In APA 7th edition, you cite a source with three or more authors by listing only the first author’s last name followed by “et al.” and the year. This applies from the very first citation onward. For example, if your source was written by Johnson, Smith, and Lee, every in-text citation would read as Johnson et al. (2022).
The Basic Rule
APA 7th edition simplified multi-author citations compared to earlier versions. Under the old 6th edition rules, you had to list all three authors the first time you cited them, then switch to “et al.” for subsequent citations. That rule no longer applies. Now, any source with three or more authors uses “et al.” every single time, including the first mention.
The Latin abbreviation “et al.” means “and others.” Note the period after “al.” (it’s an abbreviation of “alia”) but no period after “et” (which is a complete word).
Parenthetical vs. Narrative Citations
The format looks slightly different depending on where you place the citation in your sentence.
A parenthetical citation appears in parentheses at the end of the sentence or clause:
- Recent findings support this conclusion (Johnson et al., 2022).
A narrative citation weaves the author into the sentence itself, with only the year in parentheses:
- Johnson et al. (2022) found that participants improved over time.
In both cases the format is identical for three or more authors: first author’s last name, then et al., then the year. There is no need to use an ampersand (&) or the word “and” because you are not listing multiple individual names.
When Two Sources Shorten to the Same Form
Sometimes you’ll cite two different sources that have the same first author and the same publication year but different coauthors. When both would shorten to the same “et al.” form, you need to spell out enough names to tell them apart.
For example, imagine you’re citing these two sources:
- Johnson, Smith, and Lee (2022)
- Johnson, Patel, and Davis (2022)
Both would normally become “Johnson et al. (2022),” which creates ambiguity. To fix this, include as many names as needed to distinguish them:
- Johnson, Smith, et al. (2022)
- Johnson, Patel, et al. (2022)
There’s one extra wrinkle here. Because “et al.” is plural (meaning “and others”), it cannot stand in for just one person. If two sources share all authors except the last one, you spell out every name in every citation rather than using “et al.” for a single remaining author.
Formatting Details That Matter
A few small formatting points can cost you marks if you get them wrong:
- Comma placement: In a parenthetical citation, place a comma after “et al.” and before the year: (Johnson et al., 2022). In a narrative citation, no comma appears because the year is in its own set of parentheses: Johnson et al. (2022).
- No italics: “Et al.” is not italicized in the text of your paper, even though it comes from Latin.
- Period after al: Always include the period after “al.” because it is an abbreviation. If “et al.” falls at the end of a sentence inside parentheses, you still need the sentence’s final period: (Johnson et al., 2022).
- Reference list stays full: The “et al.” shortcut is only for in-text citations. Your reference list at the end of the paper should include up to 20 authors by name.
Quick Reference Examples
Here are several common scenarios side by side so you can match your situation:
- 3 authors, parenthetical: (Martinez et al., 2023)
- 3 authors, narrative: Martinez et al. (2023) argued that…
- 5 authors, parenthetical: (Chen et al., 2021)
- 5 authors, narrative: Chen et al. (2021) demonstrated…
- Two sources that shorten identically: (Rivera, Kim, et al., 2020) and (Rivera, Novak, et al., 2020)
The rule is the same whether a source has 3 authors, 7 authors, or 20 authors. List the first author’s last name, write “et al.,” add the year, and you’re done.