PERRLA/Guides/APA 7/Edited book

How to Cite an Edited Book in APA 7

An APA 7 reference for a whole edited book puts the editors where the author would go, followed by (Ed.) for one editor or (Eds.) for more. Then comes the copyright year in parentheses, the book title in italics and sentence case, the edition, the publisher, and the DOI if the book has one. The in-text citation uses the editors' last names and the year, with no Ed.: (Ferrell & Paice, 2019).

The format

Editor, A. A., & Editor, B. B. (Eds.). (Year). Title of the book (#th ed.). 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

Search for the book in PERRLA's reference search by its DOI, its ISBN, or its title. PERRLA fills in the names, the title, the year, and the publisher. Before you add it, check two things. Book catalogs often list a book's editors as its authors, so look at each name's role and change it to Editor if needed. Then hold the year, the edition, and the title's capitals up against the book's title and copyright pages.

Adding one by hand? Choose Book, then Book, e-book, or audiobook and All or part of a book. Add each editor with the role Editor, in the order the title page lists them, then the year, the title, the edition, the publisher, and the DOI or URL. When a book has editors and no authors, PERRLA moves the editors to the front and adds (Ed.) or (Eds.) after the last name.

Citing one chapter written by someone else? Choose Chapter in edited book instead. PERRLA puts the chapter's author first and the editors after In.

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

The parts of the reference

1. Editors

Put the editors where the author would go, as last name, comma, initials. Separate them with commas and put an ampersand (&) before the last one. Then write (Ed.) for one editor or (Eds.) for two or more, once, after the last name, followed by a period.

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

List every editor up to 20, in the order the title page gives them, even when there are four or more.

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

2. Year

Put the copyright year in parentheses, followed by a period. Use the year on the copyright page, even when a store or a publisher's site shows an earlier release date.

(2019).

3. Title

Write the title in italics and sentence case: capitalize the first word, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns.

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

4. Edition

For any edition after the first, put the edition in parentheses after the title, in plain text, before the period. A first edition gets nothing.

Oxford textbook of palliative nursing (5th ed.).

5. Publisher

Give the publisher's name with no city, state, or Inc. A government agency can be the publisher.

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

If two publishers are named, separate them with a semicolon. If the publisher is the same group that's in the author position, leave the publisher out.

6. DOI or URL

End with the book's DOI as a link, when it has one, with no period after it.

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59403-9

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

Examples

An edited book with two editors and an edition

The fifth edition of the Oxford Textbook of Palliative Nursing, edited by Betty Ferrell and Judith Paice. Each of its chapters has its own author, which makes it an edited book.

  • Parenthetical citation(Ferrell & Paice, 2019)
  • Narrative citationFerrell and Paice (2019)

An edited book with four editors

The open access Textbook of Patient Safety and Clinical Risk Management from Springer. All four editors go in the reference. In the text, the first editor's name and et al. stand in for the group.

  • Parenthetical citation(Donaldson et al., 2021)
  • Narrative citationDonaldson et al. (2021)

An edited book with one editor, published by a government agency

Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence-Based Handbook for Nurses, edited by Ronda Hughes and published by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). It's free on the NCBI Bookshelf, so the Bookshelf link ends the reference.

  • Parenthetical citation(Hughes, 2008)
  • Narrative citationHughes (2008)

In-text citations

An APA 7 in-text citation for an edited book gives the editors' last names and the year. Leave out Ed. and Eds.; they belong only in the reference.

  • One editor: (Hughes, 2008) or Hughes (2008)
  • Two editors: both names every time, joined by & inside parentheses and by and in your sentence: (Ferrell & Paice, 2019) or Ferrell and Paice (2019)
  • Three or more editors: the first editor and et al., starting with the first citation: (Donaldson et al., 2021)

Most of the time, though, you're citing one chapter, and nearly every quote comes from one. If the chapter has its own author, cite that author with the page, not the editors, and give the chapter its own reference.

Common mistakes

  • Ferrell, B. R., & Paice, J. A. (2019).Ferrell, B. R., & Paice, J. A. (Eds.). (2019).Without (Eds.), the reference says these two wrote the book. Book catalogs often drop the editor role, so add it back.
  • Ferrell, B. R. (Ed.), & Paice, J. A. (Ed.).Ferrell, B. R., & Paice, J. A. (Eds.).Write the role once, after the last editor's name, as (Eds.) for two or more.
  • (Ferrell & Paice, Eds., 2019)(Ferrell & Paice, 2019)The editor role appears only in the reference, never in the in-text citation.
  • Donaldson, L., et al. (Eds.). (2021).Donaldson, L., Ricciardi, W., Sheridan, S., & Tartaglia, R. (Eds.). (2021).List every editor, up to 20, in the reference. Et al. is for in-text citations.
  • Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.APA 7 dropped the publisher's city and state.
  • (Ferrell & Paice, 2019) for Margaret Campbell's chapter on ventilator withdrawal(Campbell, 2019)When you use one chapter, credit the person who wrote it. That chapter needs its own reference in the chapter-in-an-edited-book format.

Quick checklist

  • Editors in the author position, last name first
  • (Ed.) or (Eds.) once, after the last editor, then a period
  • The copyright year, not the release date
  • Title in italics and sentence case, edition in plain parentheses
  • Publisher with no city or state
  • The DOI or a stable URL when there is one
  • In text: the editors' last names and the year, with no Ed.

Questions students ask

How do I know if a book is edited?

Check the title page. An edited book says "edited by" before the names, and each chapter opens with its own author's byline. If the title page names authors, it's an authored book, even if a long contributors list appears in the front.

Should I cite the whole edited book or one chapter?

Cite the chapter whenever you use a specific chapter's ideas or words: its author goes first and the editors go after In. Cite the whole edited book only when you're writing about the book as a whole.

What if a book has an author and an editor?

If the title page credits an author and also names an editor, the author goes first and the editor goes in parentheses after the title, as (A. A. Editor, Ed.). PERRLA does this for you when you add both names with their roles.

How many editors do I list?

All of them, up to 20, in the order the title page lists them. With 21 or more, list the first 19, an ellipsis, and the last editor. In the text, three or more editors become the first editor's name and et al.

Do I cite an edited e-book differently?

No. APA 7 uses the same format for print and e-books. Leave out Kindle, VitalSource, and the database name, and add the DOI or a stable URL when there is one.

Do I write Ed. or Eds. in the in-text citation?

No. The in-text citation is just the editors' last names and the year: (Ferrell & Paice, 2019). The role appears only in the reference.

Rules checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.), Sections 8.17, 9.8, 9.10, 9.13–9.14, 9.19, 9.29, 9.34–9.35, and 10.2, and the APA Style website's book references page (whole edited books). Example sources verified on Oxford Academic, SpringerLink, the NCBI Bookshelf, and PubMed's record of the AHRQ handbook, with each book's DOI or link opened.

PERRLA builds the edited book reference with the editors up front and (Eds.) right where it belongs.

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