How to Cite Multiple Authors in APA (7th Edition)

If you’re dealing with two, three, or twenty authors, APA has very specific rules for how to handle them in both in-text citations and the reference list.

Quick Scoop

  • 2 authors → always list both names.
  • 3+ authors → in-text: first author + “et al.”; reference list: list up to 20 authors.
  • 21+ authors → list first 19, then “…”, then last author in the reference list.
  • Use “and” in the sentence, “&” in parentheses and in the reference list.

Mini-Section: In-Text Citations by Number of Authors

1\. Two authors

  • Parenthetical: (Smith & Lee, 2020)
  • Narrative: Smith and Lee (2020) argued that…

Key rule: Always include both authors every time you cite the source.

2\. Three or more authors

  • Parenthetical: (Smith et al., 2020)
  • Narrative: Smith et al. (2020) found that…

Key rules:

  • From the very first citation, shorten to first author’s last name + “et al.” in APA 7.
  • “Et al.” has a period after “al” and is not italicized.

If you have two different works that would both become (Smith et al., 2020), you add more names until they are distinguishable, for example (Smith, Jones, et al., 2020) vs. (Smith, Patel, et al., 2020).

3\. Multiple sources in one parenthesis

If one statement is backed by several sources, you can group them.
  • Order sources alphabetically by first author’s last name.
  • Separate sources with semicolons.

Example:

  • (Brown, 2019; Lee & Martin, 2018; Smith et al., 2020)

If you cite several works by the same author, list the years separated by commas: (Smith, 2018, 2019, 2021).

Mini-Section: Reference List – Multiple Authors

Core patterns

  • Author format: Lastname, A. A.
  • Use commas between authors, “&” before the final author.

Number of authors and what to do

Number of authors Reference list rule (APA 7) Example pattern
1–2 authors List all authors. Smith, J. A., & Lee, B. K. (2020). Title...
3–20 authors List every author up to 20. Smith, J. A., Lee, B. K., Patel, R., & Gomez, T. (2020). Title...
21+ authors List first 19 authors, then an ellipsis (...), then final author. Smith, J. A., Lee, B. K., ... Wilson, D. R. (2020). Title...
These rules apply regardless of source type (book, article, website, etc.).

Mini-Section: Quick Examples by Scenario

Example 1 – Journal article with two authors

  • In-text:
    • Narrative: Garcia and Liu (2022) reported…
* Parenthetical: (Garcia & Liu, 2022)
  • Reference:
    • Garcia, M. R., & Liu, H. T. (2022). Title of the article. Journal Name, 10(2), 123–135. https://doi.org/xxx

Structure here mirrors the standard APA format with the two-author rule.

Example 2 – Article with five authors

  • In-text (any time): (Rogers et al., 2018)
  • Reference:
    • Rogers, L., Hallam, S., Creech, A., Preti, C., & Smith, D. (2018). Title of the article. Journal Name, 12(4), 200–215.

Notice that in text it becomes “et al.”, but the reference list includes every author.

Example 3 – Book with many authors

  • In-text: (Taylor et al., 2021)
  • Reference (3–20 authors):
    • Taylor, P., Khan, R., Lopez, S., Meyer, T., & Zheng, L. (2021). Title of the book. Publisher.

If there were 22 authors, you would list the first 19, then “…”, then the last author.

Mini-Section: Common Mistakes to Avoid

  • Using “et al.” for only two authors (only use it for 3+ authors).
  • Forgetting the period after “al” in “et al.”
  • Using “and” instead of “&” inside parentheses: write (Smith & Lee, 2020), not (Smith and Lee, 2020).
  • Alphabetizing grouped citations by year instead of by author’s last name.
  • Cutting off the author list too early in the reference list when there are fewer than 21 authors.

Mini-Section: Forum-Style Tippable Summary

If it’s 2 authors, name them both every time; if it’s 3 or more, go “FirstAuthor et al.” in-text, but list up to 20 authors in your reference list, with “&” only before the last name.

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