOI that is missing the https prefix. Also watch for extra tags like “[Review]” added by databases; the APA entry does not need that label.

Quick Checks Before You Publish

  • Names appear in the right order and use initials only.
  • Year matches the journal record.
  • Title uses sentence case; no bracket label after it.
  • Journal and volume are in italics; issue is in regular type.
  • Page range shows an en dash.
  • DOI is a live link; if none, a stable open URL sits at the end.
  • In-text cites match the reference exactly.

Why This Method Works

A review paper sits in the same family as research articles, so a single, steady pattern keeps your references tidy. Sticking to journal article rules speeds editing, keeps the same look across your list, and helps readers track sources with ease.

Review Article Vs. Book Review

Writers often mix two different items. A review article surveys studies on a topic. A book review critiques one book or media item. The review article uses the standard journal pattern shown above. A book review uses a bracket after the title that names the item under review, like this: [Review of the book Book Title, by A. A. Author]. Do not add a bracket to a literature review or a narrative review.

Finding The DOI And Journal Details Fast

Most journals print the DOI near the title or at the end of the first page. On the article landing page, look near the abstract or in a side rail also. If you still cannot see it, try the publisher’s Cite tool. If that tool returns a number that begins with 10., add https://doi.org/ in front. If the journal never assigns a DOI, use a stable open URL. Skip links tied to a campus proxy or a personal account.

In-Text Patterns For Multiple Authors

Two authors appear every time: Smith and Lee (2023) or (Smith & Lee, 2023). For three or more authors, use the first author plus “et al.” from the first citation onward: Lopez et al. (2021) or (Lopez et al., 2021). To cite more than one review article at once, join them with semicolons inside a single set of parentheses. For an organization as author, write the full name the first time and a short form after that when the short form is clear.

Reference Managers And Manual Edits

Export tools speed drafting, yet they often send the title in title case and drop italics from the volume. Make a quick pass to fix sentence case on the title, italics on the journal and volume, the en dash in the page span, and the live DOI link. Check that initials include periods and that the author list matches the PDF. A short cleanup prevents later rewrites.