PERRLA/Guides/APA 7/Test, scale, or inventory

How to Cite a Test, Scale, or Inventory in APA 7

In APA 7, cite a test, scale, or inventory through its manual whenever one exists: the authors, the year, the manual's title in italics, and the publisher, as in (Beck et al., 1996). If you used the test's record in a database like APA PsycTests, cite the record: the authors, the year, the test's name in italics and title case, [Database record], the database name, and the DOI, as in (Duckworth et al., 2007). Cite the test itself, with its URL, only when there's no manual or published article to cite. In your paper, write the test's name in title case and plain type, never italics.

The format

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Name of the Test (Abbreviation) [Database record]. Database Name. 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

Choose Tests, Scales, & Inventories, then pick what you have in hand:

  • Manual for a test, scale, or inventory: add the authors, then fill in the manual's title, the Publication Year, and the publisher.
  • A record in a test database: add the authors, then fill in Database Record Name, Publication Year, Database Name (like APA PsycTests), and the URL. Fill in Database Record Number only when the database numbers its records in addition to, or instead of, a DOI.
  • A test, scale, or inventory directly (if manual isn't available): add the organization as a Group Author (Organization), or a person as an Author, then the test's name, the year if it has one, and the URL.

PERRLA italicizes the title, adds [Database record] for a database record, writes n.d. when there's no year, and leaves the publisher out when it's the same as the group author. It brings the title in exactly as you type it, so type the test's name in title case, as the test prints it. Paste a DOI as the full https://doi.org/ link so it prints as a link.

Add database records with this form rather than the reference search: the search builds a PsycTests DOI as a data set, which doesn't get the [Database record] label. A test that was published in a journal article is the exception. Paste that article's DOI into the reference search and PERRLA builds the journal article. Check the authors, the title, and the year against the article before you save.

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

The parts of the reference

1. Which version you cite

APA ranks the choices. Cite the manual when the test has one and you consulted it. If the test came out in a journal article instead, cite the article. Cite a test database record when you used the record's own information, like its description or development history. Cite the test itself only when none of those exist.

BDI-II: the 1996 manual. Grit Scale: the 2007 article, or its PsycTests record. A Project Implicit test: the test page itself.

2. Authors

The test's developers, written as last name, comma, initials, with an ampersand before the last one. For a test from an organization, the organization is the author, written out in full.

Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., & Brown, G. K.

Project Implicit.

For a translated or adapted version, the authors are the people who made that version, not the original developers.

3. Year

The year the manual, article, or record gives, in parentheses. A test with no date takes n.d.

(1996).

(n.d.).

4. Title

The title goes in italics. A test's name is a proper noun, so it stays in title case, with its abbreviation in parentheses when the source shows one.

Beck Depression Inventory-II: Portuguese Version (BDI-II)

A manual's title follows book rules around the test's name: the test's name keeps its capitals, and the rest is sentence case. APA's own example ends with "Technical manual," lowercase m. The first word after a colon always takes a capital, as in BDI-II, Beck Depression Inventory: Manual.

5. Record number

Some test databases number their records, like the TC numbers in ETS TestLink. Put that number in parentheses right after the title, in plain type. PsycTests records are identified by their DOI instead, so they don't take a number.

6. [Database record]

For a test database record, add the description [Database record] in square brackets right after the title (or the record number), in plain type.

Grit Scale [Database record].

It's not [Data set]. A data set is research data. A test record describes an instrument.

7. Publisher or database

For a manual, give the publisher. For a record, give the database name. For a test from an organization that is also its publisher, leave the publisher out.

Psychological Corporation.

APA PsycTests.

APA's manual example says PsycTESTS, the database's earlier name. Today's record pages say APA PsycTests. Use what the record shows.

8. DOI or URL

End with the record's DOI as a link, or the test's URL if it's online. No period after it. A print manual has neither, so its reference ends with the publisher.

https://doi.org/10.1037/t07051-000

Examples

A test manual: the BDI-II

The manual for the Beck Depression Inventory–II, by Aaron Beck, Robert Steer, and Gregory Brown, published by the Psychological Corporation in 1996. When a test has a manual, the manual is the source to cite. The title is the one on the Library of Congress record.

  • Parenthetical citation(Beck et al., 1996)
  • Narrative citationBeck et al. (1996)

A database record in APA PsycTests: the Grit Scale

The Grit Scale's record in APA PsycTests, with the four developers as authors, 2007, and the record's DOI. Cite the record when you used what it says about the scale.

  • Parenthetical citation(Duckworth et al., 2007)
  • Narrative citationDuckworth et al. (2007)

The article a test was published in: the Grit Scale

The same Grit Scale first appeared in this 2007 article in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. When you're writing about the scale's development or its evidence, cite the article like any journal article.

  • Parenthetical citation(Duckworth et al., 2007)
  • Narrative citationDuckworth et al. (2007)

A translated version of a test

The Portuguese version of the BDI-II has its own PsycTests record, credited to Rui Campos and Bruno Gonçalves, who translated and tested it. Cite the version you used, with that version's authors and year.

  • Parenthetical citation(Campos & Gonçalves, 2011)
  • Narrative citationCampos and Gonçalves (2011)

The test itself, online, with no date

Project Implicit's Race IAT, an implicit association test taken on the organization's site. With no manual to cite, cite the test: the organization as group author, n.d. for no date, the test's name in italics, and the URL where you take it.

  • Parenthetical citation(Project Implicit, n.d.)
  • Narrative citationProject Implicit (n.d.)

In-text citations

An APA 7 in-text citation for a test gives the authors of the manual, article, or record you cited, and its year. Name the test in your sentence too, so the reader knows which instrument you mean.

  • Parenthetical: Depression was measured with the Beck Depression Inventory–II (Beck et al., 1996).
  • Narrative: Duckworth et al. (2007) defined grit as perseverance and passion for long-term goals.
  • Two authors: both names every time: (Campos & Gonçalves, 2011) or Campos and Gonçalves (2011)
  • A group author: (Project Implicit, n.d.)
  • With an abbreviation: spell out the name the first time and put the abbreviation with the citation, separated by a semicolon: the Beck Depression Inventory–II (BDI-II; Beck et al., 1996). After that, write BDI-II.

Write a test's name in title case and plain type in your paper: the Grit Scale, the Race IAT. The italics are only for the title in the reference. Lowercase a general description that isn't the name, like "a grit questionnaire" or "a vocabulary test," and lowercase the word scale for a subscale: the Grit Scale's Consistency of Interests subscale.

Common mistakes

  • Grit scale [Data set]. American Psychological Association.Grit Scale [Database record]. APA PsycTests.A test record is a database record, not a data set. The test's name keeps title case, and the source is the database, APA PsycTests, not its publisher.
  • Retrieved from PsycTESTS. doi: 10.1037/t07051-000APA PsycTests. https://doi.org/10.1037/t07051-000That's the APA 6 form. APA 7 drops "Retrieved from" and writes the DOI as a full link.
  • Participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory–II.Participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory–II (Beck et al., 1996).Test names go in title case and plain type in your paper. Only the title in the reference is italic.
  • (Beck et al., 1996), for the Portuguese version of the BDI-II(Campos & Gonçalves, 2011)A translation or adaptation is cited by its own authors and year. Cite the version you actually gave or read.
  • (Grit Scale, n.d.)(Duckworth et al., 2007)Don't cite a test as an undated title when its developers published it. Cite the article or the database record, which both name the authors and the year.

Quick checklist

  • The manual first, then the source article or a database record, then the test itself
  • The authors and year of the version you used, translations included
  • The test's name in italics and title case, abbreviation in parentheses
  • [Database record] and the database name for a PsycTests entry
  • The DOI as a https://doi.org/ link, with no period after it
  • Test names in plain type in your paper, abbreviation defined once

Questions students ask

Do I cite the test, the manual, or the database record?

The manual, if the test has one and you used it. If the test was published in a journal article, cite the article. Cite a database record like a PsycTests entry when you used the record's description or details. Cite the test itself only when nothing else exists to cite.

Do I italicize test names in APA 7?

Only in the reference. In your paper, write the test's name in title case and plain type: the Beck Depression Inventory–II, not Beck Depression Inventory–II. Words like test and scale take a capital only when they're part of the official name.

How do I cite a PsycTests record?

Give the authors, the year, the test's name in italics, [Database record], APA PsycTests, and the record's DOI. The record page shows the database as APA PsycTests, its current name, so use that rather than the older PsycTESTS.

How do I cite a translated or adapted version of a test?

Cite the version you used, with the authors and year of that version. The Portuguese version of the BDI-II, for example, is credited to Campos and Gonçalves in 2011, not to Beck and colleagues. You can mention the original test in your sentence and cite its manual too.

Do I need a citation every time I name a test?

Cite the test's source the first time you name it in a section where you rely on it, and whenever you report its scoring, reliability, or validity. Once the reader knows which source you mean, you can name the test, or its abbreviation, without repeating the citation in every sentence.

What about a test on a website, like an online quiz?

If it has a manual or an article behind it, cite that. If it doesn't, cite the test itself: the person or organization that made it, the year or n.d., the test's name in italics, and its URL.

Rules checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.), Sections 6.18, 6.25, 8.17, 9.8, 9.25–9.37, 10.1, and 10.11 (Examples 81–83). The BDI-II manual was verified against its Library of Congress catalog record (LCCN 97180986), the two PsycTests records on their APA PsycNet pages, the Grit article on PubMed and its DOI, and the Race IAT on Project Implicit's site.

PERRLA formats the manual, the database record, or the test itself, [Database record] and italics included.

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