For a work with up to 20 authors, include all of the names in the reference. When the work has 21 or more authors, include only the first 19 names, an ellipsis, and the final name (see this guideline in the fifth and sixth bullets in Section 9.8 of the Publication Manual and Example 4 in Chapter 10).

Works Written By Two Authors Works by two authors should list the last names and first initials separated by an ampersand (&). These names should be followed by the date of publication enclosed in parentheses. If the work is a journal article, the title of the article should immediately follow the publication date.

Use the word “and” between the authors’ names within the text and use the ampersand in parentheses. In subsequent citations, only use the first author’s last name followed by “et al.” in the signal phrase or in parentheses. In et al., et should not be followed by a period.

You may include up to 20 authors in a reference list entry.

Number of Authors to Include in In-text Citations For a work with one or two authors, include the author name(s) in every citation. For a work with three or more authors, include the name of only the first author plus “et al.” in every citation, including the first citation, unless doing so would create ambiguity.

NOTE: The in-text citation for works with three or more authors is shortened to the first author’s name followed by et al. and the year.

Reference list citations start with Author information. Since Author information comes first, it is the first component that your readers will identify and therefore needs to tie most directly to the In-text citation.

More Than Seven Authors List by last names and initials; commas separate author names. After the sixth author’s name, use an ellipsis in place of the author names. Then provide the final author name. There should be no more than seven names.

NOTE: If an article has eight or more authors, list the names of the first six authors followed by an ellipsis ( . . .) and then the last author’s name in the reference entry (p. 198). Reference list entry: Author Surname, First Initial.

Specifically, articles with one or two authors include all names in every in-text citation; articles with three, four, or five authors include all names in the first in-text citation but are abbreviated to the first author name plus et al.

Citing Works With Three or More Authors Include only the last name of the first author, followed by “et al.” and the year published in all narrative and parenthetical citations APA. Note: The reference entry should list the names of up to 20 authors.