Differences Between the 6th and 7th edition of the APA style
| Topic | APA 6 (location and old guideline) | APA 7 (location and new guideline) | ||
| Number of author names listed in a reference | 6.27: Provide surnames and initials for up to seven authors in a reference entry. If there are eight or more authors, use three spaced ellipsis points after the sixth author, followed by the final author name (no ampersand). | 9.8: Provide surnames and initials for up to 20 authors in a reference entry. If there are 21 or more authors, use the ellipsis after the 19th, followed by the final author name (no ampersand). | ||
| Reference format when publisher and author are the same | 7.02: When a work's publisher and author are the same, use the word "Author" as the name of the publisher in its reference entry. | 9.24: When a work's publisher and author are the same, omit the publisher in its reference entry. | ||
| Issue numbers for journal articles in references | 6.30; see also 7.01: Include issue number when journal is paginated separately by issue. | 9.25: Include issue number for all periodicals that have issue numbers. | ||
| Publisher location | 6.30: Provide publisher location (city, state, etc.) before publisher name.
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9.29: Do not include publisher location (city, state, etc.) after publisher name in a reference.
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| Reference for online work with no DOI | 6.32: If an online work has no DOI, provide the home page URL of the journal or of the book/report publisher. | 9.34: If an online work (e.g., a journal article) has no DOI and was found through an academic research database, generally, no URL is needed. The reference will look just like the print version. | ||
| Hyperlinks in DOI and URL formatting |
6.32: DOI begins with either "doi:" or with "https://doi.org/" in references. The recommendation that URLs should be in plain black text, not underlined, follows examples from APA 6 and the APA Style Blog. doi:10.1037/1072-5245.15.2.117 |
9.35: Both DOIs and URLs should be presented as hyperlinks (beginning with "http://" or "https://"). Standardize DOIs as starting with "https://doi.org/". In documents to be read online, use live links. Blue/underlined or plain black text, not underlined, are both acceptable. https://doi.org/10.1000/182 |
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| URL retrieval information in references | 7.01: URLs include a retrieval phrase (e.g., "Retrieved from"). | 9.35: The words "Retrieved from" or "Accessed from" are no longer necessary before a URL. The only time the word "Retrieved" (and not "Retrieved from") is needed is in those rare cases where a retrieval date is necessary (see p. 290, 9.16). | ||
| Website name in references for online media | Chapter 7: List the URL but not the website in the publication information. | 10.15-10.16: Include the name of the website in plain text, followed by a period, before the URL. | ||
| Ebook format | The 6th ed. includes the e-book format, platform, or device (e.g., Kindle) but not the publisher:
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The 7th ed. omits the e-book format, platform, or device (e.g., Kindle) but includes the publisher:
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