PERRLA/Guides/APA 7/AACN Essentials

How to Cite the AACN Essentials in APA 7

An APA 7 reference for the AACN Essentials names the American Association of Colleges of Nursing as the group author, then the year (2026 for the edition AACN posts now), the title in italics and sentence case, and the link to the PDF. The publisher is left out because it's the same as the author. The in-text citation is (American Association of Colleges of Nursing [AACN], 2026) the first time and (AACN, 2026) after that.

The format

American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (Year). The essentials: Core competencies for professional nursing education. URL

PERRLA APA Experts · Updated October 21, 2026
Checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition. Every example is formatted by PERRLA's reference engine.

First, the easy way: PERRLA

Paste the link to the Essentials PDF into PERRLA's reference search. PERRLA reads the PDF and builds a Gray Literature reference for you: the American Association of Colleges of Nursing as the group author with AACN as its abbreviation, the year, the title in sentence case, and the link. It leaves the publisher off because it matches the author, and it writes the full name with [AACN] in your first citation and AACN after that.

Use the link that ends in Essentials-2026.pdf. That's the one AACN gives in its own citation guidance, and it tells your reader exactly which edition you read.

Adding it by hand? Choose Gray Literature (Reports, Briefs, Codes), then A standalone work: report, brief, codes, etc. Add a Group Author (Organization) with the name American Association of Colleges of Nursing and AACN in the Abbrev. field, then fill in Title of the Work, Publication Year, and the URL. To cite one competency, choose Other as the citation's location, then type Competency as the label and the number, like 3.4, as the value.

Look up
Paste the PDF's link, get the reference

https://www.aacnnursing.org/Portals/0/PDFs/Publications/Essentials-2026.pdf

American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2026). The essentials: Core competencies for professional nursing education. https://www.aacnnursing.org/Portals/0/PDFs/Publications/Essentials-2026.pdf

Not using PERRLA yet? Here is how to build the same reference by hand.

The parts of the reference

1. Group author

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing wrote and published the Essentials, so it goes first, spelled out in full and followed by a period. No individual authors appear on the cover or title page, so don't list the task force members.

American Association of Colleges of Nursing.

Save the abbreviation AACN for your in-text citations. It never goes in the reference itself. One catch: the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses also goes by AACN. If your paper cites both groups, spell out both names in every citation.

2. Year

Give the year of the version you read, in parentheses, followed by a period. The edition AACN posts now is the 2026 edition, released in April 2026. The original version was approved by AACN's members on April 6, 2021.

(2026).

Use the year only, not the month. If your program still assigns the 2021 version and that's the one you read, use 2021 (see the second example below).

3. Title

Write the title in italics and in sentence case: capitalize the first word, the first word after the colon, and proper nouns. AACN's own suggested citation capitalizes Essentials, but in an APA 7 reference it takes a lowercase e, the way APA's own example of this document shows it.

The essentials: Core competencies for professional nursing education.

The 2026 cover also says 2026 Edition. You don't need to add an edition label, because the year already tells your reader which version you mean.

4. Publisher

Leave it out. When the group author and the publisher are the same organization, APA 7 skips the publisher so the name doesn't appear twice. The reference goes straight from the title to the link.

5. URL

End with the link to the PDF. Don't add "Retrieved from," "Accessible online at," or a period after it.

https://www.aacnnursing.org/Portals/0/PDFs/Publications/Essentials-2026.pdf

AACN's Download button still points to a link ending in Essentials-2021.pdf, but that link now opens the 2026 edition. If you're citing 2026, use the Essentials-2026.pdf link. If you're citing 2021, you need a link that still shows the 2021 version, like an Internet Archive copy.

Examples

The 2026 edition, quoting a domain descriptor

The current Essentials, released in April 2026. This is the version AACN posts and the one most nursing courses now expect. The citation quotes the Domain 2 descriptor on page 29, so it carries the page number.

  • Parenthetical citation(American Association of Colleges of Nursing [AACN], 2026, p. 29)
  • Narrative citationAmerican Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN, 2026, p. 29)
  • Later citations(AACN, 2026, p. 29)

The 2021 version, citing one competency

Some programs still map their courses to the 2021 version. Its competencies aren't all worded the same as in 2026: in 2021, Competency 3.4 read "Advance equitable population health policy," and the 2026 edition rewrote it. Cite the version you read. The original 2021 link now opens the 2026 edition, so this reference uses the Internet Archive's saved copy of the 2021 PDF, which still shows the 2021 text.

  • Parenthetical citation(American Association of Colleges of Nursing [AACN], 2021, Competency 3.4)
  • Narrative citationAmerican Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN, 2021, Competency 3.4)
  • Later citations(AACN, 2021, Competency 3.4)

An earlier Essentials document: the DNP Essentials (2006)

Before 2021, AACN published a separate Essentials for each degree. DNP students writing about the history of the practice doctorate still cite The Essentials of Doctoral Education for Advanced Nursing Practice, dated October 2006. The format is the same: AACN as the group author, the year on the document, and the title in sentence case.

  • Parenthetical citation(American Association of Colleges of Nursing [AACN], 2006)
  • Narrative citationAmerican Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN, 2006)
  • Later citations(AACN, 2006)

In-text citations

The in-text citation gives the group author and the year. Because AACN has a well-known abbreviation, you can define it in your first citation and use it from then on.

  • First citation: (American Association of Colleges of Nursing [AACN], 2026)
  • Every citation after that: (AACN, 2026)
  • Narrative, first time: American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN, 2026), and after that AACN (2026)
  • A quote: add the page: (AACN, 2026, p. 29)
  • A domain or competency: use the Essentials' own labels: (AACN, 2026, Domain 2) or (AACN, 2026, Competency 3.4). For a sub-competency, give its number: (AACN, 2026, Sub-competency 2.2e)

Define the abbreviation only once in your paper, then use AACN every time after. The abbreviation is optional: if you cite AACN only once or twice, writing the full name each time is fine. And if you also cite the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, don't abbreviate either group, since both are AACN.

Citing two Essentials documents, like the 2026 edition and the 2006 DNP Essentials? The years tell them apart: (AACN, 2006, 2026).

Common mistakes

  • American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). (2026).American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2026).The abbreviation belongs in your in-text citations only. The reference spells out the name and nothing else.
  • American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2021). The essentials: Core competencies for professional nursing education. https://www.aacnnursing.org/Portals/0/PDFs/Publications/Essentials-2021.pdfAmerican Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2026). The essentials: Core competencies for professional nursing education. https://www.aacnnursing.org/Portals/0/PDFs/Publications/Essentials-2026.pdfThat 2021 link now opens the 2026 edition. If you downloaded it this year, you read 2026, so the year and the link should both say so. Older guides still show the 2021 reference, including APA's own nursing example, which was written before the update.
  • The Essentials: Core Competencies for Professional Nursing EducationThe essentials: Core competencies for professional nursing educationTitles in an APA 7 reference take sentence case, even when the cover uses capitals for every word.
  • The essentials: Core competencies for professional nursing education. American Association of Colleges of Nursing. https://...The essentials: Core competencies for professional nursing education. https://...The publisher is the same organization as the author, so APA 7 leaves it out.
  • Accessible online at https://www.aacnnursing.org/Portals/0/PDFs/Publications/Essentials-2026.pdfhttps://www.aacnnursing.org/Portals/0/PDFs/Publications/Essentials-2026.pdfAACN's suggested citation adds "Accessible online at," but APA 7 ends the reference with the link alone, with no words in front of it.
  • (AACN, 2026) in a paper that also cites the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses(American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2026)Two different groups share the abbreviation AACN. When that happens, spell out both names so your reader can tell them apart.

Quick checklist

  • American Association of Colleges of Nursing, spelled out, as the author
  • The year of the version you read: 2026 for the current edition
  • Title in italics and sentence case, with a lowercase e in essentials
  • No publisher, because it matches the author
  • The Essentials-2026.pdf link, with nothing in front of it and no period after it
  • AACN defined once in the text, then used every time after

Questions students ask

Is the 2021 AACN Essentials still the current version?

No. In April 2026, AACN posted a 2026 edition with targeted updates. The fourth of its eight concepts for nursing practice is now Access, Connection, and Engagement, which takes the place of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. AACN also revised the descriptors for Domains 3 and 7 and updated three competencies (3.4, 8.3, and 9.6) and about 40 sub-competencies. The 10 domains keep their names. Cite 2026 unless your course tells you to use the 2021 version.

How do I cite a specific domain or competency?

Make one reference to the whole Essentials, then name the part in your in-text citation, the way APA treats sections of an ethics code: (AACN, 2026, Domain 9) or (AACN, 2026, Competency 9.6). If you quote the document's words, add the page number too, or use the page instead: (AACN, 2026, p. 29).

Should I add (2026 ed.) after the title?

You don't need to. APA's own example of the Essentials and AACN's citation guidance both leave the edition out, and the year in your reference already tells readers which version you mean. If your instructor wants it shown, type 2026 ed. in PERRLA's Identifying Information field and it appears in parentheses after the title.

How do I cite the Baccalaureate or DNP Essentials?

The same way, with each document's own year and title. The Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice is dated 2008, and The Essentials of Doctoral Education for Advanced Nursing Practice is dated 2006. Both were replaced by the competency-based Essentials in 2021, so use them for history or comparison, not as today's standard.

What if I'm using a print copy?

AACN also sells printed copies of the Essentials. For a print copy, use the year printed in your copy and end the reference after the title: American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2026). The essentials: Core competencies for professional nursing education. The publisher stays out because it's the same as the author, and there's no link to add.

Is the AACN Essentials a book, a report, or a webpage?

APA treats it as a report from a group author: it lists the Essentials under reports on its Nursing Student References page. That's why the title is italic, there's no publisher, and the reference ends with the PDF link. If you're citing a page on AACN's Essentials website instead of the document, cite it as a webpage by an organization.

Rules checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.), Sections 8.13, 8.21, 9.11, 9.14, 9.19, 9.29, 9.34–9.35, and 10.4, and the APA Style website's Nursing Student References page (which shows the 2021 Essentials as its group author report example), group author guidance, and DOI and URL guidance. Example sources verified against the 2026 Essentials PDF, AACN's 2026 updates and citing pages, the Internet Archive copy of the 2021 PDF (saved April 11, 2025), and the 2006 DNP Essentials PDF on aacnnursing.org.

PERRLA builds the AACN Essentials reference from its PDF link, with the group author and the AACN abbreviation filled in.

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