PERRLA/Guides/APA 7/ANA Code of Ethics for Nurses

How to Cite the ANA Code of Ethics in APA 7

An APA 7 reference for the ANA Code of Ethics lists American Nurses Association as the group author, the year in parentheses, and the title in italics and sentence case. The publisher is left out because it's the same as the author, and the online version adds its URL. The current Code is the 2025 Code of Ethics for Nurses. Cite it as (American Nurses Association [ANA], 2025) the first time and (ANA, 2025) after that, adding the provision number when you point to one: (ANA, 2025, Provision 1).

The format

American Nurses Association. (Year). Title of the code. URL (only for the online version)

PERRLA APA Experts ยท 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

In PERRLA, choose Book, then Book, e-book, or audiobook and All or part of a book. Add a Group Author (Organization) with the name American Nurses Association and ANA in the Abbrev. field. Type 2025 as the year, the title, and American Nurses Association as the publisher. PERRLA leaves the publisher out of the reference because it matches the author, and it writes the full name with [ANA] in your first citation and ANA after that.

Found it in PERRLA's reference search by its ISBN or title? Check what comes in before you save. The author should be American Nurses Association alone, with no city after the name and no person's name in its place (Fowler's guide is the exception: Marsha Fowler wrote it). The title should match the cover, with a colon before any subtitle, and the year should be the one on the copyright page. For Fowler's guide, put 2nd in Edition.

Read the Code on codeofethics.ana.org? Add that link in the URL field. To cite a provision, choose Other as the citation's location, then type Provision as the label and the provision's number, like 1 or 3.2, as the value.

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

The parts of the reference

1. Group author

The American Nurses Association wrote the Code as an organization, so its full name goes in the author spot, followed by a period. Don't abbreviate it in the reference, and don't put the names of the revision panel or the writers in its place.

American Nurses Association.

2. Year

Give the year of the version you read, in parentheses, followed by a period. The current Code came out in January 2025. The one before it is from 2015.

(2025).

The first printing of the 2025 Code had errors, and ANA reprinted it with corrections. A corrected printing isn't a new edition, so the reference stays the same.

3. Title

Italicize the title and write it in sentence case. The 2025 Code is titled Code of Ethics for Nurses. The 2015 edition had a longer title, Code of Ethics for Nurses With Interpretive Statements, so match the title to the year you cite.

Code of ethics for nurses.

The 2025 Code carries no numbered edition, so don't add (2nd ed.) or (Rev. ed.). The year tells your reader which version you used.

4. Publisher

Leave it out. ANA is both the author and the publisher, and APA names an organization once when the two match. Don't write the word Author in its place, as APA 6 did.

5. URL

If you read the Code on ANA's free site, end with its address. If you used the print book or the e-book, end the reference after the title.

https://codeofethics.ana.org/

Examples

The 2025 Code of Ethics for Nurses (print or e-book)

The current Code, released in January 2025 and sold by ANA in paperback and as an e-book. The print book and the e-book get the same reference.

  • Parenthetical citation(American Nurses Association [ANA], 2025)
  • Narrative citationAmerican Nurses Association (ANA, 2025)
  • Later citations(ANA, 2025)

The 2025 Code online, with a provision in the citation

ANA posts the full 2025 Code free at codeofethics.ana.org, one page per provision, with no page numbers. Add the URL to the reference, and point to the provision in your citation. Provision 1 reads, "The nurse practices with compassion and respect for the inherent dignity, worth, and unique attributes of every person."

  • Parenthetical citation(American Nurses Association [ANA], 2025, Provision 1)
  • Narrative citationAmerican Nurses Association (ANA, 2025, Provision 1)
  • Later citations(ANA, 2025, Provision 1)

The 2015 Code of Ethics for Nurses With Interpretive Statements

The edition that was current from 2015 to 2025. Cite it when your course assigns it or when you're writing about the Code's history, and use its full title.

  • Parenthetical citation(American Nurses Association [ANA], 2015)
  • Narrative citationAmerican Nurses Association (ANA, 2015)
  • Later citations(ANA, 2015)

The Guide to the Code of Ethics (2nd ed.)

Marsha Fowler's companion book walks through the 2015 Code one provision at a time. It has a personal author and an edition, and ANA is its publisher, so the publisher stays in this reference.

  • Parenthetical citation(Fowler, 2015)
  • Narrative citationFowler (2015)

In-text citations

The ANA Code has a group author, so the in-text citation uses the organization's name and the year. ANA is a well-known abbreviation, and the Code usually comes up more than once in a paper, so introduce it the first time and use it after that.

  • First parenthetical citation: (American Nurses Association [ANA], 2025)
  • Every one after: (ANA, 2025)
  • First narrative citation: the American Nurses Association (ANA, 2025) states that...
  • A provision: (ANA, 2025, Provision 1)
  • Both editions in one paper: (ANA, 2015, 2025)

The Code's provisions are numbered (Provision 1, Provision 1.1, and so on), and the online version has no page numbers, so the provision number is the way to point your reader to the right passage. If you quote the print book, you can give the page instead.

Common mistakes

  • American Nurses Association. (2025). Code of ethics for nurses with interpretive statements.American Nurses Association. (2025). Code of ethics for nurses.The 2025 Code dropped "with interpretive statements" from its title. That longer title belongs to the 2015 edition.
  • Code of ethics for nurses. American Nurses Association.Code of ethics for nurses.When the group author and the publisher are the same, APA 7 names the organization once, as the author.
  • ANA. (2025).American Nurses Association. (2025).Spell out the group's name in the reference. The abbreviation belongs only in your in-text citations.
  • Code of Ethics for NursesCode of ethics for nursesBook titles take sentence case in an APA reference, even when the cover uses title case.
  • (ANA, 2025, p. 1)(ANA, 2025, Provision 1)The online Code has no page numbers. Cite the provision number instead, and never make up a page.

Quick checklist

  • American Nurses Association spelled out as the author
  • The year of the version you read: 2025 or 2015
  • The title that matches that year, in italics and sentence case
  • No publisher, because it matches the author
  • The codeofethics.ana.org URL only if you read it online
  • (American Nurses Association [ANA], 2025) first, then (ANA, 2025)

Questions students ask

Which ANA Code of Ethics is current?

The 2025 Code of Ethics for Nurses, released by the American Nurses Association in January 2025. It revises the 2015 Code and adds a tenth provision, on nursing's part in global health. Cite the 2015 edition only if your course assigns it or you're comparing the two.

Do I need a URL for the ANA Code of Ethics?

Only if you read it online. The free version at codeofethics.ana.org gets the URL at the end of the reference. For the print book or the e-book, end the reference after the title.

How do I cite a specific provision?

Add the provision number after the year in your in-text citation: (ANA, 2025, Provision 3). Subsections work the same way: (ANA, 2025, Provision 3.2). The reference stays the same, because it covers the whole Code.

Can I use ANA in my in-text citations?

Yes. Spell out American Nurses Association with the abbreviation in square brackets the first time, (American Nurses Association [ANA], 2025), then use (ANA, 2025) for the rest of the paper. Keep the full name in the reference.

Is the ICN Code of Ethics the same thing?

No. The International Council of Nurses publishes its own code, separate from ANA's. If your assignment asks for the ICN code, the group author is the International Council of Nurses, and the title and year come from that document.

Rules checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.), Sections 8.13, 8.21, 9.11, 9.19, 9.29, 9.34, and 10.2, and the APA Style website's book and group author abbreviation pages. Example sources verified against ANA's bookstore page and news release for the 2025 Code, the Code's own site (codeofethics.ana.org), and the R2 Digital Library records for the 2015 Code and the Guide.

PERRLA builds the ANA Code reference with the group author, drops the duplicate publisher, and switches to ANA after your first citation.

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