In APA, a paper with three authors is cited one of two ways, depending on the edition. APA 6 named all three the first time, as in (Smith, Ellenio, & Pruitt, 2019), and shortened them after; APA 7 writes (Smith et al., 2019) from the start (American Psychological Association, 2020). Chicago made the same move in 2024, MLA in 2016.
EdCitation publishes this guide to the rules that changed between editions, old beside new, read on 26 September 2026 at each style's own pages or a university library's comparison. What could not be confirmed is marked. Rules dropped outright are in retired citation rules you can stop following, and every style's et al. threshold in when to use et al..
EdCitation's free Cite a source builds APA 7, MLA 9 and Chicago 18 author-date, with Harvard, IEEE and Vancouver. The older editions below are described, not offered.
Which citation rules changed between editions?
The rules that changed most set how many authors appear, in the text and in the list.
| Style | Old edition | New edition | The change most students meet | Build it now |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| APA | 6th | 7th (2019, cited as 2020) | Et al. from the first citation; up to 20 authors in the list | Cite a source, APA 7 |
| MLA | 7th | 8th (2016) | One template of core elements; et al. from three authors | Cite a source, MLA 9 |
| MLA | 8th (2016) | 9th (2021) | Guidance added, template kept | Cite a source, MLA 9 |
| Chicago | 17th (2017) | 18th (2024) | Two names in a text citation; six in the list | Cite a source, Chicago 18 |
| Harvard (Cite Them Right) | 12th | 13th (2025) | No place of publication; sentence case in the list | Cite a source, Harvard, 12th edition |
What changed from APA 6 to APA 7?
APA 7 shortened citations in the text and lengthened the reference list. Most other changes remove words.
| Rule | APA 6 | APA 7 |
|---|---|---|
| Three to five authors in the text | Every name at the first citation, then et al. | Et al. from the first citation |
| Authors in the list | Up to seven; with eight or more, the first six, an ellipsis and the last | Up to 20; with 21 or more, the first 19, an ellipsis and the last |
| DOI | doi:10.1037/0278-6133.24.2.225 | https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-6133.24.2.225 |
| Book publisher | New York, NY: The Guilford Press. | The Guilford Press. |
| Author who is also the publisher | "Author." in place of the publisher | Publisher left out |
| Ebook | [EBSCOhost eBook Collection version]. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.com | Cited like the print book, with its publisher |
| Streaming video | [Video file]. Retrieved from and the address | [Video]. YouTube. and the address |
| Issue number | Given for a journal paginated by issue | Always given when there is one |
Sources: APA's guide to the seventh edition (American Psychological Association, 2020), Lincoln's library (University of Lincoln, n.d.), East Carolina's comparison for the ebook and video rows (Forbes, n.d.) and Purdue's archived APA 6 pages (Purdue Online Writing Lab, n.d.-b, n.d.-c). APA's own story is in the history of APA Style.
Why the list grew to 20 names
Because writers found the old ellipsis rule hard to remember and met it often, while listing every author fails for papers with hundreds; 20 was the balance (McAdoo, 2019).
One real paper in both editions
The FAIR Guiding Principles paper in Scientific Data has 53 authors. In APA 6 its entry named seven:
Wilkinson, M. D., Dumontier, M., Aalbersberg, I. J., Appleton, G., Axton, M., Baak, A., . . . Mons, B. (2016). The FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship. Scientific Data, 3, 160018. doi:10.1038/sdata.2016.18
Given its DOI on 26 September 2026, Cite a source found Crossref's record, reported no retraction, listed a 2019 addendum as a notice, and returned:
Wilkinson, M. D., Dumontier, M., Aalbersberg, Ij. J., Appleton, G., Axton, M., Baak, A., Blomberg, N., Boiten, J.-W., da Silva Santos, L. B., Bourne, P. E., Bouwman, J., Brookes, A. J., Clark, T., Crosas, M., Dillo, I., Dumon, O., Edmunds, S., Evelo, C. T., Finkers, R., … Mons, B. (2016). The FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship. Scientific Data, 3(1), Article 160018. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2016.18
Nineteen names, the ellipsis, the last author: APA 7 exactly, cited (Wilkinson et al., 2016). Cite a source sets a title deposited in title case in sentence case, but Crossref holds this one with capitals on "Guiding Principles" alone, so a rerun on 27 September 2026 kept it as deposited. Two things to fix by hand: lower those two words, "The FAIR guiding principles for...", and check the third author's initials, returned as "Ij. J." for IJsbrand Jan Aalbersberg, against the byline.
What changed from MLA 7 to MLA 8, and from MLA 8 to MLA 9?
MLA 8 changed how every entry is built; MLA 9 kept it. Before 2016 each format (book, DVD, web page) had its own instructions. MLA 8 replaced them with one list of core elements in a fixed order, for any source (Modern Language Association, n.d.); the container is whatever holds the source, such as the journal holding an article.
MLA 7 to MLA 8
| Rule | MLA 7 | MLA 8 |
|---|---|---|
| Several authors | Coauthors could be left out only with four or more, as an option | With three or more, the first author and et al., normally |
| Volume and issue | 64.1 | vol. 64, no. 1 |
| Pages in the list | 58-65 | pp. 58-65 |
| Words such as editor | Abbreviated (ed.) | Written out (edited by) |
| Web address | Not normally given | Given, without angle brackets |
| Missing date | n.d. | Left out, or supplied in square brackets from a reliable source |
| Date you consulted a web page | Part of a web entry | Optional |
Every row is from the MLA's own list (Modern Language Association, n.d.). "Print", "Web" and the city also went; see the retired rules guide.
MLA 8 to MLA 9
Little changed in the entries. The ninth edition added hundreds of examples and sections on inclusive language, annotated bibliographies and notes (Modern Language Association, 2021a). A season in a date is now lower case, "spring 2008", as in prose (Modern Language Association, 2021b); a DOI takes https://doi.org/ (Doose, 2022); and "Other Contributors" became "Contributor" (Purdue Online Writing Lab, n.d.-a). More in the history of MLA style.
Et al. in MLA, then and now
Take Statistics by David Freedman, Robert Pisani and Roger Purves (4th ed., W. W. Norton, 2007). Under MLA 7 the entry began with all three names; from MLA 8, with one. Given the ISBN 9780393929720, Cite a source found Open Library's record and returned:
Freedman, David, et al. Statistics. W. W. Norton, 2007.
The authors are right for MLA 9. The edition is missing, because Open Library's record names none: add "4th ed." after the title.
What changed from Chicago 17 to Chicago 18 author-date?
The 18th edition cut the names, in the text and in the list. EdCitation builds Chicago author-date only, so notes are not covered here.
| Rule | Chicago 17 | Chicago 18 |
|---|---|---|
| Three authors in the text | (Keng, Lin, and Orazem 2017, 9–10) | First author and et al.: (Keng et al. 2017, 9–10) |
| Authors in the list | Up to ten; with more than ten, the first seven and et al. | Up to six; with more than six, the first three and et al. |
| Month or season of a journal issue | 11, no. 1 (Spring) | Can usually be left out |
| Newspaper date in the list | March 8, 2017, repeating the year | December 13, without repeating it |
| Chapter in an edited book | Page range required | Page range not required |
| Place of publication | New York: Simon & Schuster | Publisher alone |
The 18th-edition rules are from the Press's own summary (University of Chicago Press, n.d.-c), the 17th's forms from its archived samples (University of Chicago Press, n.d.-a), checked against the current ones (University of Chicago Press, n.d.-b). See also the history of the Chicago Manual of Style.
The same two sources in Chicago 18
Chicago 17 cited the book (Freedman, Pisani, and Purves 2007), with "New York:" in the list. Cite a source returned (Freedman et al. 2007) and:
Freedman, David, Robert Pisani, and Roger Purves. 2007. Statistics. W. W. Norton.
Add "4th ed." after the title. For the 53-author paper, Chicago 17 listed seven names; the 18th lists three, as the run did:
Wilkinson, Mark D., Michel Dumontier, IJsbrand Jan Aalbersberg, et al. 2016. “The FAIR Guiding Principles for Scientific Data Management and Stewardship.” Scientific Data 3 (1): 160018. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2016.18.
What changed in Cite Them Right's 13th edition of Harvard?
Three things, says the Open University's library: no place of publication for most sources; optional paragraph numbers in citations of online sources without pages; and titles in title case in the text but sentence case in the list, where the 12th used the title as given (Stanley, 2025). Cite Them Right's site moved to the 13th on 31 July 2025 (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2025); a 13th-edition book entry ends "13th edn. Bloomsbury Academic." (McCann, 2025). These sources report no change to et al., and the book itself, sold by subscription, was not read. See where Harvard referencing came from.
EdCitation's Harvard follows the 12th edition. For the book it returned "Freedman, D., Pisani, R. and Purves, R. (2007) Statistics. W. W. Norton.", with no place (the record held none) and no edition. Add "4th edn." after the title, and for the 12th, "New York:" before the publisher.
What should you do mid-degree when a course asks for an old edition?
Follow the edition your course names, and ask when it names a replaced one. APA advised finishing a paper already under way in sixth edition style, and left the switch to institutions and instructors (Lee, 2019). The University of the Highlands and Islands allows either Cite Them Right edition in 2025/26 and expects the 13th from 2026/27 (Hughes, 2025); the University of Worcester (2025) called the 12th still fine if references are consistent and traceable.
- Find the edition your brief names. EdCitation's free Check your paper reads the instructions into a checklist, citation style included, each rule beside its sentence.
- Keep one edition per paper. A list that mixes APA 6 and APA 7 entries is wrong under both.
- Build each entry from the record in Cite a source. For an older edition, adjust it by the tables above.
- Lost a source's details? Search its topic, or the claim it supported, in EdCitation's Find sources, across about 300 million published works.
- Check that every source is real in Verify references, free.
- Keep the tutor's answer in writing.
What does Verify references say about a list in an old edition?
It checks that each source exists, not which edition the entry follows. We pasted four APA 6 entries into Verify references: the Statistics book with "New York, NY:", the FAIR paper with "doi:", and an article and a web page from East Carolina's comparison (Forbes, n.d.). Two came back verified: the book with "Title, author and year match a library catalogue record." and the FAIR paper with "The DOI resolves to this record and the title matches."
The 2019 CDC page cited with "Retrieved from" came back "check this": "The address answers that there is no page there. Check the address." It is gone. The comparison's article came back "check this" too: its title lacks "Times", and the reason gave the record's title, "Volunteer Support, Marital Status, and the Survival Times of Terminally Ill Patients", with "Copy the title from the record."
Which tool builds references in the current editions?
Cite a source, from EdCitation, is the best tool for it, and the tables show why: every change between editions is one of form, while author, year, title and publisher stay what the record says. It takes those facts from the publisher's record, where a chatbot writes references from patterns, and sets them in APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 18 author-date, Harvard (Cite Them Right, 12th edition), IEEE or Vancouver, from a DOI, title, PubMed ID, ISBN or web address, screened for retraction, free with no account.
Verify references, also free, sorts a list into verified, "check this" and not found, flags retractions, and never shows "could not check" as not found. With Pro, $8 a month (pricing), Mechanics QA checks formatting against the style and References from a file matches every in-text citation to the list. None of them writes a word of your paper.
Quick questions
Does APA 7 use et al. from the first citation?
Yes, for three or more authors, every time. APA 6 named three to five authors at the first citation.
How many authors go in an APA 7 reference?
Up to 20. With 21 or more, the first 19, an ellipsis and the last. APA 6 stopped at seven.
Did MLA 9 change et al.?
No. MLA 8 set it in 2016: three or more authors become the first and et al.
What did Chicago 18 change for three authors?
A text citation now gives the first author and et al., (Keng et al. 2017), where the 17th named all three.
Can EdCitation build a reference in APA 6 or MLA 8?
No. EdCitation's Cite a source builds the current editions, with Harvard by Cite Them Right's 12th. Adjust by the tables above for an older one.
References
- American Psychological Association. (2020). Guide to what's new in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, seventh edition [PDF]. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/whats-new-7e-guide.pdf
- Bloomsbury Publishing. (2025). About Cite Them Right. Cite Them Right. https://www.citethemrightonline.com/about
- Doose, S. (2022, May 25). A closer look at MLA style. MLA Style Center. https://style.mla.org/closer-look-at-mla-style/
- Forbes, C. (n.d.). APA 6th edition/7th edition comparison quick guide. East Carolina University Libraries. Retrieved September 26, 2026, from https://libguides.ecu.edu/c.php?g=982594&p=7612692
- Hughes, R. (2025, August 27). What version of Cite Them Right does UHI use? University of the Highlands and Islands Library. https://uhi.libanswers.com/faq/283164
- Lee, C. (2019, October 1). The transition to seventh edition APA Style. APA Style Blog. https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/transition-seventh-edition
- McAdoo, T. (2019, November 7). How many names to include in an APA Style reference. APA Style Blog. https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/more-than-20-authors
- McCann, S. (2025). Harvard referencing style update. ATU Library News, Atlantic Technological University. https://atlantictu.libguides.com/blogs/library/harvard-referencing-style-update
- Modern Language Association. (n.d.). What's new in the eighth edition. MLA Style Center. https://style.mla.org/whats-new/
- Modern Language Association. (2021a, April 22). How does the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook compare with the eighth edition? MLA Style Center. https://style.mla.org/handbook-editions-comparison-chart/
- Modern Language Association. (2021b, April 21). In the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook, why are names of seasons styled lowercase in works-cited-list entries? MLA Style Center. https://style.mla.org/lowercase-seasons-works-cited/
- Purdue Online Writing Lab. (n.d.-a). MLA 9th edition changes. Purdue University. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_changes_9th_edition.html
- Purdue Online Writing Lab. (n.d.-b). Reference list: Articles in periodicals [APA 6th ed.]. Purdue University. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa6_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_articles_in_periodicals.html
- Purdue Online Writing Lab. (n.d.-c). Reference list: Author/authors [APA 6th ed.]. Purdue University. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa6_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_author_authors.html
- Stanley, T. (2025, October 8). Referencing made easy: The latest Cite Them Right changes explained. The Open University Library. https://university.open.ac.uk/library/library/news/referencing-made-easy-the-latest-cite-them-right-changes-explained
- University of Chicago Press. (n.d.-a). Author-date: Sample citations [17th ed.]. The Chicago Manual of Style Online. Archived January 6, 2023, at https://web.archive.org/web/20230106232455/https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-2.html
- University of Chicago Press. (n.d.-b). Author-date: Sample citations. The Chicago Manual of Style Online. https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-2.html
- University of Chicago Press. (n.d.-c). What's new in the 18th edition. The Chicago Manual of Style Online. https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/help-tools/what-s-new.html
- University of Lincoln. (n.d.). Main changes from the 6th edition to the 7th edition of APA. University of Lincoln Library. https://guides.library.lincoln.ac.uk/c.php?g=683973&p=4892277
- University of Worcester. (2025, August 19). Harvard Cite Them Right: 13th edition update from your Library Team. firstpoint. https://firstpoint.blog/2025/08/19/harvard-cite-them-right-13th-edition-update-from-your-library-team/