To cite a journal article, you need the authors, year, article title, journal name, volume, issue, page range or article number, and the DOI. Every style uses the same details; they differ in order, punctuation and how authors are listed.
This page shows where to find those details, then cites one article in IEEE, APA 7th edition, Vancouver, ACS and Harvard so you can compare them side by side. It finishes with special cases and the errors that cost marks.
The Details Every Journal Article Citation Needs
Collect the author names, publication year, article title, journal title, volume, issue, pages or article number, and DOI. Then apply your style's rules for order and punctuation, and add a matching in-text citation.
Take details from the article's own first page or the publisher's page, not from a search result snippet, which is often incomplete.
Where to Find the Details
| Detail | Where to look |
|---|---|
| Authors and title | The first page of the article |
| Journal, volume, issue, pages | The header or footer of the first page, or the publisher's article page |
| Article number | Used instead of pages by many online journals, shown near the DOI |
| DOI | The first page or the article web page, beginning 10. |
| Journal abbreviation | The journal's own website or the NLM Catalog for biomedical titles |
The Same Article in Five Styles
Each example cites the same paper: Watson and Crick's 1953 article on the structure of DNA, published in Nature, volume 171, issue 4356, pages 737 to 738.
IEEE (engineering, computing, physics)
[1] J. D. Watson and F. H. C. Crick, "Molecular structure of nucleic acids: A structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid," Nature, vol. 171, no. 4356, pp. 737–738, Apr. 1953, doi: 10.1038/171737a0.
In text: as shown in [1], or Watson and Crick [1] proposed...
APA 7th edition (psychology, many life and social sciences)
Watson, J. D., & Crick, F. H. C. (1953). Molecular structure of nucleic acids: A structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid. Nature, 171(4356), 737–738. https://doi.org/10.1038/171737a0
In text: (Watson & Crick, 1953) or Watson and Crick (1953).
Vancouver (medicine, biomedical and health sciences)
1. Watson JD, Crick FH. Molecular structure of nucleic acids: a structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid. Nature. 1953;171(4356):737-8. doi:10.1038/171737a0
In text: a number in brackets or superscript, for example (1) or ¹, following your course's preference.
ACS (chemistry)
(1) Watson, J. D.; Crick, F. H. C. Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid. Nature 1953, 171 (4356), 737–738. DOI: 10.1038/171737a0.
In text: a superscript number or a number in italic parentheses, as your course specifies.
Harvard (Cite Them Right version, common in UK universities)
Watson, J.D. and Crick, F.H.C. (1953) 'Molecular structure of nucleic acids: a structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid', Nature, 171(4356), pp. 737–738. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1038/171737a0.
In text: (Watson and Crick, 1953).
Harvard is a family of author-date styles rather than one fixed standard, so check your university's guide for its exact punctuation.
Key Differences at a Glance
| Feature | IEEE | APA 7 | Vancouver | ACS | Harvard |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| In-text form | [1] | (Author, year) | (1) or superscript | Superscript or (1) | (Author, year) |
| List order | Order of citation | Alphabetical | Order of citation | Usually order of citation | Alphabetical |
| Author names | Initials first | Surname first | Surname then initials, no full stops | Surname first, semicolons | Surname first |
| Article title | In quotation marks | Plain, sentence case | Plain, sentence case | Plain, title case (optional in some uses) | In single quotation marks |
| Journal name | Italic, abbreviated | Italic, in full | NLM abbreviation, plain | Italic, abbreviated | Italic, in full |
How Many Authors to List
- IEEE: list up to six authors; for more than six, give the first author followed by et al.
- APA 7: list up to 20 authors in the reference. For 21 or more, list the first 19, an ellipsis, then the final author. In text, use the first author plus "et al." for three or more authors.
- Vancouver: list the first six authors, then et al. if there are more.
- Harvard (Cite Them Right): in text, use the first author plus et al. for four or more authors; check your guide for the reference list rule.
Special Cases
- Article numbers: many online journals use an article number instead of pages. Use it where pages would go, for example "Art. no. 045102" in IEEE or "Article 045102" in APA.
- Advance online articles: cite with the DOI and, where your style allows, a note such as "Advance online publication" in APA.
- Preprints: name the server, such as arXiv or bioRxiv, and the identifier. Check whether a peer-reviewed version now exists and cite that instead if it does.
- No DOI: give a stable URL from the publisher or the database, as your style permits.
- Same author, same year (author-date styles): add a, b and so on after the year, for example 2021a and 2021b.
A Five-Step Process for Any Style
- Identify the style from your module handbook.
- Collect the details from the article itself.
- Format the reference using your style's template.
- Add the matching in-text citation where you use the source.
- Check that every in-text citation has a reference and every reference is cited.
Using Reference Managers Safely
Tools such as Zotero, Mendeley and EndNote save hours, but they import whatever metadata a database supplies. Errors in that metadata pass straight into your reference list.
- Check capitalization of titles, especially in APA and Vancouver, which use sentence case.
- Check that journal names are abbreviated or full as your style requires.
- Look for missing issue numbers, pages and DOIs.
Where Students Lose Marks
| Error | Fix |
|---|---|
| Mixing styles in one list | Choose one style and apply it to every entry |
| Missing DOI | Look it up on the article page |
| Numbered list in alphabetical order | Number in order of first citation for IEEE and Vancouver |
| Citing a database instead of the journal | Cite the journal; the database is only where you found it |
| Inconsistent capitalization | Follow the style's case rule for article titles |
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Frequently Asked Questions
Authors, year, article title, journal title, volume, issue, page range or article number, and the DOI.
It depends on the field. Engineering and computing often use IEEE, medicine uses Vancouver, chemistry uses ACS, and psychology and many life sciences use APA or Harvard. Your handbook decides.
In APA 7, IEEE, Vancouver and ACS, include it whenever the article has one. Many Harvard versions also include it.
As a full URL: https://doi.org/ followed by the DOI, with no "Retrieved from" and no full stop after it.
Give the authors, year, title, server name and identifier or DOI. If the paper has since been published in a journal, cite the published version.
In IEEE, Vancouver and ACS, yes, using the standard abbreviation. In APA and most Harvard versions, give the full journal name.