APA Citation Format for Indian Researchers — Complete Guide with Examples

APA (American Psychological Association) format is the most widely required citation style in Indian universities, particularly in social sciences, education, psychology, management, and nursing. This guide covers APA 7th edition — the current standard — with examples specific to Indian academic sources that most citation guides ignore.

The general structure of an APA reference is:

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher. DOI or URL

Key rules in APA 7th edition: • Use hanging indent for all references (second line indented) • List up to 20 authors before using an ellipsis • Include DOI whenever available • No place of publication required for books (removed in 7th edition) • Use sentence case for article and book titles (only first word and proper nouns capitalised) • Use title case for journal names (all major words capitalised)

Format: Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of article. Journal Name, volume(issue), page–page. https://doi.org/xxxxx

Example (Indian journal): Sharma, R. K., & Patel, M. (2022). Digital literacy among rural school teachers in Rajasthan. Indian Journal of Educational Research, 11(2), 45–58. https://doi.org/10.1234/ijer.2022.11.2.45

If no DOI is available, include the journal's homepage URL: Sharma, R. K., & Patel, M. (2022). Digital literacy among rural school teachers in Rajasthan. Indian Journal of Educational Research, 11(2), 45–58. https://www.ijer.in

Format: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of book: Subtitle if any. Publisher.

Example (Indian publisher): Kothari, C. R. (2004). Research methodology: Methods and techniques (2nd ed.). New Age International.

Edited book: Singh, A. K. (Ed.). (2019). Advances in social science research in India. Sage Publications India.

Format: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of chapter. In E. E. Editor (Ed.), Title of book (pp. xx–xx). Publisher.

Example: Mishra, P. (2020). Caste and education in contemporary India. In R. Gupta (Ed.), Social stratification in modern India (pp. 112–134). Oxford University Press India.

This is the format most Indian researchers get wrong. For a thesis retrieved from Shodhganga:

Format: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of thesis [Doctoral dissertation/Master's thesis, University Name]. Shodhganga. URL

Example: Verma, S. (2019). Impact of microfinance on women empowerment in rural Maharashtra [Doctoral dissertation, University of Pune]. Shodhganga. https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/handle/10603/XXXXXX

Note: Replace XXXXXX with the actual handle number from Shodhganga.

Format: Government Agency. (Year). Title of report. Publisher. URL

Examples: Ministry of Education, Government of India. (2020). National Education Policy 2020. Ministry of Education. https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/moe/files/NEP_Final_English_0.pdf

National Sample Survey Office. (2019). Household social consumption: Education in India (NSS 75th Round). Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

Format: Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of page. Site Name. URL

If no author, use the organisation name: Press Trust of India. (2023, March 15). UGC announces new PhD regulations. The Hindu. https://www.thehindu.com/education/ugc-phd-regulations/article66634521.ece

For websites with no date, use (n.d.) in place of the year.

APA uses author-date in-text citations:

One author: (Sharma, 2022) or Sharma (2022) found that... Two authors: (Sharma & Patel, 2022) Three or more authors: (Sharma et al., 2022) — use et al. from the first citation Direct quote: (Sharma, 2022, p. 45) — always include page number for direct quotes Multiple sources: (Patel, 2019; Sharma, 2022) — alphabetical order, separated by semicolons

For Indian government documents with long names, you can use an abbreviation after the first citation: First citation: (Ministry of Education, Government of India [MoE], 2020) Subsequent citations: (MoE, 2020)