PERRLA/Guides/MLA 9/Clinical practice guideline

How to Cite a Clinical Practice Guideline in MLA 9

In MLA 9, cite a clinical practice guideline the way you found it. A guideline on the organization's own website usually starts with its title in italics, because the organization wrote and published it. Then come the guideline number, the organization as publisher, the date, and the URL without https://. A guideline published in a journal, like most AHA guidelines, is cited as a journal article: the first author and et al., the title in quotation marks, the journal, and the DOI. The in-text citation is the first thing in the entry: (Dementia) or (Jones et al. e130).

The format

Title of the Guideline. Guideline number, Organization Name, Day Month Year, www.organization.org/....

PERRLA MLA Experts · Updated October 27, 2026
Checked against the MLA Handbook, 9th edition. Every example is formatted by PERRLA's reference engine.

First, the easy way: PERRLA

Paste a nice.org.uk/guidance link into PERRLA's reference search, and PERRLA builds the guideline under Gray Literature, with the title, the year it was first published, and the NICE guideline number. For MLA, make two changes. Type National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in the publisher Name box, and PERRLA moves the title to the front of the entry, the MLA way. Then add the month and day from the guideline's Published line to Publication Year. For a guideline published in a journal, paste its DOI or PubMed ID and PERRLA builds the journal article, trimming the author list to the first author and et al.

Adding a guideline from another organization's site by hand? Choose Gray Literature (Reports, Briefs, Codes), then A standalone work: report, brief, codes, etc. Add a Group Author (Organization), type the same organization in the publisher Name box, and put any guideline number in Identifying Information. A description like Final recommendation statement goes in Format or Type. PERRLA handles the title case, the italics, and the punctuation.

Not using PERRLA yet? Here is how to build the same works cited entry by hand.

The parts of the works cited entry

1. First, where did you find it?

Clinical practice guidelines come in two forms, and the form decides the entry. A guideline you read on the organization's own website, like a NICE guideline or a USPSTF recommendation, is a standalone work, so its title goes in italics. A guideline published in a journal, like the AHA and ACC guidelines in Circulation, is a journal article: the title goes in quotation marks and the journal is the container.

Website guideline: Dementia: Assessment, Management and Support for People Living with Dementia and Their Carers. NICE guideline NG97, ...

Journal guideline: ... Circulation, vol. 152, no. 11, Sept. 2025, pp. e114–e218, https://doi.org/10.1161/CIR.0000000000001356.

Some guidelines exist in both places. USPSTF recommendations are on the task force's site and in JAMA. Cite the version you actually read.

2. Author, or the title first

When an organization wrote the guideline and also publishes it on its own site, MLA skips the author and starts with the title. The organization is named once, as the publisher. That's the case for NICE guidelines and USPSTF recommendations.

Dementia: Assessment, Management and Support for People Living with Dementia and Their Carers.

When a committee or working group is credited and its parent organization publishes the guideline, the committee is the author and the organization is the publisher. On a journal guideline, the people listed on the article are the authors: the first one inverted, then et al. when there are three or more: Jones, Daniel W., et al.

3. Title

Capitalize the title in title case: the first word, the last word, and every main word, even though NICE prints its titles in lowercase. Keep the organization's own punctuation inside the title. NICE doesn't use a serial comma in this title, so you don't add one.

Dementia: Assessment, Management and Support for People Living with Dementia and Their Carers.

A website guideline's title is italic. A journal guideline's title is an article title, so it goes in quotation marks with the period inside, and the journal name is italic.

4. Guideline number

If the guideline has a number, it comes after the title, in plain type, followed by a comma. Copy it the way the organization writes it. NICE guidelines always have one.

NICE guideline NG97,

A USPSTF recommendation has no number. Its type, Final recommendation statement, goes at the very end of the entry, so a reader can tell it apart from the task force's evidence summary on the same topic.

5. Publisher and date

Next comes the organization that published the guideline, then the date, each followed by a comma. Give the date as fully as the guideline gives it, day first, with months longer than four letters abbreviated.

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, 20 June 2018,

If you're citing a guideline that has been updated since, use the date of the version you read. NICE shows a Published date and, after an update, a Last updated date. NG97 has never been updated. On a journal guideline, use the issue's date after the volume and issue numbers.

6. URL or DOI

End a website guideline with the URL of its landing page, without the https:// at the front, followed by a period. Link to the guideline itself, not a search results page.

www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng97.

End a journal guideline with its DOI as a full https://doi.org/ link.

Examples

A NICE guideline, with its guideline number

NICE's dementia guideline, NG97, published 20 June 2018, and a core source in gerontological and mental health nursing. NICE wrote and published it, so the entry starts with the title. The citation points to one recommendation, using NICE's own numbering.

  • In-text citation(Dementia, recommendation 1.4.1)
  • Narrative citationNICE's guideline Dementia recommends that … (recommendation 1.4.1).

A USPSTF recommendation from the task force's website

The US Preventive Services Task Force's recommendation on screening adults for depression and suicide risk, released 20 June 2023 and read on the task force's own site. The task force wrote and published it, so the entry starts with the title, and Final recommendation statement at the end says which USPSTF document this is.

  • In-text citation(Depression)
  • Narrative citationThe US Preventive Services Task Force's recommendation Depression and Suicide Risk in Adults: Screening states that ….

The same recommendation, as published in JAMA

The same USPSTF recommendation, read in JAMA. Now it's a journal article. JAMA lists the task force first and then its 18 members, so the entry gives the task force's name and et al.

  • In-text citation(US Preventive Services et al. 2060)
  • Narrative citationThe US Preventive Services Task Force et al. found that … (2060).

An AHA guideline published in a journal, with many authors

The 2025 high blood pressure guideline from the AHA, the ACC, and 11 other organizations, including the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and the Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association. It was published in three journals, and this is the Circulation version. It has 28 authors, and MLA names only the first, then et al.

  • In-text citation(Jones et al. e130)
  • Narrative citationJones et al. recommend that … (e130).

In-text citations

An MLA 9 in-text citation uses the first thing in the Works Cited entry. For a website guideline that's usually the title. For a journal guideline it's the first author.

  • Title first: the title's first noun phrase, in italics: (Dementia)
  • One recommendation: add the guideline's own numbering after a comma: (Dementia, recommendation 1.4.1)
  • Journal guideline: the first author, et al., and the page: (Jones et al. e130)
  • Group author listed first, then members: the group's name shortened to its first noun phrase, then et al.: (US Preventive Services et al. 2060)
  • Title in your sentence: name the organization and the title, and give only the location in parentheses: NICE's guideline Dementia recommends that … (recommendation 1.4.1).

No page numbers in an online guideline? Point to a recommendation or a numbered section instead, or leave the location out.

Common mistakes

  • National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Dementia: Assessment, Management and Support for People Living with Dementia and Their Carers. NICE guideline NG97, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, ...Dementia: Assessment, Management and Support for People Living with Dementia and Their Carers. NICE guideline NG97, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, ...When the same organization wrote and published the guideline, MLA skips the author and names it once, as the publisher.
  • National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. (2018). Dementia: Assessment, management and support for people living with dementia and their carers (NICE Guideline NG97).Dementia: Assessment, Management and Support for People Living with Dementia and Their Carers. NICE guideline NG97,That's APA. MLA uses title case, takes the number out of parentheses, and puts the date after the publisher.
  • American Heart Association. 2025 AHA/ACC/... Guideline for the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation and Management of High Blood Pressure in Adults.Jones, Daniel W., et al. "2025 AHA/ACC/... Guideline for the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation and Management of High Blood Pressure in Adults ..." Circulation, vol. 152, no. 11,A guideline published in a journal is a journal article. Its authors are the people listed on the article, its title goes in quotation marks, and the journal is italic.
  • Jones, Daniel W., Keith C. Ferdinand, Sandra J. Taler, et al.Jones, Daniel W., et al.With three or more authors, MLA names only the first, then et al.
  • (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence 2018)(Dementia, recommendation 1.4.1)MLA cites the first thing in the entry, here the title, and never puts the year in a regular in-text citation. Point to a recommendation instead of a page.

Quick checklist

  • Website guideline as a standalone work; journal guideline as a journal article
  • Title first when the organization wrote and published it
  • Website title in italics; journal guideline title in quotation marks
  • Guideline number after the title, if there is one
  • Organization as publisher, then the date as fully as the guideline gives it
  • URL without https:// for a website guideline, DOI link for a journal guideline
  • Three or more authors: the first author, then et al.

Questions students ask

Is a clinical practice guideline a journal article or a report?

It depends on where you read it. Guidelines on an organization's website, like NICE guidelines and USPSTF recommendations, are standalone works with an italic title. Guidelines published in a journal, like most AHA, ACC, and IDSA guidelines, follow the journal article format, with the DOI.

Why does the entry start with the title instead of NICE?

Because NICE is both the author and the publisher. MLA names an organization only once in that case, as the publisher, and starts the entry with the title. Your in-text citation then uses the title too: (Dementia).

How do I cite a USPSTF recommendation in MLA?

On the task force's website, start with the title in italics, then US Preventive Services Task Force as the publisher, the date, the URL, and Final recommendation statement. If you read it in JAMA, cite the JAMA article, which lists the task force and its members as authors. Both are shown above.

Which date do I use when a guideline has been updated?

The date of the version you're citing. NICE lists a Published date and, for updated guidelines, a Last updated date at the top of the guideline's overview page. If you read the updated guideline, use the update's date.

How do I cite one recommendation from a guideline?

Use the guideline's own numbering in place of a page: (Dementia, recommendation 1.4.1). Online guidelines rarely have page numbers, and a recommendation number lets your reader find the exact spot.

How do I cite a WHO guideline?

Like any guideline on an organization's site: the WHO wrote and published it, so start with the italic title, then World Health Organization as the publisher, the date, and the URL. Our WHO report guide covers WHO's reference numbers and IRIS links.

Rules checked against the MLA Handbook (9th ed.), chapter 5 (organization authors, titles, containers, the number and publisher elements, dates, and URLs and DOIs) and chapter 6 (in-text citations), and the MLA Style Center's post on a division of an organization as author (an organization that is both author and publisher is named once, as publisher). Example sources verified on the NICE guideline's overview page (Published 20 June 2018), the USPSTF recommendation page (June 20, 2023), and PubMed and Crossref for the JAMA article and the Circulation guideline.

PERRLA builds NICE guidelines from their link and journal guidelines from their DOI, with the title first and et al. where MLA needs them.

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