Do you use et al. for two authors in APA 7?

No. Works with two authors are always cited by naming both authors every time they appear in the text (e.g., Smith & Johnson, 2024 or Smith and Johnson, 2024). Never use et al. for two authors.

When do you start using et al. in APA 7th edition?

Under APA 7, for any work with three or more authors, you use 'et al.' starting from the very first in-text citation (e.g., Miller et al., 2023). This is a major update from APA 6, which required listing all authors up to five on the first mention.

Should et al. be italicized in APA 7?

No. In APA 7th edition, 'et al.' is written in standard regular font (no italics). Always ensure a period is placed after 'al.' because it is an abbreviation of the Latin word 'alii' (et al.).

APA 7th Guidelines Reading time: 5 min

APA 7th Edition In-Text Citation Rules: When to Use "et al."

By CitePure Editorial Lab • November 14, 2026 • Author Citation Matrix

💡 APA 7 Author-Count Quick Reference Table

Author Count	Parenthetical In-Text	Narrative In-Text
1 Author	(Adams, 2024)	Adams (2024)
2 Authors	(Adams & Baker, 2024)	Adams and Baker (2024)
3 or More Authors	(Adams et al., 2024)	Adams et al. (2024)

Key Rule: In APA 7th edition, any work with 3+ authors uses 'et al.' on the very first mention.

1. The Critical Difference Between APA 6 and APA 7

The transition from APA 6th to APA 7th edition simplified in-text citations dramatically. In APA 6, authors were burdened with a confusing rule:

If a paper had 3, 4, or 5 authors, you had to write out every author's surname on the first citation.
You could only shorten to et al. on the second and subsequent citations.

APA 7 eliminated this rule entirely. Today, for any work with 3 or more authors, you truncate immediately to the first author's surname followed by et al. from the very first sentence. This saves page space and prevents awkward in-text paragraphs.

2. Typography and Punctuation of 'et al.'

The Latin phrase et al. stands for et alii ("and others"). Pay close attention to these three non-negotiable punctuation rules:

No Italics: Write et al. in regular font. Never italicize it in APA 7.
Period After 'al.' Only: "Et" is a complete word; "al." is an abbreviation. Never write et. al. or et al without a period.
Comma Placement:
- Parenthetical: (Taylor et al., 2024) → Comma after the period.
- Narrative: Taylor et al. (2024) observed that... → No comma after 'et al.' before the year.

3. The Disambiguation Exception (Same First Author & Year)

What happens when you cite two different papers published in the same year that share the same first author and would otherwise abbreviate to the exact same citation? For example:

Study 1: Taylor, Martinez, Wilson, and Green (2023)
Study 2: Taylor, Martinez, Evans, and Cooper (2023)

Shortening both to (Taylor et al., 2023) would create an ambiguous citation where readers cannot tell which study is being cited.

APA 7 Solution: List as many authors as necessary to distinguish the two references, and then add et al.:

Citation for Study 1: (Taylor, Martinez, Wilson, et al., 2023)

Citation for Study 2: (Taylor, Martinez, Evans, et al., 2023)

4. Reference List Rules: How Many Authors to Include?

While the in-text citation is aggressively shortened, the References list at the end of your manuscript has a much higher threshold:

Author Count in Reference	APA 7 Formatting Rule
1 to 20 Authors	List all authors by surname and initials. Include an ampersand (`&`) before the final author.
21 or More Authors	List the first 19 authors, insert an ellipsis (`...`) without an ampersand, and add the final author's name.

Example with 21+ Authors:

Wiskunde, T. W., Verstappen, P. A., Chen, J., Hamilton, L., Leclerc, C., Norris, L., Russell, G., Piastri, O., Alonso, F., Stroll, L., Gasly, P., Ocon, E., Albon, A., Colapinto, F., Tsunoda, Y., Lawson, L., Bottas, V., Zhou, G., Magnussen, K., . . . Hulkenberg, N. (2024). Aerodynamic ground effect modeling in engineering. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 980, Article A12. https://doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2024.123