Most academic sources have more than one author. A psychology study might list three researchers. A textbook might have a dozen contributors. And a large-scale meta-analysis could name twenty or more.
The good news is that APA 7th edition simplified the multi-author rules significantly. If you learned the old system (where you listed every author the first time and used "et al." after that), you can forget it. The new rules are cleaner — let's walk through them.
One Author — The Baseline
Before tackling multiple authors, let's anchor on the simplest case:
Reference list:
Garcia, M. L. (2022). Decision-making under uncertainty: A cognitive approach. Oxford University Press.
In-text citations:
Parenthetical:(Garcia, 2022)
Narrative:Garcia (2022) argued that…
One name, one year. That's the foundation everything else builds on.
Two Authors
When a work has two authors, include both names every time you cite it — in every single citation, first and subsequent.
Reference list:
Patel, R., & Nakamura, K. (2021). Bilingual advantages in executive function: A longitudinal study. Developmental Psychology, 57(3), 412–425. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001148
In-text citations:
Parenthetical:(Patel & Nakamura, 2021)
Narrative:Patel and Nakamura (2021) found that…
Notice the difference:
- In parenthetical citations and in the reference list, use the ampersand (&).
- In narrative citations (where the names are part of your sentence), write out "and."
This is one of the most common small errors in student papers. Think of it this way: if the names are inside parentheses, use &. If they're outside parentheses, use "and."
Three or More Authors — The et al. Rule
This is where APA 7th edition made the biggest change. The rule is now beautifully simple:
For works with three or more authors, use the first author's last name followed by "et al." in every citation — including the very first one.
That's it. No more listing all authors the first time. No more switching between formats depending on whether it's the first or subsequent citation. Just "et al." from the start.
Reference list (list all authors up to 20):
Henrich, J., Heine, S. J., & Norenzayan, A. (2010). The weirdest people in the world? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 33(2–3), 61–83. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X0999152X
In-text citations (every time):
Parenthetical:(Henrich et al., 2010)
Narrative:Henrich et al. (2010) argued that…
Key details about et al.:
- "et al." is short for et alia (Latin for "and others").
- The "et" has no period after it. The "al." does have a period — because it's an abbreviation.
- It's not italicized in the text.
- In a narrative citation, the sentence verb agrees with the full author group: "Henrich et al. (2010) found that…" — not "Henrich et al. finds."
What Changed From the 6th Edition
If your instructor learned APA under the 6th edition — or if you're updating a paper from an older format — here's what's different:
| Rule | 6th Edition | 7th Edition |
|---|---|---|
| 3–5 authors, first citation | List all authors | Use et al. from the first citation |
| 3–5 authors, subsequent citations | Use et al. | Use et al. |
| 6+ authors | Use et al. from first citation | Use et al. from first citation |
| Reference list, max authors before "…" | 7 | 20 |
In plain English: The 6th edition had different rules for 3–5 authors vs. 6+ authors. The 7th edition collapsed those into a single rule: three or more = et al. every time. It also expanded the reference list limit from 7 authors to 20 before you start using the ellipsis.
For a complete comparison of all edition changes, see APA 6th vs. 7th Edition — What Changed.
Group and Organizational Authors
When an organization is the author (rather than individual people), the group name replaces the author's last name in the citation.
Group Author With a Well-Known Abbreviation
If the organization has a familiar abbreviation, spell it out the first time and abbreviate it after that:
First citation (parenthetical):(American Psychological Association [APA], 2020)
Subsequent citations:(APA, 2020)
First citation (narrative):The American Psychological Association (APA, 2020) recommends…
Subsequent citations:APA (2020) recommends…
Group Author Without an Abbreviation
If the organization doesn't have a standard abbreviation (or the abbreviation wouldn't be recognized by your readers), spell out the full name every time:
Every citation:(National Sleep Foundation, 2024)
Narrative:The National Sleep Foundation (2024) reports that…
Don't abbreviate unless it helps. Abbreviations like WHO, CDC, NASA, and APA are universally recognized. But "University of Colorado Denver" abbreviated to "UCD" would confuse more than it helps — just write it out each time.
Reference list (both cases):
American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). American Psychological Association.
In the reference list, always use the full name — never the abbreviation.
Ambiguous "et al." — When Two Citations Look the Same
Here's a tricky situation. Suppose you're citing two different papers that, when shortened to "first author et al.," look identical:
- Paper A: Torres, Kim, & Osei (2022)
- Paper B: Torres, Nakamura, & Chen (2022)
Both would shorten to (Torres et al., 2022). Your reader wouldn't know which paper you mean.
The fix: Include as many author names as needed to distinguish the two citations, then add "et al.":
(Torres, Kim, et al., 2022) — referring to Paper A
(Torres, Nakamura, et al., 2022) — referring to Paper B
In the reference list, both entries are listed fully as usual — no ambiguity there.
This rule only kicks in when two or more references would produce identical shortened citations. If there's no ambiguity, use the standard "first author et al." format.
Twenty-One or More Authors
Most student papers won't encounter this, but it comes up in large-scale scientific research. If a work has 21 or more authors:
Reference list: List the first 19 authors, then insert an ellipsis (…), then the last author:
Kaptchuk, T. J., Miller, F. G., Irwin, S., Reardon, C., Park, C., Nedeljkovic, M., Jütte, R., Sismondo, S., Mitseas, A., Fernandez, M. A., Moerman, D. E., Meissner, K., Gold, J. I., Colloca, L., Barsky, A. J., Benedetti, F., Enck, P., Klinger, R., Vase, L., … Whitehead, W. E. (2023). Toward a placebo science: A multicenter study. Pain, 164(2), 301–315.
In-text citations: Same as always — first author + et al.:
(Kaptchuk et al., 2023)
Quick-Reference Table
| Number of Authors | In-Text Citation (Every Time) | Reference List |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | (Garcia, 2022) | Garcia, M. L. (2022). |
| 2 | (Patel & Nakamura, 2021) | Patel, R., & Nakamura, K. (2021). |
| 3–20 | (Henrich et al., 2010) | List all authors |
| 21+ | (Kaptchuk et al., 2023) | First 19 … last author |
| Group (known abbreviation) | First: (APA, 2020); then: (APA, 2020) | Full name |
| Group (no abbreviation) | (National Sleep Foundation, 2024) | Full name |
| Ambiguous et al. | (Torres, Kim, et al., 2022) | List all authors |
Common Mistakes
These are the multi-author errors we see most often:
- Using "and" instead of "&" in parenthetical citations. Inside parentheses, it's always &. "And" is for narrative citations only.
- Listing all authors the first time (6th edition habit). In APA 7th, use et al. from the very first citation when there are three or more authors.
- Using et al. in the reference list. Never. The reference list always spells out every author's name (up to 20).
- Putting a period after "et." "et" is a complete Latin word, not an abbreviation. No period: et al. — not et. al.
- Forgetting to introduce the abbreviation for group authors. Spell out the full name on first use (with the abbreviation in brackets) before switching to the abbreviation.
- Abbreviating obscure group names. Only abbreviate if the abbreviation is well-known. If your reader wouldn't recognize it, spell it out every time.
What's Next
Now that you know how to handle multiple authors, explore these related topics:
- How to Cite a Source With No Author in APA — what to do when there's no author at all
- APA In-Text Citations — the complete guide to in-text citation formatting
- APA Reference List — how to format your reference entries
Archivero handles multi-author citations automatically — it knows when to use et al., when to spell out "and," and when two references need disambiguation. Just save your sources and let Archivero do the formatting.
