APA 7 treats a systematic review like a journal article: Author, Year, Title, Journal, volume(issue), pages or article number, plus the DOI.
Citing A Systematic Review In APA — Quick Steps
You cite a systematic review the same way you cite a journal article. Grab the article’s authors, year, title in sentence case, journal title in italics, volume in italics, issue in parentheses, page range or article number, and the DOI link. Then add a matching in-text citation.
- List authors in the reference up to twenty; use an ellipsis before the last name when there are more than twenty.
- Write the year in parentheses after the authors.
- Use sentence case for the article title; do not italicize the title.
- Italicize the journal title and the volume; put the issue in round brackets without italics.
- Give pages or an article number. Cochrane reviews use an article number.
- Finish with the DOI in https://doi.org/ format. If there’s no DOI, supply a stable URL.
Know What You’re Citing
A “systematic review” can be presented in a few ways. Most are peer-reviewed journal articles. Some appear as Cochrane reviews with article numbers. You might also see a preprint or a protocol. Match the format to the source you have in hand so your reference fits APA 7 rules.
| Scenario | Reference Template | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Journal review with DOI | Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of review. Journal Title, Volume(Issue), pages. https://doi.org/xxxx | Standard journal layout; include the issue when present. |
| Journal review without DOI | Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of review. Journal Title, Volume(Issue), pages. URL | Use a stable URL when no DOI exists. |
| Cochrane review | Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of review. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Volume(Issue), Article CDxxxxx. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CDxxxxx | Give the article number (for Cochrane, “CD” plus digits). |
| Registered protocol in a journal | Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of protocol. Journal Title, Volume(Issue), Article eXXXXXX. https://doi.org/xxxx | Treat as an article; note “protocol” in the title when the source uses it. |
| Preprint | Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of review [Preprint]. Repository Name. https://doi.org/xxxx or URL | Bracket the word Preprint and give the repository. |
| Advance online publication | Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of review. Journal Title. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/xxxx | Use this wording when the journal labels it that way. |
Build The Reference Entry
Follow the APA base pattern—author, date, title, source—then tailor a few fields that matter for reviews.
Authors
List up to twenty authors, last name and initials. Use an ampersand before the final author. When a work credits more than twenty authors, list the first nineteen, insert an ellipsis, and add the final author. Do not use “et al.” in the reference list.
Year
Give the year in parentheses. If the article lists an early online date and a final year, use the final year shown on the article’s PDF or landing page.
Title
Use sentence case: only the first word and proper nouns take capitals. Keep words such as “systematic review” or “meta-analysis” as they appear in the source title. Do not add brackets like [Systematic review].
Journal, Volume, And Issue
Italicize the journal title and the volume. Place the issue number in parentheses right after the volume and do not italicize it. For Cochrane reviews, give the volume and issue, then the article number instead of pages.
DOIs And URLs
Format the DOI as a live link that begins with https://doi.org/. Do not write “DOI:” ahead of it. Use a URL only when no DOI is assigned. Prefer the journal page or the Cochrane Library page to database links.
Format In-Text Citations
APA uses author–date citations. Use a narrative style in running text or the parenthetical style at the end of a sentence. For three or more authors, shorten to the first author’s name plus “et al.” in every citation. For two authors, write both names. For one author, just the surname.
Parenthetical And Narrative
Parenthetical sample: (Nguyen et al., 2021). Narrative sample: Nguyen et al. (2021) reported matching results across trials.
Quotations And No Page Numbers
When quoting, give a page. If the PDF has no pages, point readers to a paragraph, section heading, table, or figure label, such as (Nguyen et al., 2021, para. 7) or (Nguyen et al., 2021, Table 2).
Worked Examples
Journal review with DOI. Rogers, L., Ahmed, S., & Dutta, K. (2021). Omega-3 supplements for knee osteoarthritis: A systematic review. Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 45(2), 155–168. https://doi.org/10.1007/jcn.2021.12345
Cochrane review with article number. Martínez, P., Zhao, Y., & Chen, H. (2022). Intermittent fasting for type 2 diabetes: A systematic review. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 9(1), Article CD014123. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD014123.pub2
Protocol in a journal. Tan, J., Osei, R., & Clarke, M. (2020). Vitamin D and fractures in adults: Systematic review protocol. BMJ Open, 10(11), e040000. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-040000
Preprint. Willis, B., Ortega, A., & Shah, R. (2023). Home spirometry in COPD: A systematic review [Preprint]. medRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.05.10.123456
Frequent Snags And Fixes
These trip people up when citing reviews. Match the left column to your draft and use the fix.
| Mistake | What It Looks Like | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Using “et al.” in the reference list | Rogers, L., et al. (2021)… | List all authors up to twenty; use an ellipsis only after the first nineteen. |
| Capitalizing every word in the article title | Omega-3 Supplements For Knee Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review. | Switch to sentence case; only the first word and proper nouns take capitals. |
| Dropping the issue number | Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 45, 155–168… | Include the issue in parentheses when the journal uses issues. |
| Missing the article number for a Cochrane review | Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 9(1), 1–20… | Use “Article CDxxxxx” instead of pages and keep the DOI. |
| Using a URL when a DOI exists | … 45(2), 155–168. http://journal.com/record/123 | Use the DOI link in https://doi.org/ format. |
| Linking to a library database record | … Retrieved from ProQuest | Link to the journal or Cochrane page unless the work has limited circulation. |
Checklist Before You Submit
- Authors in the reference match the byline and follow the twenty-author rule.
- The year matches the article’s final record.
- The article title is in sentence case.
- Journal title and volume are italic; the issue is in parentheses.
- Pages or an article number appear where they should.
- The DOI link works; use a URL only if there’s no DOI.
- Every in-text citation has a matching reference entry.
- In-text style uses “et al.” for three or more authors.
Mini Style Notes For Students
Teachers sometimes set local rules. If your course handout asks for a permalink, a database name, or a short URL policy, follow that rule even when it differs from the standard examples above. When in doubt, match the article itself and keep the author–date system consistent from start to finish.
Handy Source Checks
Need a double-check on layout or punctuation? See the Purdue OWL guide to periodical references here. For preprints, the official APA page with reference models is here.
Cochrane reviews follow the journal article pattern, but they use an article number. Give the article number after the issue. When a DOI appears, link it in the live https://doi.org/ format. Check the journal’s homepage link.
Edge Cases You’ll Meet
Group Or Corporate Author
When the author is an organization, write the full name in the reference. In text, spell it out the first time, then shorten to an abbreviation on later cites, like World Health Organization (WHO, 2020), then (WHO, 2020).
Same Authors, Same Year
Add letters after the year to keep entries distinct. The reference list and the in-text citations both use the letters. Sample: 2021a, 2021b. Order them alphabetically by title on the reference page.
No Issue Number
Some journals paginate each volume straight through. In that case, omit the issue and just give the volume in italics and the pages.
Supplements And Special Issues
If the issue is labeled “Suppl.” or similar, include that label in the issue spot, such as 12(Suppl. 1). Use the exact label shown on the article.
Titles With Brackets
Add bracketed descriptions only when the source demands it, such as [Preprint] or [Data set]. Do not invent a bracket like [Systematic review] when that text is not part of the source.
In-Text Fine Points
Citing more than one review at once? Put them in the same set of parentheses separated by semicolons and order them by first author’s surname, like (Chen, 2020; Gupta et al., 2021; Rivera & Long, 2022).
When you know a review only from a secondary source, try to locate the review itself. If you must use a secondary citation, name the review in your sentence and cite the source you read, like this: Smith’s review as cited in Patel (2024). Use sparingly.
Block quotations start on a new line and drop quotation marks. Keep the author and year, then give a page, paragraph, table, or figure locator.