Leeds Harvard: Journal article

Reference examples

Include the full title of the journal in your reference. Abbreviated titles are not used in the Leeds Harvard style.

Use p. to reference a single page, and pp. for a range of pages.

If you are referencing a journal article which you have read online (on a website or as a PDF), you should include [online], the DOI if available (or the URL if no DOI is available), and the access date in your reference. DOIs can be identified as a long code starting with “10.” and should be presented in your reference as a link, as shown in the examples on this page. This advice was updated in September 2024.

One author

Family name, INITIAL(S). Year. Title of article. Journal Title. [Online]. Volume(issue number), page numbers. [Date accessed]. Available from: DOI (or URL if no DOI available)

Example:
Pajunen, K. 2008. Institutions and inflows of foreign direct investment: a fuzzy-set analysis. Journal of International Business Studies. [Online]. 39(4), pp.652-669. [Accessed 3 April 2024]. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400371

Two authors

Family name, INITIAL(S) and Family name, INITIAL(S). Year. Title of article. Journal Title. [Online]. Volume(issue number), page numbers. [Date accessed]. Available from: DOI (or URL if no DOI available)

Example:
Gencturk, B. and Hosseini, F. 2015. Evaluation of reinforced concrete and reinforced engineered cementitious composite (ECC) members and structures using small-scale testing. Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering. [Online]. 42(3), pp.164-177. [Accessed 4 September 2024]. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1139/cjce-2013-0445

More than two authors

Family name, INITIAL(S), Family name, INITIAL(S), Family name, INITIAL(S) and Family name, INITIAL(S). Year. Title of article. Journal Title. [Online]. Volume(issue number), page numbers. [Date accessed]. Available from: DOI (or URL if no DOI available)

Example:
MacNaughton, S.J., Stephen, J.R., Venosa, A.D., Davis, G.A., Chang, Y.J. and White, D.C. 1999. Microbial population changes during bioremediation of an experimental oil spill. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. [Online]. 65(8), pp.3566-3574. [Accessed 4 September 2024]. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.65.8.3566-3574.1999

Articles that use article numbers

Family name, INITIAL(S). Year. Title of article. Journal Title. [Online]. Volume, article no: article number [no pagination]. [Date accessed]. Available from: DOI (or URL if no DOI available)

Example:
Chou, C.L., Teherani, A., Masters, D.E., Vener, M., Wamsley, M. and Poncelet, A. 2014. Workplace learning through peer groups in medical school clerkships. Medical Education Online. [Online]. 19, article no: 25809 [no pagination]. [Accessed 4 September 2024]. Available from: https://doi.org/10.3402/meo.v19.25809

Articles published in supplements

Some journals publish “supplements”, which are occasional extra issues of a volume which fall outside the normal publishing schedule. These are usually indicated by a different issue number eg “S1” or “Supp”, and may have different page numbers eg “S1-S24” or “E335-E400”. There could be more than one supplement in one volume of a journal.

Family name, INITIAL(S). Year. Title of article. Journal Title. [Online]. Volume(Supp. number if more than one), page numbers. [Date accessed]. Available from: DOI (or URL if no DOI available)

Example:
Ruth, B.J. and Marshall, J.W. 2017. A history of social work in public health. American Journal of Public Health. [Online]. 107(Supp. 3), pp. S236-S242. [Accessed 4 September 2024]. Available from: https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2017.304005

Pre-print and post-print articles

A pre-print is an journal article that has not yet undergone peer review. A post-print is also known as an “accepted author manuscript” and is an article that has been peer reviewed and accepted by the publisher, but not yet published in a journal. You will often find these articles in online repositories or archives.

Pre-print article
Family name, INITIAL(S). Year written. [Pre-print]. Title of article. Journal Title. [Online]. [Date accessed]. Available from: DOI (or URL if no DOI available)

Example:
Grachev, A.A., Leo, L.S., Di Sabatino, S., Fernando, H.J.S., Pardyjak, E.R. and Fairall, C.W. 2014. [Pre-print]. Structure of turbulence in katabatic flows below and above the wind-speed maximum. Boundary-Layer Meteorology. [Online]. [Accessed 4 September 2024]. Available from: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1501.02297

Post-print article
Family name, INITIAL(S). Year written. [Post-print]. Title of article. Journal Title. [Online]. [Date accessed]. Available from: DOI (or URL if no DOI available)

Example:Morin, E. 2024. [Post-print]. Draperies and reveries: W.B. Yeats and the aesthetic of the background. Modern Drama. [Online]. [Accessed 4 September 2024]. Available from: https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/216802/

Citation examples

Author and date

When the author name is not mentioned in the text, the citation consists of the author’s name and the year of publication in brackets.

Example:

It was emphasised that citations in the text should be consistent (Jones, 2017).

If you have already named the author in the text, only the publication year needs to be mentioned in brackets.

Example:

Jones (2017) emphasised that citations in the text should be consistent.

Three or more authors

If a source has three or more authors, the name of the first author should be given, followed by the phrase "et al."

Examples

It was emphasised that citations in a text should be consistent (Jones et al., 2017).

Jones et al. (2017) emphasised that citations in a text should be consistent.

Ibid.

Leeds Harvard does not use ibid to refer to previously cited items. If you are citing the same item twice in a row (i.e. you do not cite any other items in the text between the two citations) you must write the full citation again.

The key principle of referencing is that the reader should understand which information came from another source and which is your own idea, so you should provide citations as often as is necessary to make this clear.
If you feel that you are citing the same source too many times in one paragraph, you could change the way that you are writing:

You could include the author’s surname or pronoun in the sentence, to show you are still referring to the same source.
You could include a second source to make your paragraph feel less repetitive and add further support to the point you want to make. See our guidance on incorporating evidence into your writing.

Example:

Jones et al. (2017) emphasised that citations in a text should be consistent and argued that referencing is a key part of academic integrity. Furthermore, having a broad range of references in a text is an indicator of the breadth of a scholar's reading and research (Jones et al., 2017). They also suggested that…

Corporate author

If the item is produced by an organisation, treat the organisation as a "corporate author". This means you can use the name of the organisation instead of that of an individual author. This includes government departments, universities or companies. Cite the corporate author in the text the same way as you would an individual author.

Example:

According to a recent report, flu jabs are as important as travel vaccines (Department of Health, 2017).

When to include page numbers

You should include page numbers in your citation if you quote directly from the text, paraphrase specific ideas or explanations, or use an image, diagram, table, etc. from a source.

Example:

"It was emphasised that citations in a text should be consistent" (Jones, 2017, p.24).

When referencing a single page, you should use p. For a range of pages, use pp.

Example:

p.7 or pp.20-29.

If the page numbers are in Roman numerals, do not include p. before them.

Example:

(Amis, 1958, iv)

Common issues

When you're referencing with Leeds Harvard you may come across issues with missing details, multiple authors, edited books, references to another author's work or online items, to name a few. Here are some tips on how to deal with some common issues when using Leeds Harvard.

Skip straight to the issue that affects you: