PERRLA/Guides/APA 7/Nursing textbook

How to Cite a Nursing Textbook in APA 7

An APA 7 reference for a nursing textbook lists the authors from the title page, the copyright year in parentheses, the book title in italics and sentence case, the edition in parentheses, and the publisher. The in-text citation is the first author's last name, et al. when there are three or more authors, and the year: (Potter et al., 2026). An e-textbook you read in VitalSource or another reader gets the same reference as the print book.

The format

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of the textbook: Subtitle (#th ed.). Publisher.

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 your textbook in PERRLA's reference search by its ISBN (the print ISBN or the e-book ISBN) or by its title. PERRLA checks book catalogs, including the VitalSource catalog for e-textbooks, and fills in the authors, title, edition, and publisher. Before you add it, hold it up against the book's title page and copyright page. Catalogs often list the release date instead of the copyright year, and they can drop a middle initial, lowercase a name in the title, or mix credentials into the author names.

Adding one by hand? Choose Book, then Book, e-book, or audiobook and All or part of a book. Add each author in the order the title page lists them, then the copyright year, the title, the edition number (16 or 16th), and the publisher. Leave Format empty for an e-textbook. If you type the title in title case, PERRLA offers to fix the capitalization for you.

Citing a chapter with its own author in an edited textbook? Choose Chapter in edited book instead, then add the chapter author, the editors, the chapter title, and the chapter's page numbers. PERRLA puts the editors after In and the page range after the book title.

To point to one chapter of an authored textbook, choose Chapter as the citation's location and type the chapter number. PERRLA keeps one reference for the whole book.

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

The parts of the reference

1. Authors

List the authors the way the title page lists them, in the same order, as last name, comma, initials. Separate them with commas and put an ampersand (&) before the last one. List up to 20.

Hinkle, J. L., Cheever, K. H., Overbaugh, K. J., & Bradley, C. E.

Three traps hide here. A name in the title, like Brunner & Suddarth's or Lewis's, belongs to the book's original authors, not its current ones, so cite the people on the title page. The long contributors list in the front of the book doesn't go in the reference either. And credentials like RN, PhD, or FAAN never do.

2. Year

Use the copyright year from the copyright page, in parentheses, followed by a period. Big textbooks usually come out months before their copyright year, so the year on the shelf, in the bookstore, or in an online catalog can be a year early.

(2026).

Elsevier released the 12th edition of Fundamentals of Nursing in February 2025 with a 2026 copyright, so the reference says 2026.

3. Title

Italicize the title and write it in sentence case: capitalize the first word, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns, including the names in a possessive title.

Lewis's medical-surgical nursing: Assessment and management of clinical problems

Keep the title as the book prints it, ampersand and all: Brunner & Suddarth's, not Brunner and Suddarth's.

4. Edition

Put the edition in parentheses right after the title, in plain type, with the number, its ordinal ending, and ed. The period comes after the parentheses.

Fundamentals of nursing (12th ed.).

Cite the edition you actually used, even when a newer one is out, because page numbers and content change between editions. A first edition gets no edition note.

5. Publisher

Name the publisher from the title page or copyright page, with no city or state. Leave off endings like Inc. or Ltd.

Wolters Kluwer.

6. DOI or URL

Most nursing textbooks have no DOI, so the reference ends with the publisher, for print and e-book alike. Don't add VitalSource, Evolve, Kindle, or [eBook]: APA leaves the platform and device out. When a book or chapter does have a DOI, as many Springer books do, end with it as a link.

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-53705-9_10

Examples

A nursing textbook with five authors

The 12th edition of Fundamentals of Nursing, the Potter and Perry text used in many first-semester courses. Elsevier lists all five authors, and every one goes in the reference. Its copyright year is 2026, though it went on sale in February 2025.

  • Parenthetical citation(Potter et al., 2026)
  • Narrative citationPotter et al. (2026)

The 13th edition of Lewis's Medical-Surgical Nursing went on sale in January 2026 with a 2027 copyright, so it's cited as 2027. Elsevier sells it in print and as a VitalSource e-book, and the reference is the same either way.

  • Parenthetical citation(Harding et al., 2027)
  • Narrative citationHarding et al. (2027)

A textbook with chapter contributors (cite the whole book)

The 16th edition of Brunner & Suddarth's Textbook of Medical-Surgical Nursing names four authors on its title page and lists chapter contributors in the front matter. That makes it an authored book: write one reference for the whole book, and point to a chapter in your in-text citation. Its copyright page says 2026, though it was released in October 2025.

  • Parenthetical citation(Hinkle et al., 2026, Chapter 24)
  • Narrative citationHinkle et al. (2026, Chapter 24)

A chapter in an edited nursing textbook

In an edited textbook, each chapter has its own author and the people on the cover are editors. Cite the chapter: its author and title come first, then In, the editors, the book title, and the chapter's pages. This one is from Preventive Cardiovascular Nursing, edited by Sandra Dunbar and Lynne Braun, which has a DOI for every chapter.

  • Parenthetical citation(Coke, 2024, p. 296)
  • Narrative citationCoke (2024, p. 296)

In-text citations

An APA 7 in-text citation for a textbook gives the author's last name and the copyright year. Add the page number when you quote, or when you point to one specific passage.

  • Three or more authors: the first author and et al., starting with the first citation: (Potter et al., 2026) or Potter et al. (2026)
  • A quote: add the page: (Coke, 2024, p. 296)
  • A chapter of an authored textbook: the whole-book reference, with the chapter in the citation: (Hinkle et al., 2026, Chapter 24)
  • A chapter in an edited textbook: cite the chapter's author, not the editors: (Coke, 2024)

No page numbers in your e-textbook reader? Use the chapter number, a section heading, or a paragraph number instead, and never a Kindle location number.

Common mistakes

  • Brunner, L. S., & Suddarth, D. S. (2026).Hinkle, J. L., Cheever, K. H., Overbaugh, K. J., & Bradley, C. E. (2026).The names in the title belong to the book's first authors. Cite the authors on the title page of the edition you used.
  • Potter, P. A., Perry, A. G., Stockert, P. A., Hall, A. M., & Ostendorf, W. R. (2025).Potter, P. A., Perry, A. G., Stockert, P. A., Hall, A. M., & Ostendorf, W. R. (2026).Use the copyright year on the copyright page, not the release date a store or catalog shows.
  • Fundamentals of nursing (12th ed.).Fundamentals of nursing (12th ed.).The edition isn't part of the title, so it isn't italic. The period goes after the parentheses.
  • Elsevier. VitalSource.Elsevier.An e-textbook gets the same reference as the print book. Leave out the reader, the platform, and [eBook].
  • Harding, M. M., RN, PhD, CNEHarding, M. M.Credentials never go in an APA reference, even when the title page lists them.
  • Lewis's Medical-Surgical Nursing: Assessment and Management of Clinical ProblemsLewis's medical-surgical nursing: Assessment and management of clinical problemsBook titles take sentence case in the reference: the first word, the first word after the colon, and proper nouns.

Quick checklist

  • Every author from the title page, up to 20, in their order
  • The copyright year, not the release date
  • Title in italics and sentence case, proper nouns kept
  • Edition in plain parentheses after the title: (16th ed.)
  • Publisher with no city, state, or Inc.
  • No VitalSource, Evolve, Kindle, or [eBook]
  • A chapter reference only when the chapter has its own author and the book has editors

Questions students ask

Do I cite the chapter or the whole textbook?

Check the title page and the first page of the chapter. If the book has editors and the chapter opens with its own author's name, cite the chapter in the edited book. If the title page lists authors, cite the whole book and name the chapter in your in-text citation, even when a contributors list in the front credits someone for that chapter.

How do I cite an e-textbook from VitalSource or Evolve?

The same way as the print book: authors, year, title, edition, and publisher. Don't add VitalSource, Evolve, or the word eBook. Add a DOI only if the book has one.

What year do I use for a textbook?

The copyright year on the copyright page, which is the back of the title page. Textbooks are often released the year before their copyright year, so a store listing or an online catalog can show a different year.

My class uses an older edition. Which one do I cite?

The one you read. Page numbers, chapter numbers, and content change between editions, so your reference should match the copy in front of you, with its own edition and its own copyright year.

How do I cite a page when my e-textbook has no page numbers?

Many e-textbook readers show the print page numbers; use those when you have them. If yours doesn't, cite the chapter, a section heading, or a paragraph number instead. A Kindle location number isn't a page number and doesn't belong in an APA citation.

Do I include the authors' credentials, like RN or PhD?

No. APA references list names only, as last name and initials. Credentials, titles, and school affiliations stay out, even though textbook title pages print them.

Rules checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.), Sections 8.13, 8.17, 9.8, 9.13–9.17, 9.19, 9.28–9.30, 9.34, 10.2, and 10.3, and the APA Style website's book and edited book chapter pages. Example sources verified against the publishers' pages (Elsevier, Wolters Kluwer, and Springer), the Brunner & Suddarth's copyright page in the publisher's sample chapter, library catalog records, and the chapter's DOI.

PERRLA finds your textbook from its ISBN or title and builds the reference with every author, the edition, and the right italics.

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