Skip to Main Content

I need to reference something in APA 6: Government publication or report

I need to reference something in APA 6: Check which referencing style you should use before following advice on this page.

Government publication or report, and NICE guidelines

Government publication or report, and NICE guidelines

Government publication or report citation

Citation

Example citations

(Department of Health, 1991) or Department of Health (1991)

First citation: (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence [NICE], 2013) or National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE, 2013).

Subsequent citations: (NICE, 2018) or NICE (2018)

 

Government publication or report reference

Reference list

If you need to reference a government publication or report, you would include the author e.g. the government department or body, year, title, report series and/or reference number if available, place of publication and publisher or web address. 

 

Revised or updated dates are publication dates for referencing. 

 

Examples:

Department of Health. (1991). Dietary reference values for food energy and nutrients for the United Kingdom (Report on health and social subjects: 41). London: HMSO.

Department of Health (2016). Government response to the House of Commons Health Select Committee report on Childhood obesity – brave and bold action (First report of session 2015-2016, CM 9330). Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/ attachment_data/file/552056/HSC_response_9_9_16.pdf

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. (2018). Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (NICE Quality Standard No. 39). Retrieved from https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/qs39

 

If you are referencing multiple government reports from different countries or any government reports from a devolved administration, then you could use the name of the country as a prefix e.g. Great Britain: Department of Health to make it clear where the report or publication originated. However this is not a requirement of APA.

See also

See also: Act of Parliament   

More than one author

If you have a source with more than one author, if the author is an organisation, or if you cannot identify an author, follow this guidance.

Citing authors with example references

Examples in this table are selected to show how to cite and reference names.  The approach to names is the same for all types of reference and you will see different types of reference from the main example at the top of the page.

  Citation Reference

One author

Cite and reference the author

Phillips (2006) or (Phillips, 2006)

 Philips, D. (2006). Quality of life: Concept, policy and practice. London: Routledge.

Two authors

Cite and reference both authors

Kimball and Ross (2002) or (Kimball & Ross, 2002)

 Kimball, R., & Ross, M. (2002). The data warehouse toolkit: The complete guide to dimensional modeling. New York: Wiley.

Three, four or five authors

Cite all authors in the first citation.

 

Subsequent citations should include the first author followed by et al. In your reference include all the authors.

Bott, Coleman, Eaton and Rowland (2001) or (Bott, Coleman, Eaton & Rowland, 2001)

Bott et al. (2001) or (Bott et al., 2001)

 Bott, F., Coleman, A., Eaton, J., & Rowland, D. (2001). Professional issues in software engineering (3rd ed.). London: Taylor and Francis.

Six or seven authors

Cite the first author followed by et al. and in your reference include all the authors.

Shepperd et al. (2009) or (Shepperd et al., 2009)

 Shepperd, S., Doll, H., Gowers, S., James, A., Frazel, M., Fitzpatrick, R., & Pollock, J. (2009). Alternatives to inpatient mental health care for children and young people. The Cochrane Library, (2), article number CD006410.

Eight of more authors

Cite the first author followed by et al.

In your reference, include the first six authors, followed by ... then add the last  author.

Mali et al. (2013) or (Mali et al.,2013)

 Mali, P., Yang, L., Exvelt, K., Aach, J., Guell, M., Dicarlo, J., ... Church, G. (2013). RNA-guided human genome engineering via Cas9. Science, 339(6121), 823-6.

Editors

Follow the pattern above for when you have an editor or editors of a work; just remember that in your reference you need to identify them as an editor by putting (Ed) or (Eds) after all of the editors in the reference.

A source can be written by a corporate author such as an organisation or a company, also known as a group author. The corporate author and year should be used in the citation.

Citation Reference
Joseph Rowntree Foundation (2013) or (Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2013) Joseph Rowntree Foundation (2013). Free school meals announcement - JRF response. Retrieved from: https://www.jrf.org.uk/press/free-school-meals-announcement-jrf-response

For instances of more than one corporate authors of a source, treat them as you would two individuals in the reference (i.e., include both). The group author names should not be shortened in the text citation. However, if they are used repeatedly, you might introduce an abbreviation.

If you cannot identify the author(s) of a source, cite it by title and list it under the title in your reference list.

  Citation Reference
Whole work (book) Dictionary of sports science (2006) or (Dictionary of sports science, 2006) Dictionary of sports science (2006). London : A. and C. Black.
Part of work (chapter, article, document) "Jennifer & Joshua's Star wars suite" (2016) or ("Jennifer & Joshua's Star wars suite", 2016) Jennifer & Joshua's Star wars suite (2016). In The modern wedding : From graphics to styling. Berkley CA : Gingko Press.