How to Cite a DOI in APA
Updated September 2026
Citing a doi in APA comes down to one template and a handful of rules. Below: the exact 7th edition format, a real example produced by our citation engine, and the in-text form — or paste your source into the generator on this page and copy the finished citation.
The APA format
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of article in sentence case. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), pages. https://doi.org/xxxx
APA (7th edition) formats a DOI source reference as shown above. A real example, generated by our citation engine:
Rasch, B., & Born, J. (2013). About sleep's role in memory. Physiological Reviews, 93(2), 681–766. https://doi.org/10.1152/physrev.00032.2012
In-text(Rasch & Born, 2013)
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Citation style
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition (2020). The 7th dropped the publisher location and the "Retrieved from" prefix that the 6th required.
Finding the pieces
Or skip the hunt: Paste the DOI straight into the generator — any form works (bare, https://doi.org/…, or dx.doi.org). It works out what the source is, fills every field from the source's own record, and is already set to APA.
- On the article — first-page header or footer of the PDF
- On the landing page — near the title or in the "Cite" panel
- In databases — PubMed, JSTOR, Scopus, and Google Scholar records all display it
- Via CrossRef — search.crossref.org finds a DOI from a title
APA's formatting rules at work
- Authors are inverted with initials: Alvarez, M.
- Titles use sentence case — only the first word, proper nouns, and the word after a colon are capitalized
- The date comes right after the author, in parentheses
- DOIs are formatted as full links: https://doi.org/10.xxxx
DOI-specific pitfalls
- A DOI identifies the work — the citation that results is for whatever the work is (almost always a journal article)
- The citation is built from the publisher's registry record, making DOI-based citations the most reliable kind
- When a source has a DOI, every modern style prefers it over a URL
In-text citations in APA
APA cites in the text with author and date: (Alvarez, 2024) for a paraphrase, with a page or paragraph locator for quotes — (Alvarez, 2024, p. 12) or (Alvarez, 2024, para. 3). Three or more authors shorten to et al. from the first citation: (Harris et al., 2020).
No author? A short version of the title stands in, in quotes: ("First Words of Title," 2024). No date? Use (Author, n.d.).
Building the References
Every in-text citation pairs with a full entry on the References page, alphabetized by author. Add each citation to your bibliography as you generate it, and the Bibliography Builder assembles and exports the finished page to Word with the title, ordering, and indentation APA requires.
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Go Premium — $5/monthFrequently asked questions
- What's the basic APA format for a doi?
- Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of article in sentence case. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), pages. https://doi.org/xxxx — see the worked example above, generated by the same engine that powers the free citation tool.
- What if my source has no DOI?
- Common for pre-2000 articles and most web content. Cite with the journal's URL or the print details instead — the format is otherwise identical.
- How do I cite a doi in APA in-text?
- Author and year: (Alvarez, 2024), adding a page or paragraph locator for direct quotes.
- Can I get this citation in other styles too?
- Yes — every result in the generator renders APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, and IEEE simultaneously. Generate once, switch styles with one click.