How to Cite Preprint Articles in APA

  • Author: The author or authors of the preprint article. An organization can also be listed as the author.
  • Year: The year the preprint article was published to the preprint repository.
  • Title: Italicize the title of the preprint article.
  • Source: The repository from which the preprint article was retrieved.
  • DOI or URL: The digital object identifier assigned to the preprint article, or the URL. When using a DOI, “https://doi.org/” should precede the DOI number.
  • Abbreviation: The abbreviation of an organization name; to be used in an in-text citation for an organization author cited more than once.

Example of a Citation with a DOI

Citation
Falshaw, N., Ducarmon, Q. R., King, A., Grundler, F., & Mesnage, R. (2025). Remodelling of the gut virome after long-term fasting. medRxiv. https://doi.org/10.64898/2025.12.19.25342476
Structure
Surname, Initial., Surname, Initial., Surname, Initial., Surname, Initial., & Surname, Initial. (Year). Title of preprint article. Repository. https://doi.org/xxxxx

Example of a Citation with a URL

Citation
Mirbadin, A. (2026). Receiver-centric hypothesis-parallel message passing for unit-rate transmission. Preprints.org. https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/201017
Structure
Surname, Initial. (Year). Title of preprint article. Repository. URL

Example of a Citation with an Organization Author

Citation
Genetics and Epidemiology of Colorectal Cancer Consortium. (2022). Germline TYK2 mutation and cancer risk. medRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.01.26.22269888 
Structure
Organization Name. (Year). Title of preprint article. Repository. DOI or URL

Example of In-Text Citations

Single Author

Example (Surname, Year)
Structure (Mirbadin, 2026)

Two Authors

Example (Surname & Surname, Year)
Structure (Ericson & Glick, 2024)

Three or More Authors

Example (Surname et al., Year)
Structure (Harris et al., 2020)

Organization Author

Example (Genetics and Epidemiology of Colorectal Cancer Consortium, 2024)
Structure (Organization Name, Year)

If you cite work from an organization multiple times, you may include an abbreviation in brackets in the first in-text citation, then use only the abbreviation in subsequent in-text citations:

First Example (Genetics and Epidemiology of Colorectal Cancer Consortium [GECCC], 2024)
Structure (Organization Name [Organization Abbreviation], Year)
Second Example (GECCC, 2024)
Structure (Organization Abbreviation, Year)

There are multiple preprint repositories: PsycArXiv, medRxiv, and PubMed Central are common sources for retrieving preprint articles in the health sciences. The repository Preprints.org is a multidisciplinary preprint article platform. ArXiv offers access to preprint articles on topics related to mathematics, physics, and computer science, while ChemRxiv hosts preprint articles related to chemistry, and EarthArXiv focuses on earth sciences.

Use the final, published version of an article when possible: Preprint articles are usually not peer-reviewed and may not yet be finalized.

Use the DOI when possible: Only use the URL in the citation if no DOI has been assigned to the preprint article.

Cite the most recent version of the preprint article: Check that the DOI or URL in the citation links to the most recent version of the preprint article. The date should also correspond to the most recent version preprint article. 

Format the title in sentence case: Only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized.

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Kathryn Vela

Kathryn Vela is a medical librarian and published author with nearly ten years of experience in hospital, academic, and corporate libraries. Her expertise includes information retrieval, health information outreach, and scholarly communication. She holds an MLIS from San Jose State University, a BS in Biology from Washington State University, and advanced certifications in systematic review services and data analysis.

Learn how to cite in APA