PERRLA/Guides/APA 7/Grant

How to Cite a Grant in APA 7

An APA 7 grant reference lists the principal investigators followed by (Principal Investigator) or (Principal Investigators), the years the grant runs in parentheses, the grant title in italics and sentence case, the grant or project number in parentheses, the label [Grant], the funding agency, and the link to the grant's record, such as its NIH RePORTER page. The in-text citation is the investigator's last name and the full year range: (Aiken, 2014–2020).

The format

Investigator, A. A. (Principal Investigator). (Start Year–End Year). Title of the grant (Project No. xxxx) [Grant]. Funding Agency. https://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

Grants aren't something PERRLA's reference search looks up, so you add one by hand with the grant's RePORTER or NSF page open beside you. Choose Grants as the reference type.

Add each person as a Principal Investigator, or an organization as a Group Investigator. Paste the title into Grant Title/Name. RePORTER and NSF often print titles in title case or all capitals. PERRLA points that out as you paste and shows you how to fix it, with a one-click fix for title case. Type the number with its label, like Project No. 5R01NR014855-05, in Grant Description. Type the project's first and last years in Grant Duration (Years), like 2014-2020. Then add the funder in Funding Agency and paste the grant page's link as the URL.

PERRLA does the rest: it adds (Principal Investigator) or (Principal Investigators) to match the number of names, italicizes the title, adds [Grant], turns the hyphen between the years into an en dash, and writes the in-text citation with the full year range.

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

The parts of the reference

1. Principal investigators

The principal investigators take the author's spot: last name, a comma, and initials, with an ampersand before the last name. After the names, add the role in parentheses: (Principal Investigator) for one person, (Principal Investigators) for two or more, then a period.

Bates-Jensen, B. M., & Yap, T. (Principal Investigators).

On NIH RePORTER, the principal investigators are the Contact PI/Project Leader and anyone listed under Other PIs. RePORTER often prints names in capitals, last name first (AIKEN, LINDA H), so retype them in normal capitalization. Program officials, co-investigators, and the university that received the money aren't part of this element.

2. Grant years

Give the years the grant runs, start year to end year, with an en dash between them, in parentheses and followed by a period. Use the whole project period, not a single budget year or the fiscal year of the record.

(2014–2020).

RePORTER shows this as Project Start Date and Project End Date. Each year of an NIH grant has its own record, and later records usually keep the first start date, so the years come from the record you're citing. A grant that's still running takes its scheduled end year from the record. No dates at all? Write (n.d.).

3. Grant title

Write the title in italics and in sentence case: capitalize the first word, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns. RePORTER and NSF often print titles in title case or all capitals, so check the capitalization every time. Some RePORTER titles are already in sentence case, like the Bates-Jensen and Yap grant below.

Panel study of effects of changes in nursing on patient outcomes

Keep a program name that's part of the title, like the I-Corps prefix on some NSF awards, as the funder writes it.

4. Grant number

Put the grant number in parentheses right after the title, not in italics, with the label the funder uses. NIH calls it a project number; NSF calls it an award number. Copy the number exactly as the record prints it, including the first digit and the year suffix on an NIH number.

(Project No. 5R01NR014855-05)

5. The [Grant] label

After the number, add the word Grant in square brackets, then a period. The label tells the reader what kind of work this is, since a grant isn't a book or a report.

(Project No. 5R01NR014855-05) [Grant].

6. Funding agency

Name the agency that awarded the grant, spelled out, followed by a period. For an NIH grant, that's the institute or center RePORTER lists under Administering Institutes or Centers. Don't add the university that received the grant or its city.

National Institute of Nursing Research.

7. URL

End with the link to the grant's public record, like its NIH RePORTER project page or its NSF award page. No period after it. If the grant has no public page, end the reference after the funding agency.

https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9519047

Examples

An NIH grant with one principal investigator

Linda Aiken's National Institute of Nursing Research grant for a panel study of nurse staffing, education, and patient outcomes, cited from its 2018 record on NIH RePORTER. The project period on that record runs from 2014 to 2020.

  • Parenthetical citation(Aiken, 2014–2020)
  • Narrative citationAiken (2014–2020)

A grant with two principal investigators

A multiple-PI grant on detecting early pressure injuries in nursing home residents. RePORTER lists Barbara Bates-Jensen as the contact PI and Tracey Yap under Other PIs, so both are principal investigators, in that order.

  • Parenthetical citation(Bates-Jensen & Yap, 2022–2026)
  • Narrative citationBates-Jensen and Yap (2022–2026)

A grant that's still underway

A grant on labor and delivery nursing and obstetric outcomes that started in 2024 and is scheduled to end in 2028. Use the end year on the record even though it hasn't arrived yet. The A1 at the end of the number marks a resubmitted application; it's part of the number, so keep it.

  • Parenthetical citation(Lake & Srinivas, 2024–2028)
  • Narrative citationLake and Srinivas (2024–2028)

A National Science Foundation award

An NSF I-Corps award to a Texas Woman's University nursing professor for a mobile app that teaches nursing handoff. NSF calls its number an award number, and its award page gives the start and end dates.

  • Parenthetical citation(Lee, 2020–2021)
  • Narrative citationLee (2020–2021)

In-text citations

An APA 7 in-text citation for a grant gives the principal investigator's last name and the full range of years, with an en dash between them. Don't shorten the range to the first year.

  • One investigator: (Aiken, 2014–2020) or Aiken (2014–2020)
  • Two investigators: both names every time, joined by & inside parentheses and by and in your sentence: (Bates-Jensen & Yap, 2022–2026) or Bates-Jensen and Yap (2022–2026)
  • Three or more investigators: the first name and et al., starting with the first citation: (Name et al., 2019–2024)
  • No investigator named: the grant title in italics and title case, with the years
  • No dates: the name and n.d.: (Lastname, n.d.)

A narrative citation puts the investigator in your sentence: Lake and Srinivas (2024–2028) are studying how labor and delivery nursing relates to obstetric outcomes.

Common mistakes

  • Citing the grant to show where the money for your own project came fromA funding statement in the author noteAPA 7 credits your own funding in the author note, with the grant number, not in the reference list. A grant reference is for when you write about the grant itself.
  • Citing the grant for the study's resultsCiting the journal article that reports the resultsA grant record describes planned work. When you're using findings, cite the published article; the grant only needs a reference when the grant is your subject.
  • Aiken, L. H. (2018).Aiken, L. H. (Principal Investigator). (2014–2020).A grant names its investigators by role, and its date is the whole project period. 2018 was only the fiscal year of the record.
  • PANEL STUDY OF EFFECTS OF CHANGES IN NURSING ON PATIENT OUTCOMESPanel study of effects of changes in nursing on patient outcomesGrant titles take sentence case in the reference, however RePORTER prints them. Retype capitals and title case before you save.
  • ... [Grant]. University of Pennsylvania.... [Grant]. National Institute of Nursing Research.The funding agency goes in the source position, not the university that received the money.
  • (Lee, 2020)(Lee, 2020–2021)The in-text citation repeats the full year range from the reference, so the two match.

Quick checklist

  • Every principal investigator, then (Principal Investigator) or (Principal Investigators)
  • The project's start and end years, with an en dash
  • Grant title in italics and sentence case
  • Grant number in parentheses, with the funder's label
  • [Grant] after the number
  • The funding agency spelled out, then the link to the grant's record
  • In-text citation with the full year range

Questions students ask

Do I cite a grant or the article it funded?

Usually the article. If you're using a study's findings, cite the journal article that reports them. Cite the grant itself only when you're writing about the funded project, like describing what NIH is paying for in your topic area.

How do I acknowledge grant funding for my own research?

Put it in the author note, not the reference list. Name the funder and give the grant number. Student papers usually don't have an author note, so ask your instructor if your capstone or thesis needs one.

Where do I find a grant's details?

For NIH grants, search NIH RePORTER (reporter.nih.gov) by investigator, title, or number. The project page has everything the reference needs: the title, the project number, the investigators, the project start and end dates, and the institute. For NSF grants, use the NSF Award Search, which lists the award number, the principal investigator, and the dates.

Which years do I use for an NIH grant?

Use the project start and end years from the record you're citing. Don't use the fiscal year or the budget dates, which cover a single year of funding. If a later record shows a different end date because the grant was extended, use the dates on the record you link to.

What if the grant is still active?

Use the scheduled end year shown on the record, even if it's in the future: (Lake & Srinivas, 2024–2028). The format doesn't change.

What if the grant has no web page?

End the reference after the funding agency. Everything else stays the same: investigators, years, title, number, [Grant], and the funder.

Rules checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.), Sections 2.7, 8.17, 9.8, 9.10, 9.12, 9.14, 9.17, 9.19, 9.21, 9.29, 9.34–9.35, and 10.4, including the manual's own grant reference example. The APA Style website's reference examples have no separate grant page. Example sources verified on each grant's NIH RePORTER project page and NIH RePORTER API record, and on the NSF Award Search page for the NSF award.

Type in a grant's details once, and PERRLA adds the investigator label, the italics, the [Grant] tag, and the year-range citation for you.

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