APA 7: everything that changed from APA 6
Short answer
Apa 7 changes
APA 7 removed the publisher location, raised the author limit in reference lists from seven to twenty, moved to 'et al.' from the third author onward in every in-text citation, formats DOIs as full https://doi.org/ links without a 'doi:' label, dropped 'Retrieved from' before URLs, and endorses singular 'they'. Guides written for APA 6 are still widely circulated online, which is why students following them lose marks on work that looks correct.
Why this still matters in 2026
APA 7 was published in 2019, but APA 6 guides remain heavily indexed and are often the first result students find. Following one produces a reference list that looks plausible and is systematically wrong.
The changes below are the ones that actually appear in undergraduate work. The manual contains more, but these are what markers see.
Publisher location is gone
APA 6: Bolton, G. (2018). Reflective practice (5th ed.). London, England: SAGE.
APA 7: Bolton, G. (2018). Reflective practice (5th ed.). SAGE.
This is the single most common tell that a student used an APA 6 guide. The city was removed entirely — not made optional.
Up to twenty authors, not seven
APA 6 listed the first six authors, then an ellipsis, then the last. APA 7 lists all authors up to twenty.
With twenty-one or more, list the first nineteen, then an ellipsis, then the final author — with no ampersand before it.
et al. from three authors, immediately
APA 6 required you to spell out all authors on the first in-text citation of a three-to-five author work, then shorten. APA 7 removed that step.
APA 6: (Thomas, Hill, & Okafor, 2024) first, then (Thomas et al., 2024).
APA 7: (Thomas et al., 2024) every time, from the first citation.
DOIs are full links now
APA 6: doi:10.1080/03075079.2024.2298471
APA 7: https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2024.2298471
'Retrieved from' before a URL was also dropped, except where a retrieval date is genuinely needed because the content is designed to change.
Singular they, and bias-free language
APA 7 explicitly endorses singular 'they' as a generic third-person pronoun, and as the correct pronoun for a person who uses it.
The bias-free language guidelines were expanded substantially. Describe people in terms they use for themselves, and prefer 'people with diabetes' over 'diabetics' — person-first unless the community concerned prefers identity-first, as many autistic and Deaf people do.
Smaller changes worth knowing
- Any of several fonts are now acceptable, including 11pt Calibri and 12pt Times New Roman — APA 6 effectively mandated one.
- Running heads are no longer required for student papers, only professional ones.
- Tables and figures now share one consistent format with the title above and notes below.
- The website name is included for web sources, where APA 6 often omitted it.
- Up to two publisher names can be listed, separated by a semicolon.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the main difference between APA 6 and APA 7?
- For most student work, four things: the publisher location was removed, the reference-list author limit rose from seven to twenty, in-text citations use 'et al.' from three authors onward immediately, and DOIs are formatted as full https://doi.org/ links with no 'doi:' label.
- Do I still write 'Retrieved from' before a URL?
- No. APA 7 dropped it, except where you also need a retrieval date because the source is designed to change — a wiki, or a page explicitly labelled as continuously updated.
- How many authors before et al. in APA 7?
- Three. A work by three or more authors is cited as (First author et al., year) from the very first in-text citation. Two authors are always both named, joined by an ampersand inside parentheses.
- Is singular 'they' allowed in APA 7?
- Yes, explicitly. APA 7 endorses singular 'they' both as a generic third-person pronoun and as the correct pronoun for anyone who uses it. Constructions like 'he or she' are discouraged.
Keep reading
Related guides
Which Harvard does your university actually use?
There is no single Harvard style.
The referencing mistakes that cost the most marks
The four referencing errors that cost the most marks are: paraphrased ideas with no citation, in-text citations that do not match the reference list, mixing Harvard variants within one document, and citing sources you have not read.