The University of Portsmouth references in APA 7th edition. Its library's Referencing@Portsmouth page calls APA 7th the style "used by most students at the University" and names three others for Law, Pharmacy, Biomedical Sciences, Radiography and History. Harvard is not on the list, so a search for Portsmouth Harvard referencing ends at APA.
Every rule below comes from the library's public pages and printable APA guides. EdCitation is not affiliated with the University of Portsmouth; this follows its public library guide, checked on 2 October 2026. EdCitation publishes this guide, and what its free Cite a source and Verify references returned on real sources and on the library's own examples is quoted below, faults included.
Which referencing style does the University of Portsmouth use?
APA 7th edition, unless your department or lecturer asks for something else, as University of Portsmouth Library (n.d.-i) reminds students:
| Course | Style the library names | Page |
|---|---|---|
| Most students | APA 7th edition | Referencing@Portsmouth (n.d.-i) |
| Law School and Law modules | OSCOLA 5th edition, with a list of UoP changes | OSCOLA referencing (n.d.-g) |
| Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences; Radiography | Vancouver, modelled on Citing Medicine, 2nd edition | Vancouver referencing (n.d.-k) |
| History | Chicago, latest edition, supported within SASSHPL | Referencing@Portsmouth (n.d.-i) |
| An APA 7 or Vancouver entry from a DOI or address | Cite a source, free | EdCitation |
The library's APA pages cover references and citations only; layout comes from each faculty, usually on Moodle (University of Portsmouth Library, n.d.-a). Cite a source builds APA 7 and Vancouver but not OSCOLA, so Law footnotes are written by hand. It builds Chicago 18 author-date, not notes and bibliography, and University of Portsmouth Library (n.d.-h) groups Chicago with the footnote styles, so ask History which system it marks.
Does Portsmouth use Harvard referencing?
Not according to its library, which has guides for APA 7th, OSCOLA and Vancouver, a line on Chicago, and none for Harvard. If you learnt Harvard elsewhere, this is what changes, as Cite a source printed it in both styles:
| Element | Harvard (Cite Them Right), from Cite a source | Portsmouth APA 7th |
|---|---|---|
| Name and year | Anker, T.B. (2021) | Anker, T. B. (2021). |
| Article title | In single quotation marks | Plain, in sentence case |
| Pages | pp. 171–178 | 171-178, no "pp." |
| DOI | Available at: https://doi.org/… | The https://doi.org/ address alone |
| Web page | (Accessed: 2 October 2026) | No accessed date, unless the page is built to change |
| Two authors in brackets | (Mosam and Todd, 2021) | (Mosam & Todd, 2021) |
OSCOLA 5th for Law
The Law School now uses OSCOLA 5th; the 4th is only for work begun before September 2026, after checking with your lecturer (University of Portsmouth Library, n.d.-g). For the wider UK picture, see referencing at UK universities.
What are Portsmouth's APA 7 rules?
University of Portsmouth Library (n.d.-a) and its in-text page, University of Portsmouth Library (n.d.-e), set these:
| Rule | Portsmouth's form | Page |
|---|---|---|
| Citation | (Balay, 2018) or Balay (2018, p. 45); the full stop after the bracket | In-text (n.d.-e) |
| Et al. in the text | From three authors: (Jones et al., 2018) | In-text (n.d.-e) |
| Authors in the list | Every name up to twenty; from 21, the first nineteen, ". . ." and the last | APA 7 (n.d.-a) |
| Page numbers | Always with a direct quotation, where the source has one; optional with a paraphrase; "para." where there are none | In-text (n.d.-e) |
| Organisation | Full name in the list; a known abbreviation in square brackets at first citation: (General Dental Council [GDC], 2019) | In-text (n.d.-e) |
| Title capitals | Sentence case in the list, even where the source used title case | APA 7 (n.d.-a) |
| DOI and URL | The https://doi.org/ form; no angle brackets round an address | APA 7 (n.d.-a) |
| Web page date | The page's own date or "last updated" note, never the footer copyright; otherwise n.d. | APA 7 (n.d.-a) |
| Accessed date | None; "Retrieved Month Date, Year, from URL" only for a page designed to change | Webpages (n.d.-l) |
| GOV.UK | Never the author: the department or person responsible is | Webpages (n.d.-l) |
| The list | "References", bold, centred, double-spaced, 1.27 cm hanging indent; not a bibliography | APA 7 (n.d.-a) |
| Generative AI | No library guidance for now; ask your lecturer | Generative AI (n.d.-d) |
| Building the entry | Cite a source, then the changes below | EdCitation |
For other styles, see when to use et al.
Where the library's examples slip
Four examples drift from the rules, so copy the pattern, never the entry:
- The ebook reference spells its author "Sannah, E.S."; its own citation, and the publisher's record, say Sanneh.
- The article-number example is dated 2026 in the reference and 2018 in its citation.
- The report example has "Processes of prejudices" from the "Equalities and Human Rights Commission"; the report itself says prejudice and Equality (Abrams, 2010).
- Most page ranges take a hyphen (171-178), a few an en dash (67–78). No page states a rule: pick one.
Ebooks and the Ebook Central link
University of Portsmouth Library (n.d.-c) ends its ebook examples with an Ebook Central address under "portsmouth-ebooks". Opened, it redirected us to the university's sign-in page. The template reads "https://doi.org/ or URL", so give the DOI where there is one.
Vancouver for Pharmacy, Biomedical Sciences and Radiography
Citations are numbered in order of first use, in round brackets or superscript, never switching between them (University of Portsmouth Library, n.d.-k). Online articles add "[Internet]", "[cited YYYY Mon DD]" and "Available from:", and the template lists every author (University of Portsmouth Library, n.d.-b), though one example stops at six with "et al.". The FAQ says to capitalise significant words as on the title page, yet most of its article and book examples use sentence case, as Cite a source does. Our Vancouver guide covers the rest.
What does a Portsmouth APA reference list look like?
Five real sources, set as the library's templates set them (University of Portsmouth Library, n.d.-f, n.d.-j, n.d.-l), hyphens included:
Abrams (2010) reviews research on how prejudice forms and how it can be reduced. Anker (2021) proposes a post-COVID agenda for management research, and intellectual agility has been linked to innovation in small firms through entrepreneurial leadership (Dabić et al., 2021). The government raised gambling operators' licence fees in 2021 (Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport & Whittingdale, 2021), and an eDNA test for several shark species was developed by van Rooyen et al. (2021).
References
Abrams, D. (2010). Processes of prejudice: Theory, evidence and intervention (Research report 56). Equality and Human Rights Commission. https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/research-report-56-processes-of-prejudice-theory-evidence-and-intervention.pdf
Anker, T. B. (2021). At the boundary: Post-COVID agenda for business and management research in Europe and beyond. European Management Journal, 39(2), 171-178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2021.01.003
Dabić, M., Stojčić, N., Simić, M., Potocan, V., Slavković, M., & Nedelko, Z. (2021). Intellectual agility and innovation in micro and small businesses: The mediating role of entrepreneurial leadership. Journal of Business Research, 123, 683-695. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.10.013
Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, & Whittingdale, J. (2021, June 14). Government increases licence fees for gambling operators. GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-increases-licence-fees-for-gambling-operators
van Rooyen, A., Miller, A. D., Clark, Z., Sherman, C. D. H., Butcher, P. A., Rizzari, J. R., & Weeks, A. R. (2021). Development of an environmental DNA assay for detecting multiple shark species involved in human–shark conflicts in Australia. Environmental DNA, 3(5), 940-949. https://doi.org/10.1002/edn3.202
What each entry shows
- Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport: the department and Sir John Whittingdale as authors, the full date, GOV.UK as the site. "The Rt Hon Sir John Whittingdale OBE MP" becomes "Whittingdale, J.", since APA drops titles.
- van Rooyen: filed under "v", as the library files de Beauvoir under "d", and given its published issue; the library's version still says "Advance online publication".
Which EdCitation style is closest, and what do you change by hand?
APA 7 for most courses, Vancouver for Pharmacy, Biomedical Sciences and Radiography. EdCitation's APA 7 style matched the library's Anker and Dabić examples word for word but for the dash in the page range. The changes we made by hand on 2 October 2026:
| Cite a source printed | Change to, for Portsmouth |
|---|---|
| 171–178, with an en dash | 171-178, to match the library's examples |
| Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (2017 to 2023). | Delete "(2017 to 2023)"; add ", & Whittingdale, J." |
| Title in roman, GOV.UK in italics | Title in italics, GOV.UK in roman |
| Vancouver: six authors, then et al. | Every author, as the template asks |
| Vancouver: PLoS One. 2018 Mar 13;13(3) | PLoS One [Internet]. 2018 [cited 2026 Oct 2];13(3) |
| Vancouver: ends with the DOI | Add "Available from:" and the address |
What did Cite a source and Verify references return?
EdCitation is the right place to start a Portsmouth list because it looks every source up in the publisher's record and never writes one. The library warns that ChatGPT and other AI services produce "incorrect, made-up references" (University of Portsmouth Library, n.d.-i); a lookup cannot invent one. The library does not recommend free citation generators, and asks that any app be treated as a starting point and checked against its pages (University of Portsmouth Library, n.d.-a), and the table above is that check, done for you. Cite a source takes a DOI, title, PubMed ID, ISBN or web address, sets the entry in APA 7, Vancouver or four other styles, and screens it for retraction, free and with no account. Every sentence of the essay stays yours: EdCitation finds, cites and checks the sources and writes no part of the paper.
Cite a source on six real sources
For 10.1016/j.emj.2021.01.003, APA 7 returned:
Anker, T. B. (2021). At the boundary: Post-COVID agenda for business and management research in Europe and beyond. European Management Journal, 39(2), 171–178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2021.01.003
That is the library's example, but for the dash. Dabić's DOI, 10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.10.013, gave all six names with their accents, the same match. Van Rooyen's, 10.1002/edn3.202, gave the published issue, "Environmental DNA, 3(5), 940–949".
For 10.1007/978-3-319-70585-9, the library's ebook example:
Sanneh, E. S. (2018). Systems thinking for sustainable development. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70585-9
The library's entry adds a subtitle, Climate change and the environment, that the publisher's record lacks: check the title page.
For the GOV.UK page https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-increases-licence-fees-for-gambling-operators:
Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (2017 to 2023). (2021, June 14). Government increases licence fees for gambling operators. GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-increases-licence-fees-for-gambling-operators
The date and department were read from the page, but the page's "From" line also names Sir John Whittingdale, and the italics sit on the site, not the title.
For Jerrentrup et al. (2018) in Vancouver, 10.1371/journal.pone.0193972 gave:
Jerrentrup A, Mueller T, Glowalla U, Herder M, Henrichs N, Neubauer A, et al. Teaching medicine with the help of “Dr. House.” PLoS One. 2018 Mar 13;13(3):e0193972. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0193972.
Replace "et al." with Schaefer JR and add "[Internet]", the cited date and "Available from:". None of the six was flagged as retracted.
Verify references on eight of the library's examples
We pasted eight entries from the library's APA pages, exactly as printed, into Verify references. Four came back verified, Anker with "The DOI resolves to this record and the title matches." The rest:
- Abrams (2010), "check this": "The address opens a PDF, but its first pages do not carry the entry's title. Check it is the document meant." Right: the PDF says prejudice.
- Cody (1999), could not check: "The page at this address did not answer. Check it in a browser." Its Ebook Central link leads to the university's sign-in page.
- Wilson and Barton (2021), could not check: "The site at this address turns automated readers away, so the page could not be read here."
- Wiskunde (2019), not found: "No registry holds the DOI 10.0000/3mp7y-537." The entry, the library's illustration of a 21-author reference, names a Journal of Improbable Mathematics, so not found is the right verdict.
One miss: van Rooyen's entry was verified although it still says "Advance online publication". Neither "could not check" was shown as "not found". To check a whole essay's list and match every in-text citation to it, Pro, at $8 a month, adds References from a file; see pricing.
How do you reference at Portsmouth, step by step?
- Find the style on your module's Moodle page or brief; EdCitation's free Check your paper reads the instructions into a checklist, citation style included.
- Build each source in Cite a source from its DOI, ISBN or address, in APA 7, or in Vancouver for Pharmacy, Biomedical Sciences and Radiography.
- Make the changes in the table above, giving a DOI rather than an Ebook Central link, and a page for every direct quotation.
- Paste the list into Verify references, settle every "check this" against the source, and open any "could not check" page yourself.
Quick questions
Does the University of Portsmouth use Harvard referencing?
No. Its library names APA 7th edition for most students, OSCOLA for Law, Vancouver for Pharmacy, Biomedical Sciences and Radiography, and Chicago for History, and has no Harvard guide.
When does et al. start in Portsmouth APA referencing?
At three authors, in the text: (Jones et al., 2018). The reference list names every author up to twenty.
Do I need an accessed date in Portsmouth APA?
No, except for a page designed to change, such as live market data, which takes "Retrieved Month Date, Year, from" before its URL.
Can EdCitation build references for the UoP referencing guide?
For APA 7 and Vancouver, yes: EdCitation's Cite a source builds both from the publisher's record, then you make the few changes above. It does not build OSCOLA or Chicago notes and bibliography.
References
- Abrams, D. (2010). Processes of prejudice: Theory, evidence and intervention (Research report 56). Equality and Human Rights Commission. https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/research-report-56-processes-of-prejudice-theory-evidence-and-intervention.pdf
- Anker, T. B. (2021). At the boundary: Post-COVID agenda for business and management research in Europe and beyond. European Management Journal, 39(2), 171–178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2021.01.003
- Dabić, M., Stojčić, N., Simić, M., Potocan, V., Slavković, M., & Nedelko, Z. (2021). Intellectual agility and innovation in micro and small businesses: The mediating role of entrepreneurial leadership. Journal of Business Research, 123, 683–695. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.10.013
- Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, & Whittingdale, J. (2021, June 14). Government increases licence fees for gambling operators. GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-increases-licence-fees-for-gambling-operators
- Jerrentrup, A., Mueller, T., Glowalla, U., Herder, M., Henrichs, N., Neubauer, A., & Schaefer, J. R. (2018). Teaching medicine with the help of “Dr. House.” PLOS ONE, 13(3), Article e0193972. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0193972
- Sanneh, E. S. (2018). Systems thinking for sustainable development. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70585-9
- University of Portsmouth Library. (n.d.-a). APA 7 referencing. https://library.port.ac.uk/using-resources/referencing/apa
- University of Portsmouth Library. (n.d.-b). Article (Vancouver). https://library.port.ac.uk/using-resources/referencing/vancouver/article
- University of Portsmouth Library. (n.d.-c). Books (APA 7). https://library.port.ac.uk/using-resources/referencing/apa/books
- University of Portsmouth Library. (n.d.-d). Generative AI such as ChatGPT (APA 7). https://library.port.ac.uk/using-resources/referencing/apa/generative-ai-such-as-chatgpt
- University of Portsmouth Library. (n.d.-e). In-text citations for APA 7. https://library.port.ac.uk/using-resources/referencing/apa/in-text-citations
- University of Portsmouth Library. (n.d.-f). Journal articles. APA 7 referencing. https://library.port.ac.uk/using-resources/referencing/apa/journal-articles
- University of Portsmouth Library. (n.d.-g). OSCOLA referencing. https://library.port.ac.uk/using-resources/referencing/oscola
- University of Portsmouth Library. (n.d.-h). Reference management tools. https://library.port.ac.uk/using-resources/referencing/management-tools
- University of Portsmouth Library. (n.d.-i). Referencing@Portsmouth. https://library.port.ac.uk/using-resources/referencing
- University of Portsmouth Library. (n.d.-j). Reports and research. APA 7 referencing. https://library.port.ac.uk/using-resources/referencing/apa/reports-and-research
- University of Portsmouth Library. (n.d.-k). Vancouver referencing. https://library.port.ac.uk/using-resources/referencing/vancouver
- University of Portsmouth Library. (n.d.-l). Webpages, websites and blogs. APA 7 referencing. https://library.port.ac.uk/using-resources/referencing/apa/webpages-websites-and-blogs
- van Rooyen, A., Miller, A. D., Clark, Z., Sherman, C. D. H., Butcher, P. A., Rizzari, J. R., & Weeks, A. R. (2021). Development of an environmental DNA assay for detecting multiple shark species involved in human–shark conflicts in Australia. Environmental DNA, 3(5), 940–949. https://doi.org/10.1002/edn3.202