OmniDocAPA 7 Reference With Multiple Authors: Rules and Examples
Learn how APA 7 handles author counts in reference lists and in-text citations for two, three and many authors, with examples you can copy.
If you are building a reference list in APA 7th edition, the author rules change depending on how many people wrote the source and where the citation appears. A two-author journal article, a three-author report and a paper with forty contributors each follow a different pattern. Many writers get one place right and the other wrong, and the error is easy to miss because each entry looks reasonable on its own.
This guide explains how to reference multiple authors in APA 7th style, covering both the reference list and in-text citations. You will see the rules for two, three and many authors, a set of steps for formatting a multi-author entry in a Word document, and a checklist for verifying your work before you submit it.
OmniDoc does not apply APA rules for you, so the method below works in any word processor. If you write in Word, you can follow it directly. The UniDoc web editor at app.unidoc.top also supports Word-compatible editing if you prefer a browser.
How many authors do you list in an APA 7 reference? The short answer
List up to 20 authors in the reference list, and in the text use the lead author's surname followed by "et al." once a source has three or more authors. The table below covers the common cases.
| Your situation | What to do | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Two authors | List both names in the reference list; in text, cite both names every time | APA 7 always names both authors when there are two |
| Three to 20 authors | List every author in the reference list; in text, use the lead author and "et al." | The reference list names everyone, while in-text citations stay short |
| 21 or more authors | List the first 19, add an ellipsis, then the final author; in text, use "et al." | The list stays readable while the last author still gets named |
| Two authors in a narrative sentence | Write "Smith and Jones (2020) found..." | Narrative citations use "and" instead of the ampersand |
Before you start
Gather a few things before you format the entry. Doing this first prevents many of the corrections you would otherwise make later.
- Get the full author list from the source itself. Search snippets and database summaries often shorten long lists, and the reference list must match the byline on the article or report.
- Note the author order as printed. APA 7 keeps the byline order inside an entry, so the sequence of names cannot be rearranged to suit alphabetical sorting.
- Check whether your instructor or journal has its own rules. Some programs ask for different details, so APA 7 applies unless your guidelines say otherwise.
- Find the DOI or URL. APA 7 asks you to include a DOI as a link when one exists.
- Decide how you will format the document. Hanging indents and italics need consistent settings across the whole list, so set them up once and check them at the end.
Formatting a multi-author reference in Word, step by step
Follow these steps for each entry, then apply the list-wide settings at the end.
- Copy the author names in byline order. Keep the sequence from the source, because the reference list follows the order in which the authors are printed.
- Write each name as surname, then initials. For example, "Park, J. H." uses a comma after the surname and a period after each initial.
- Separate names with commas, and add an ampersand before the last author. APA 7 places a comma before the ampersand, even with two authors, as in "Smith, A. A., & Jones, B. B."
- If there are 21 or more authors, shorten the list. Write the first 19 names, insert an ellipsis, then add the final author's name, as in "Lee, A. A., ... Zhou, K. K."
- Add the year in parentheses after the author list. Place a period after the closing parenthesis, then add the title and publication details.
- Apply a hanging indent to the whole list. In Word's paragraph settings, choose a special hanging indent of 0.5 inch and apply it to every entry.
- Sort the list alphabetically by lead author surname. When two entries share a lead author, sort them by the second author's surname, and place single-author entries before multi-author ones.
- Write the in-text citations to match the list. Two-author sources always name both authors, and three-plus-author sources use the lead author with "et al." from the first citation onward.
Check the result
Once the document is formatted, go through the list and the in-text citations side by side. OmniDoc does not check APA formatting, so these checks are your responsibility.
| Check | How to see it | If it's wrong |
|---|---|---|
| Author count in the list | Compare each entry with the source's byline | Add missing names, or apply the 21-author ellipsis rule |
| Ampersand or "and" | Parenthetical citations use &; narrative sentences use "and" | Correct the punctuation in the affected citations |
| "et al." use | Count the authors in each in-text citation | Two-author sources must name both; three or more use "et al." |
| Sort order | Read the lead author surnames down the list | Reorder the entries alphabetically |
| Hanging indent | Check the paragraph settings of several entries | Reapply the indent to the whole list |
| Matching pairs | Confirm every in-text citation has a list entry, and the reverse | Add the missing entry or fix the year or name |
❓ FAQ
1. Does APA 7 use "et al." in the reference list?
No. The reference list names up to 20 authors. Only the 21-plus rule uses an ellipsis, and it does not use "et al."
2. How do I cite a group or organization as the author?
Use the organization's full name in place of author names. If you will refer to it with an abbreviation later, put the abbreviation in square brackets at the first in-text citation, then use only the abbreviation afterward.
3. Do book chapters follow the same author rules?
The author rules are the same, but chapters list the chapter authors first and the editors separately, using the "In" format. Check the editor names against the book's title page.
4. Can I reorder authors so the list looks tidier?
No. Keep the byline order inside each entry. Only the list of entries as a whole is sorted alphabetically.
📝 Summary
APA 7th edition lists up to 20 authors in the reference list and switches to the lead author with "et al." in text once there are three or more. Apply the same rules to every entry, then run the checklist above so the reference list and in-text citations match.
