PERRLA/Guides/APA 7/Chapter in an edited book

How to Cite a Chapter in an Edited Book in APA 7

An APA 7 reference for a chapter in an edited book starts with the chapter's author, the book's year in parentheses, and the chapter title in sentence case. Then write In, the editors' initials and last names, (Ed.) or (Eds.), the book title in italics, the edition and the chapter's page range in parentheses, the publisher, and the chapter's DOI. The in-text citation names the chapter's author, not the editors: (Campbell, 2019).

The format

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of the chapter. In E. E. Editor & F. F. Editor (Eds.), Title of the book (#th ed., pp. page–page). Publisher. https://doi.org/xxxx

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 chapter's DOI into PERRLA's reference search, or the link to a chapter on the NCBI Bookshelf (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books). PERRLA finds the chapter and fills in its authors, the chapter title, the editors, the book title, and the page range. When a chapter's own DOI record leaves the editors out, PERRLA looks them up from the book's record.

Before you add it, hold the result up against the book's copyright page. Check the year (publishers often list the day a chapter went online, and APA wants the book's copyright year), the edition, the publisher's name, and the capitals in the book title.

Adding one by hand? Choose Book, then Chapter in edited book and All or part of a book chapter. Add the chapter's authors as authors and the book's editors as editors, then the chapter title, the book title, the chapter's page numbers, the year, the edition, the publisher, and the DOI or URL. PERRLA writes In, puts the editors' initials first, adds (Ed.) or (Eds.), and puts the edition and the pages in one set of parentheses.

Citing a chapter reprinted from an earlier book? Choose Republished chapter, originally from a book, and add the original book's title, editor, pages, year, and publisher. PERRLA adds the (Reprinted from ...) note and puts both years in your citation.

Citing a story, poem, or essay that first came out somewhere else and was reprinted in a collection? Choose Anthology, then An entry in an anthology, and add the year it first came out. PERRLA adds the original year to the reference and puts both years in your citation.

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

The parts of the reference

1. Chapter author

Start with the people who wrote the chapter, from the chapter's first page. The editors on the book's cover come later. Write each author's last name, a comma, and their initials, with commas between authors and an ampersand (&) before the last one. List up to 20.

Higham, H., & Vincent, C.

An editor who also wrote a chapter appears twice: once here and once after In. Ronda Hughes edited the AHRQ nursing handbook and co-wrote its sixth chapter, so her name is in both places.

Benner, P., Hughes, R. G., & Sutphen, M.

2. Year

Use the book's copyright year in parentheses, followed by a period. Every chapter in the book shares that year. Books take the year only, never a month or day.

(2021).

Watch the dates publishers show online. SpringerLink says the Higham and Vincent chapter was first online in December 2020, but the book's copyright is 2021, so the reference says 2021.

3. Chapter title

Write the chapter title in sentence case: capitalize the first word, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns. Don't italicize it or put it in quotation marks. End it with a period.

Withdrawal of invasive mechanical ventilation.

4. In and the editors

Write In, then the editors with their initials first: B. R. Ferrell, not Ferrell, B. R. That's the reverse of the chapter authors at the front. Join two editors with an ampersand, and use commas and an ampersand for three or more. Then add (Ed.) for one editor or (Eds.) for more, and a comma.

In B. R. Ferrell & J. A. Paice (Eds.),

List every editor, even when there are four or more. The et al. shortcut belongs in your in-text citations, not here.

In L. Donaldson, W. Ricciardi, S. Sheridan, & R. Tartaglia (Eds.),

5. Book title

Write the book title in italics and sentence case, with a capital after a colon.

Patient safety and quality: An evidence-based handbook for nurses

6. Edition and pages

Right after the book title, give the edition and the chapter's page range together in one set of parentheses, separated by a comma. Use pp. and an en dash (–) between the first and last page. No edition? Give the pages alone.

(5th ed., pp. 371–376).

(pp. 29–44).

A chapter read online with no page numbers, like the chapters of a book on the NCBI Bookshelf, skips this part. Don't write in a chapter number in its place.

7. Publisher

Give the publisher's name with no city, state, or Inc. A government agency can be the publisher. If the chapter's author is the same organization as the publisher, leave the publisher out.

Oxford University Press.

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

8. DOI or URL

End with the chapter's own DOI as a link, when it has one. Springer, Oxford, and many other publishers give every chapter its own DOI, separate from the book's. Don't put a period after it.

https://doi.org/10.1093/med/9780190862374.003.0029

No DOI, but a stable link that will work for your reader? End with that URL instead, the way chapters on the NCBI Bookshelf do. Read it in a library database with no DOI, or in print? End after the publisher, and don't add the database name.

Examples

A chapter with two authors, four editors, and a DOI

A chapter on human error from the open access Textbook of Patient Safety and Clinical Risk Management. All four editors go in the reference, and the year is the book's 2021 copyright, not the December 2020 date the chapter first went online.

  • Parenthetical citation(Higham & Vincent, 2021, p. 31)
  • Narrative citationHigham and Vincent (2021, p. 31)

A chapter in a later edition of a nursing textbook

Margaret Campbell's chapter in the fifth edition of the Oxford Textbook of Palliative Nursing, edited by Betty Ferrell and Judith Paice. The edition and the chapter's pages share one set of parentheses.

  • Parenthetical citation(Campbell, 2019, p. 373)
  • Narrative citationCampbell (2019, p. 373)

An online chapter with no page numbers, where the editor is also an author

Patricia Benner's chapter on clinical reasoning in Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence-Based Handbook for Nurses, published by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and free on the NCBI Bookshelf. The online version has no page numbers, so the page range drops out and the chapter's URL takes the DOI's place. Ronda Hughes is a chapter author and the book's editor, so she's named twice.

  • Parenthetical citation(Benner et al., 2008)
  • Narrative citationBenner et al. (2008)

In-text citations

An APA 7 in-text citation for a chapter gives the chapter author's last name and the book's year. The editors stay out of it, unless they wrote the chapter.

  • One author: (Campbell, 2019) or Campbell (2019)
  • Two authors: both names every time: (Higham & Vincent, 2021) or Higham and Vincent (2021)
  • Three or more authors: the first author and et al., starting with the first citation: (Benner et al., 2008) or Benner et al. (2008)
  • A quote: add the page: (Campbell, 2019, p. 373)
  • A quote from a chapter with no page numbers: name the section heading instead: (Benner et al., 2008, Background section)
  • A chapter reprinted from an earlier book: both years, the original first, with a slash between them

Using two chapters from the same book? Each chapter gets its own reference and its own citations. Cite the editors only when you're talking about the book as a whole.

Common mistakes

  • (Ferrell & Paice, 2019)(Campbell, 2019)The in-text citation names whoever wrote the chapter. The editors put the book together, but the words and ideas are the chapter author's. Some publisher Cite buttons list the editors first, so check before you copy one.
  • In Ferrell, B. R., & Paice, J. A. (Eds.),In B. R. Ferrell & J. A. Paice (Eds.),After In, the editors' initials come before their last names, the reverse of the author order at the start of the reference.
  • Oxford textbook of palliative nursing (5th ed.) (pp. 371–376).Oxford textbook of palliative nursing (5th ed., pp. 371–376).The edition and the page range go in the same set of parentheses, separated by a comma.
  • Higham, H., & Vincent, C. (2020).Higham, H., & Vincent, C. (2021).Use the book's copyright year, not the date the chapter first went online. They're often a year apart.
  • In L. Donaldson et al. (Eds.),In L. Donaldson, W. Ricciardi, S. Sheridan, & R. Tartaglia (Eds.),List every editor in the reference. Et al. is for in-text citations only.
  • A chapter reference, with In and (Eds.), for Chapter 24 of Brunner & Suddarth's Textbook of Medical-Surgical NursingOne reference for the whole book, and (Hinkle et al., 2026, Chapter 24) in the textChapter references are only for edited books. Brunner & Suddarth's has authors on its title page, not editors, so it gets one reference for the whole book, and the chapter goes in your citation.

Quick checklist

  • The chapter's authors first, not the editors
  • The book's copyright year in parentheses
  • Chapter title in sentence case, not italic
  • In, the editors with initials first, then (Ed.) or (Eds.)
  • Book title in italics, then the edition and pages in one set of parentheses
  • Publisher, then the chapter's DOI or a stable URL
  • In text: the chapter author and the year

Questions students ask

How do I know if a book is edited or authored?

Look at the title page. An edited book says "edited by" there, and each chapter opens with its own author's name. If the title page lists authors instead, it's an authored book: cite the whole book and name the chapter in your in-text citation, even if a contributors list credits someone for that chapter.

How do I cite two chapters from the same edited book?

Write a separate reference for each chapter, each with its own author, title, and pages. Both repeat the editors, book title, and publisher. You don't need a third reference for the whole book unless you also cite the book as a whole.

Do I use the chapter's DOI or the book's DOI?

The chapter's, when it has one. Publishers like Springer and Oxford give each chapter its own DOI, separate from the book's. Springer's adds the chapter number to the book's DOI: _3 for chapter 3. Use the book's DOI only when the chapter doesn't have its own.

What if the chapter has no page numbers?

Leave the page range out of the reference. That's common for chapters read online, like those on the NCBI Bookshelf. To quote one, cite a section heading or a paragraph number in your in-text citation: (Benner et al., 2008, Background section).

Is a chapter from an e-book cited differently?

No. APA 7 cites print and e-book chapters the same way. Leave out Kindle, VitalSource, and the database name, and end with the chapter's DOI or a stable URL when there is one.

Can I just cite the editors if I can't find the chapter author?

Look again before you do. The author's name is almost always under the chapter title on its first page, or in the table of contents. Cite the editors only when you're citing the whole book.

Rules checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.), Sections 8.13, 8.17, 8.28, 9.8, 9.10, 9.13–9.14, 9.19, 9.28–9.29, 9.34–9.35, and 10.3, and the APA Style website's page on chapters in edited books. Example sources verified on SpringerLink, Oxford Academic, the NCBI Bookshelf, and PubMed's record of the AHRQ handbook, with each chapter's DOI opened.

PERRLA builds the chapter reference from its DOI, with the editors in the right order and the pages in the right place.

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