Why Multiple-Author Citations Cause So Many Errors
Managing multiple authors in APA citations is one of the most consistently error-prone areas in Malaysian postgraduate thesis reference lists. The rules differ depending on how many authors a work has, whether you are writing an in-text citation or a reference list entry, and which edition of APA you are following. Because the rules changed between APA 6th and 7th editions — and because different sources, supervisors, and online guides sometimes reflect different edition conventions — students working through a long thesis often end up with an inconsistent mix of practices that needs to be systematically cleaned up before submission.
Understanding the current APA 7th rules for multiple authors, applied consistently from the first citation to the last, eliminates a category of error that is mechanical but surprisingly damaging to the professional presentation of a reference list. Examiners and journal reviewers who are familiar with APA conventions notice these errors quickly, and a reference list full of author formatting inconsistencies creates an impression of careless scholarship regardless of the quality of the research itself.
In-Text Citations: The APA 7th Rules
For in-text citations, APA 7th has straightforward rules based on the number of authors. For a work with one author, cite the surname only: (Ali, 2023). For a work with two authors, cite both surnames joined by an ampersand inside parentheses: (Ali & Bala, 2023). When the authors are integrated into the sentence, use “and” rather than an ampersand: Ali and Bala (2023) found that…
For a work with three or more authors, use only the first author’s surname followed by et al. from the very first citation — this is the key change from APA 6th, which required all authors to be listed at first mention for works with up to five authors. In APA 7th, a work by Ali, Bala, Chen, and Rashid is cited as (Ali et al., 2023) from the first time it appears in the text. There is no list-all-authors-first rule in APA 7th for in-text citations.
The exception, which many students miss, is when two different works produce the same et al. abbreviation — same first author surname, same year. In this case, list enough additional author surnames to distinguish the two: (Ali, Bala, et al., 2023) and (Ali, Chen, et al., 2023). This disambiguation rule applies only when the abbreviated forms would otherwise be identical and applies to both parenthetical and narrative citations.
Reference List Entries: The APA 7th Rules
The rules for listing multiple authors in APA reference list entries are different from the in-text citation rules. For two to twenty authors, list all authors in the reference list entry, separated by commas, with an ampersand before the final author. For example, a work by six authors would list all six: Ali, M. A., Bala, R., Chen, W. K., Rashid, N., Lim, S. H., & Tan, P. L.
For a work with twenty-one or more authors, list the first nineteen, insert an ellipsis (…), and then add the final author’s name. Do not use et al. in reference list entries — this is a rule that applies only to in-text citations. A reference list that contains “Smith et al.” as a reference list entry, rather than all individual author names up to twenty, is incorrect in APA 7th.
The author names in a reference list entry always follow the format: Surname, Initial(s). Each author follows this format. Initials are used for first and middle names — not full first names, unless the journal or style guide you are using specifies otherwise. In APA 7th standard thesis format, it is always “Ali, M. A.” and never “Ali, Mohammad Arif.”
Handling Malaysian Author Names in APA Citations
Malaysian author names present a specific challenge in APA citation because many do not follow the Western first-name-plus-surname structure that APA assumes. Names with “bin” or “binti” — meaning “son of” or “daughter of” in the patronymic naming tradition — and names where it is not immediately clear which part functions as the family name require careful treatment.
The APA convention for names with patronymics is to treat the entire name as the surname for citation purposes when there is no distinct family name. If an author publishes as Ahmad bin Zulkifli, you would cite them as Ahmad (2023) in the text and list them in the reference list as Ahmad bin Zulkifli in the author position. Some Malaysian scholars publish with a clear family name distinct from the patronymic — in these cases, the family name is used as the surname in citations. When in doubt, check how the author themselves presents their name in their published work. The way an author is indexed in databases like Scopus or Web of Science is usually the most reliable guide to how their name should appear in citations.
Checking Your Reference List for Multiple-Author Consistency
Before submitting your thesis, run a dedicated check through your reference list specifically for multiple-author formatting. Look for any reference list entry that uses et al. — these should be converted to full author lists up to twenty. Look for any in-text citation with three or more authors where all authors are listed — these should be converted to the et al. format. Check for any two-author in-text citations that use “and” inside parentheses rather than an ampersand — inside parentheses, APA requires the ampersand symbol. And check for any in-text citations where two et al. abbreviations might be ambiguous and need disambiguation.
This pass through your thesis for multiple-author consistency in APA citations takes perhaps an hour for a full thesis and catches a category of error that is easy to overlook during content-focused proofreading but immediately visible to anyone checking your citation formatting against APA 7th standards.
