Published February 8, 2021. Updated August 15, 2021.

To cite a journal in Harvard referencing style, you need to know the author, publication year, article title, journal title, volume, issue, page range, and/or DOI/URL.

The templates and examples below are based on the 11th edition of the journal Cite Them Right by Richard Pears and Graham Shields. This page is not affiliated with Cite Them Right but uses the text for standardisation purposes, as Harvard style can vary widely between institutions. On this page, you can learn how to cite the following:

• Print journal article

• Online journal article

• Journal article from a database

• Journal articles with multiple authors or no author

If you’re trying to cite a journal in Harvard, the Chegg Writing Harvard referencing generator could help.

Help protect your paper against accidental plagiarism with the Chegg Writing plagiarism checker and citation generator.

General note: Narrative vs. parenthetical in-text citations

There are two in-text citation formats: narrative and parenthetical.

Narrative citations read as a part of the text. Usually, this means that the author’s name is mentioned within the sentence and the year will be enclosed in parentheses:

Fagan (2013) demonstrates …

Parenthetical citations are not read as a part of the text. Instead, both the author surname and year are enclosed in parentheses at the end of the sentence.

The results were. . . (Fagan, 2013).

Note the use of a comma between the author surname and the year in parenthetical citations.

Citing a print journal article in Harvard referencing style

For citing a print journal article in Harvard, the surname of the author(s) and year are used in both narrative and parenthetical citations.

In-text citation template and example:

Narrative:

Author Surname (Publication Year)

Fagan (2013)

Parenthetical:

(Author Surname, Publication Year)

(Fagan, 2013)

Reference list template and example:

Citing an online journal article in Harvard referencing style

For citing an online journal article in Harvard, the surname of the author(s) and year are used in narrative and parenthetical citations.

In-text citation template and example:

Narrative:

Author Surname (Publication Year)

Gomez (2021)

Parenthetical:

(Author Surname, Publication Year)

(Gomez, 2021)

Reference list template and example (has DOI):

Reference list template and example (has URL but no DOI):

Citing a journal article from a database in Harvard referencing style

When citing a journal article accessed through a database in Harvard, the surname of the author(s) and year are used in narrative and parenthetical citations, as they are for other online and print articles.

In-text citation template and example:

Narrative:

Author Surname (Publication Year)

Frnka and Hildebrand (2019)

Parenthetical:

(Author Surname, Publication Year)

(Frnka and Hildebrand, 2019)

Reference list template and example:

Citing a journal article with multiple authors and no author in Harvard referencing style

It is not uncommon for journal articles to have been written by multiple authors, or for an article to have an organisation listed as the author. The number/kind of authors an article has may affect the formatting of the in-text and reference citations in your paper.

Citing a journal article with two or three authors

When an article has two or three authors, all of the authors’ surnames should be in included in both narrative or parenthetical citations. Their names should be listed in the order in which they appear in the article.

In-text citation template and example:

Narrative:

Authors’ Surnames (Publication Year)

Nims and Reid (2017)

Parenthetical:

(Authors’ Surnames, Publication Year)

(Nims and Reid, 2017)

Reference list template and example:

Citing a journal article with four or more authors

When an article has four or more authors, the surname of the first author listed is used in narrative and parenthetical citations, followed by “et. al.” and the year of publication.

In-text citation template and example:

Narrative:

Author One Surname et. al. (Publication Year)

Baust et. al. (2017)

Parenthetical:

(Author One Surname et. al., Publication Year)

(Baust et. al., 2017)

Reference list template and example:

General note: If your institution requires you to list all of the authors of a work, all authors’ names should be in included in both your in-text and reference list citations, rather than “et. al.”

Citing a journal article written by an organisation

In the instance of a journal article with an organisation listed as the author, the organisation name should be used along with the year of publication in narrative and parenthetical citations.

In-text citation template and example:

Narrative:

Organisation name (Publication Year)

European Commission (2013)

Parenthetical:

(Organisation name Publication Year)

(European Commission, 2013)

Reference list template and example:

Citing a journal article with no author

When an author for a journal article cannot be found, the title of the article should be used in place of the author surname in narrative and parenthetical citations.

In-text citation template and example:

Narrative:

‘Article title’ (Publication Year)

‘Probabilities of sickle cell disease’ (2020)

Parenthetical:

(‘Article title’, Publication Year)

(‘Probabilities of sickle cell disease’, 2020)

Reference list template and example:

For more style basics, read this Harvard referencing in-text citations guide and this article on formatting Harvard referencing style papers.