Written and maintained by CASRAI Editorial Board
Last updated
In APA 7th edition you almost never cite a database itself. You cite the item you took from it: the article, the book, the dissertation or the data. For journal articles and books found through an academic database, the database name is left out of the reference. The exceptions are a dissertation retrieved from a database and statistics or data pulled from one, and this guide shows each case with its matching in-text form, for manuscripts and theses.
The format: what to cite depends on what you took from the database
| What you used | Cite | Database name in the reference? |
|---|---|---|
| Journal article or book found in a library database | The article or book, with its DOI if it has one | No. APA’s journal-article and book rules give no database information for works from academic databases. |
| Doctoral dissertation from a database | The dissertation, with its publication number | Yes, as the final element. |
| Data or statistics drawn from a database | The dataset, using the dataset pattern | Depends on who publishes the data (see below). |
Journal article or book
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of the article. Name of the Periodical, volume(issue), #-#. https://doi.org/xxxx
Include a DOI for every work that has one. The rules for books are the same in this respect: no database information is added. A guide to citing a thesis or dissertation is at how to cite a thesis in APA.
Dissertation from a database
Author, A. (Year). Title (Publication No. #) [Doctoral dissertation, University Name]. Database Name.
Dataset or statistics from a database
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of data set (Identifier #; Version #) [Data set]. Publisher. https://doi.org/xxxx
A university library guide (Augusta University) says that if there is no DOI you use a freely accessible URL instead, and that if the publisher is the same as the author the publisher is omitted. A second guide (Swansea University) gives a template for data from a subscription database that names the database as the source: Corporate author. (Year). Title of dataset. Database name. URL. It also gives a form for figures you have changed, which begins the title with "Data derived from:".
Examples
All sources below are invented examples of the pattern, not real publications or people.
Example 1: article found in a database
Smith, J., & Lee, K. (2023). Effects of sample size on bias. Journal of Example Studies, 12(3), 45-60. https://doi.org/10.0000/example.123
The database you used to find it does not appear.
Example 2: dissertation from a database
Smith, J. (2018). Study of examples (Publication No. 00000000) [Doctoral dissertation, Example University]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global.
See also citing a dissertation in APA.
Example 3: dataset with a DOI
Smith, J. (2022). Example survey responses (EX-001; Version 1) [Data set]. Example Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.0000/example.v1
Example 4: data from an organisation, no separate publisher
Example Statistics Office. (2020). Example household indicators [Data set]. https://example.org/data/household-indicators
The publisher is the same as the author, so it is omitted.
Example 5: figures from a subscription database (Swansea-style source form)
Example Statistics Office. (2020). Example household indicators. Example Statistics Database. URL
Whether the URL belongs in such a reference differs between guides. The Augusta guide says not to include URLs for resources in academic library databases unless they are open access, while the Swansea template ends with a URL. Follow your institution’s or target journal’s instructions on this point.
In-text citation version
The in-text form follows the item cited, not the database. Parenthetical: (Smith & Lee, 2023). Narrative: Smith and Lee (2023). For group authors of data, the guides show the same author-date form: (World Bank, 2018) or World Bank (2018), and (Office for National Statistics, 2018). A hanging indent applies to every reference entry; see APA hanging indent.
Common errors
- Adding the database name to an article or book reference. APA does not ask for it for works from academic databases.
- Leaving out the DOI. The rule is to include one for every work that has it.
- Using a retrieval date everywhere. A retrieval date is for pages designed to change over time, in the form "Retrieved Month Day, Year, from URL". The Swansea guide adds that a date of retrieval is not normally required for datasets, but should be included if the information is likely to change.
- Pasting a database’s "Cite" button output unchecked. Compare it with the templates above before it goes into a thesis, and remove any database name or session URL that APA does not call for on an article.
- Citing a dataset as if it were an article. Data needs the [Data set] label or equivalent source form and an identifier or version where one exists. For more on the data elements, see how to cite a dataset and citing data.
If you also report which databases you searched, that belongs in your methods text; see PsycArticles for an example of naming a database there.
Style-guide edition
This page follows APA 7th edition (2020), the current edition as of October 2026. The article, book, dissertation and dataset patterns follow APA Style’s published reference examples, and the dataset notes match the two university library guides listed under Sources. For the other major styles, see citation styles and referencing formats.
FAQ
Do I cite the database or the article?
The article. You cite the item you used; the database was only the route to it.
Do I include the database name?
Not for journal articles and books from academic databases. Include it for a dissertation from a database, and for data where the database is the source or publisher of the data.
Do I need a URL?
Use the DOI when there is one. For library-database resources, the Augusta guide says not to give a URL unless the item is open access; for a dataset it says to give the DOI and, if there is no DOI, a freely accessible URL.
Do I need a retrieval date?
Only for content designed to change over time. It is not normally required for datasets unless the information is likely to change.
Sources
- APA Style, American Psychological Association: reference examples for journal articles, books, dissertations and datasets (APA 7th edition, 2020): https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples. Checked 2026-10-28.
- Augusta University Library, APA guide, Data sets: https://guides.augusta.edu/APA/data. Checked 2026-10-29.
- Swansea University Library, APA 7th referencing, Statistics: https://libguides.swansea.ac.uk/APA7Referencing/Statistics. Checked 2026-10-29.
