PERRLA/Guides/APA 7/Editorial in a journal

How to Cite an Editorial in a Journal in APA 7

An APA 7 reference for a journal editorial follows the journal article format and adds the word Editorial in square brackets right after the title: author, year, title [Editorial], journal name and volume in italics, issue, pages or article number, and DOI. If the editorial isn't signed, the title and [Editorial] move to the front, before the year. The in-text citation is the author and year, like (Kirton, 2025), or a short title in quotation marks when there's no author.

The format

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of the editorial [Editorial]. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), page–page. 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

In PERRLA, choose Journal, then Journal article, then the kind Editorial. Fill in the author, the title, the journal, the year, the volume, the issue, the page or article number, and the DOI. PERRLA adds [Editorial] after the title for you. If the editorial has no byline, leave the author out: PERRLA moves the title and the label to the front of the reference and uses the title in your in-text citations.

Starting from PERRLA's reference search with the DOI? It fills in the details as a regular journal article, so switch the kind to Editorial before you save. Then look at the pages: a one-page editorial can come in as 5–5 (make it 5), an online article number can land in the page field (move it to the article number), and a publisher's internal code can land in the issue field (replace it with the issue number from the article page).

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

The parts of the reference

1. Author

List whoever signed the editorial, last name first, then initials. Journal editorials are often written by the editor in chief, but guest editorials and editorials by several editors work the same way.

Godlee, F., Smith, J., & Marcovitch, H.

No byline at all? Many Nature editorials are unsigned. Leave the author out and start the reference with the title and its label instead. Don't write Editorial, Anonymous, or the journal's name as the author. When a group signs the piece, like The Editors, use that group's name as the author.

2. Year

The year the editorial was published, in parentheses, followed by a period. Like any journal article, an editorial takes the year only, even in a weekly journal.

(2025).

For an unsigned editorial, the year comes after the title and label: Time to sound the alarm about the hidden epidemic of kidney disease [Editorial]. (2024).

3. Title and [Editorial]

Write the title in sentence case, then a space and the word Editorial in square brackets, then a period. The label isn't italic, and it's the same whether or not the journal's title says editorial.

The rise of AI [Editorial].

Keep acronyms and proper nouns capitalized, like AI and MMR. Sentence case lowers everything else.

4. Journal name and volume

The journal name in title case and italics, a comma, then the volume number, also in italics.

American Journal of Nursing, 125

5. Issue

The issue number in parentheses right after the volume, with no space and no italics.

125(12),

6. Pages or article number

Editorials are short, and many run a single page. Write one page as one number, not a range. Online journals that number articles instead of pages get the word Article and the number.

5.

Article c7452.

7. DOI

End with the DOI as a link, with no period after it. With no DOI, a database-found editorial ends after the pages, and one from an open website ends with its URL.

https://doi.org/10.1097/AJN.0000000000000213

Examples

An editorial by a journal's editor

Carl A. Kirton's one-page editorial in the December 2025 American Journal of Nursing. The journal labels it Editorial, so the reference adds [Editorial] after the title.

  • Parenthetical citation(Kirton, 2025, p. 5)
  • Narrative citationKirton (2025, p. 5)

An editorial by three editors, with an article number

The 2011 BMJ editorial by its editor in chief and two other editors that called the Wakefield MMR paper fraudulent. BMJ numbers its online articles, so the reference uses Article c7452 instead of pages.

  • Parenthetical citation(Godlee et al., 2011)
  • Narrative citationGodlee et al. (2011)

An unsigned editorial

A 2024 Nature editorial on chronic kidney disease, published with no byline. The title and [Editorial] take the author's place, and the in-text citation uses the title.

  • Parenthetical citation("Time to Sound the Alarm," 2024)
  • Narrative citation“Time to Sound the Alarm” (2024)

In-text citations

Cite a signed editorial like any journal article: the author's last name and the year. The [Editorial] label stays in the reference and never appears in the text.

  • One author: (Kirton, 2025) or Kirton (2025)
  • Three or more authors: the first author and et al., from the first citation on: (Godlee et al., 2011) or Godlee et al. (2011)
  • A quote: add the page: (Kirton, 2025, p. 5)
  • No author: use the title in place of the name, in title case and in double quotation marks, shortened to its first few words when it's long: (“Time to Sound the Alarm,” 2024) or “Time to Sound the Alarm” (2024)

A narrative citation can name the role, too: In a BMJ editorial, Godlee et al. (2011) argued that the paper was an elaborate fraud.

Common mistakes

  • Kirton, C. A. (2025). The rise of AI. American Journal of Nursing, 125(12), 5.Kirton, C. A. (2025). The rise of AI [Editorial]. American Journal of Nursing, 125(12), 5.Without the label, the reference reads like a research article. The [Editorial] description tells your reader it's an opinion piece.
  • Kirton, C. A. (2025). The rise of AI [Editorial].Kirton, C. A. (2025). The rise of AI [Editorial].Neither the title nor the label is italic. In a journal reference, only the journal name and the volume are.
  • Editorial. (2024). Time to sound the alarm about the hidden epidemic of kidney disease.Time to sound the alarm about the hidden epidemic of kidney disease [Editorial]. (2024).Editorial isn't an author. When nobody signed it, the title moves to the author position and the label goes with it.
  • (Kirton, 2025, [Editorial])(Kirton, 2025)The bracketed description belongs in the reference only. In-text citations give the author and year, plus a page when you quote.
  • American Journal of Nursing, 125(12), 5–5.American Journal of Nursing, 125(12), 5.A one-page editorial gets one page number. Citation tools sometimes copy a range like 5–5 straight from the publisher's record.
  • Kirton, C. A. (2025). The rise of AI. American Journal of Nursing [Editorial], 125(12), 5.Kirton, C. A. (2025). The rise of AI [Editorial]. American Journal of Nursing, 125(12), 5.The label describes the editorial, so it sits right after the editorial's title, before the period, not after the journal name.

Quick checklist

  • The person or group who signed it, or the title first if no one did
  • The year only, in parentheses
  • Title in sentence case, then [Editorial], neither one italic
  • Journal name and volume in italics, issue in plain parentheses
  • One page as one number, or Article and the article number
  • DOI as a link, with no period after it

Questions students ask

What counts as an editorial?

A piece the journal labels an editorial, usually an opinion or commentary by the editor, an editorial board, or an invited guest. Look at the section heading on the article page or in the table of contents. If the journal calls the piece something else, like a reader's letter, describe it that way instead: [Letter to the editor].

How do I cite a guest editorial?

The same way: the guest writer is the author, and the label is still [Editorial]. You don't need to write guest anywhere in the reference.

How do I cite an editorial with no author in the text?

Use the title where the author would go, in title case and double quotation marks, and shorten a long title to its first few words: (“Time to Sound the Alarm,” 2024). The year and any page or paragraph number follow as usual.

Is [Editorial] italicized or capitalized?

It's capitalized, like the first word of any bracketed description, but it isn't italic. It sits right after the title, before the period.

What about a newspaper editorial?

A newspaper editorial takes the same label, but the rest of the reference follows the newspaper format, with the full date and the newspaper's name. See our guide to op-eds and newspaper editorials.

Do I need [Editorial] if the title already says editorial?

Yes. The label describes the kind of work, and the title is copied as the journal printed it. Keep both.

Rules checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.), Sections 8.14, 8.17, 9.8, 9.12, 9.19, 9.21, 9.25–9.27, 9.34–9.36, and 10.1, and the APA Style website's journal article reference examples and its missing reference information page. Example sources verified on each article's own page (the AJN article page, an archived copy of the BMJ page, and Nature's page), against PubMed's Editorial labels, and through each DOI.

PERRLA adds the [Editorial] label for you and moves it to the front when an editorial has no author.

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