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In APA 7th edition, the in-text citation depends on how many authors a source has. With one or two authors you name them all, every time. With three or more you give the first author’s surname followed by “et al.” from the very first citation. This guide covers each case, the edition change that makes older advice wrong, and the one situation where “et al.” is not enough. It reflects the APA Publication Manual, 7th edition, as checked in October 2026.
Quick answer by number of authors
APA’s own formatting checklist states the rule in three lines: one author, use the surname in all in-text citations; two authors, use both surnames in all in-text citations; three or more, use only the first author’s surname and then “et al.” in all in-text citations. The table pairs each case with the matching reference-list treatment. All names below are fictitious.
| Authors | Parenthetical | Narrative | Reference list |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | (Harlow, 2021) | Harlow (2021) | The author listed |
| 2 | (Okafor & Lindqvist, 2020) | Okafor and Lindqvist (2020) | Both listed, comma after each, ampersand before the last |
| 3 to 20 | (Marsh et al., 2019) | Marsh et al. (2019) | Every author listed, ampersand before the last |
| 21 or more | (Marsh et al., 2019) | Marsh et al. (2019) | First 19 authors, an ellipsis (no ampersand), then the final author |
The point the table makes: the in-text form shortens at three authors, but the reference list does not shorten until the author count passes 20. A reader of Marsh et al. (2019) can still find every author in the reference entry.
Two authors: both names every time
APA two authors in-text citation: ampersand or “and”?
Use both surnames in every citation. In a parenthetical citation join them with an ampersand: (Okafor & Lindqvist, 2020). In a narrative citation, where the names are part of your sentence, write the word “and”: Okafor and Lindqvist (2020) found a smaller effect. APA’s checklist gives exactly this contrast, with the ampersand in parentheses and “and” in running text.
Three or more authors: first author plus et al. from the first citation
APA in-text citation with multiple authors (3+)
Give the first author’s surname and “et al.” in place of the other names, in both citation styles: (Marsh et al., 2019) or Marsh et al. (2019). APA’s What’s New guide for the 7th edition says this applies “even the first time a citation appears.” You do not write out the full author list at first mention, and you do not need a second form for later mentions.
Parenthetical versus narrative
A parenthetical citation puts author name and year in parentheses at the end of the statement. A narrative citation uses the author name in the sentence and puts only the year in parentheses. Both take “et al.” for three or more authors, and both follow the “and” or ampersand split for two authors shown above. For the general mechanics, see the CASRAI entry on the parenthetical citation.
When two sources shorten to the same et al.
The one exception to the et al. rule is ambiguity. APA’s quiz answer on this point reads: include the name of only the first author and write “et al.” in place of the other authors’ names “unless doing so would create ambiguity.” The What’s New guide adds the fix: when multiple references would shorten to the same “et al.” form, spell out as many author names as needed to tell them apart and to match each citation to its reference-list entry.
A worked example with fictitious references. Suppose your reference list contains two 2019 articles:
- Marsh, T., Duval, R., Ito, K., & Bell, A. (2019). First article title.
- Marsh, T., Okoye, N., Ito, K., & Bell, A. (2019). Second article title.
Both would shorten to (Marsh et al., 2019). Because they differ in the second author, spell out enough names to separate them: (Marsh, Duval, et al., 2019) and (Marsh, Okoye, et al., 2019). If the two works differed only in the last author, you would need to spell out every name up to the difference. Add as many names as it takes and no more. University library guides show the same pattern, for example the Cranfield University library guide and the James Cook University APA guide.
What changed from the 6th edition
This is why advice from older sources, or from an instructor trained on the 6th edition, can contradict what you read here. According to APA’s What’s New guide, the 6th edition spelled out the names at first citation and shortened later ones; the 7th edition uses the shortened form from the start:
| Citation | 6th edition | 7th edition |
|---|---|---|
| First citation, narrative | Smith, Ellenio, and Pruitt (2019) | Smith et al. (2019) |
| First citation, parenthetical | (Smith, Ellenio, & Pruitt, 2019) | (Smith et al., 2019) |
| Later citations | Smith et al. (2019) or (Smith et al., 2019) | Smith et al. (2019) or (Smith et al., 2019) |
APA describes this as a simplification. The guide also notes that the guidance in its sections 8.10 to 8.22 is otherwise unchanged from the 6th edition.
Applying the rule in a manuscript
- Count the authors on the title page of the source, not the number you remember.
- One or two authors: write every surname, with “and” in running text and an ampersand inside parentheses.
- Three or more: write the first surname and “et al.” every time.
- Compare against the other works in your reference list that share the same first author and year. If any pair would read identically, spell out additional names for both.
- Write the full reference entry: all authors up to 20, ampersand before the last; for 21 or more, the first 19, an ellipsis, then the final author.
- For a direct quotation, add the page after the year, for example (Marsh et al., 2019, p. 20). APA’s In-Text Citation Checklist gives the author, year and page pattern for direct quotes.
If you are formatting a journal submission rather than a student paper, check the journal’s instructions for authors first. A journal may specify its own reference style or modify APA, and its instruction overrides the general rule. Related CASRAI guides cover the APA reference page, citing in APA when there is no author, and citing a secondary source in APA.
Scope and other styles
This page covers the number-of-authors rule only. It does not cover group authors, works with no date, or several citations inside one set of parentheses. Other styles handle author counts differently: see Harvard in-text citation, MLA with multiple authors and Turabian in-text citation rather than assuming the APA pattern carries over.
FAQ
Do I list all authors the first time I cite a source in APA 7?
No, not for three or more authors. APA 7 uses the first author’s surname and “et al.” from the first citation onward. All authors appear in the reference list.
How do I cite two authors in text in APA?
Use both surnames every time: (Okafor & Lindqvist, 2020) in parentheses, Okafor and Lindqvist (2020) in a sentence.
Does “et al.” replace every author after the first?
Yes, unless doing so would make two different references look identical. In that case add enough names to separate them.
Is the APA 6th edition rule still valid?
Only if an instructor or publisher explicitly requires the older edition. The 6th edition wrote out the names at the first citation; APA 7 does not.
What goes in the reference list for a source with many authors?
Up to and including 20 authors, list every author with an ampersand before the last. For 21 or more, list the first 19, an ellipsis, and the final author.
Sources
- APA, Guide to What’s New in the Publication Manual, 7th edition, apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/whats-new-7e-guide.pdf, checked 29 October 2026.
- APA, Concise Guide student paper checklist (7th edition), apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/concise-guide-formatting-checklist.pdf, checked 29 October 2026.
- APA, APA Style knowledge quiz, apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/test-apa-style-knowledge.pdf, checked 29 October 2026.
- APA, In-Text Citation Checklist (7th edition), apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/in-text-citation-checklist.pdf, checked 29 October 2026.
- Cranfield University Library, How do I cite items with multiple authors in APA7?, blogs.cranfield.ac.uk/library/multiple-authors-apa7, checked 29 October 2026.
- James Cook University Library, APA 7th Edition Referencing Guide: Authors, libguides.jcu.edu.au/apa/authors, checked 29 October 2026.
