Author-date referencing guidelines

Author-date reference systems include a parenthetical citation in the text accompanied by a corresponding entry of the full citation in an end of chapter or book reference list.

We outline an approach for styling author-date references in UCL Press titles below. However, we accept the author’s style of author-date referencing if clear and consistent and containing all the bibliographic information needed. In edited collections, it is the volume editors’ responsibility to brief chapter authors on the style to be used, and to ensure that the style has been applied consistently across all chapters before submission of the final manuscript.

We ask that authors take particular care to ensure all sources referenced in the text and notes are included in the references to avoid queries and delays during the production process. Unless a separate list of (uncited) works is being included in a Further Reading section, no works should be included in the reference list that are not cited in the text.

Books which use author-date referencing may sometimes also have notes; however these notes are not used for giving fuller citation details – these details are only needed in the reference list.

Intext citation structure

Use the author surname and publication date in the intext citation, in brackets with no comma (Jones 1990). A page number can be added if useful, after a comma (Jones 1990, 23) and must be used when making a direct quote from a source. For digital publications that may not have print locators, use specific locators such as chapter titles or subheadings.

For intext citations with three or more authors use first author plus ‘et al.’.

If the author’s name appears in the sentence, you need only use a date in brackets, for example:

Stokes (2013) has shown that those who start to drive later drive less when they do start.

If you cite multiple references by the same author (or a combination of authors in the same order) that were published in the same year, distinguish between them by adding ‘a’ and ‘b’ after the date (Wilkins 2020a; Wilkins 2020b; Wilkins and Franklin 2024a; Wilkins and Franklin 2024b).

For intext citations with three or more authors use first author surname plus ‘et al.’ in the intext citation.

Reference list organisation

Reference lists are organised alphabetically by author surname. Where there are two or more works by the same author, arrange chronologically with earliest publication first.  Works by the same author in the same year should be distinguished by ‘a’, ‘b’ etc after the date. Within each group of references by the same authorship, ordering is by date (and not alphabetically by title).

Where there are consecutive works by the same author, or the same combination of authors in the same order, please repeat the names rather than replacing with long dashes (which hinders accurate linking in the digital versions). Single-authored works should precede any co-authored works. Co-authored works are ordered by second-author surname, then by third and subsequent names.

Hingley, Paul. 2020.

Hingley, Paul. 2025.

Hingley, Paul and Andrew Smith. 2012.

Although intext citations will use ‘et al.’ for works with three or more authors, in the reference list all names must be given. The exception here is science-based papers which may have very large author teams. We can provide separate guidance in these cases.

Examples

Follow the examples below for style and punctuation (please note especially the use of capitals, italics and punctuation).

Book

INTEXT CITATION: (Pollan 2006, 99–100)

REFERENCE LIST: Pollan, Michael. 2006. The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A natural history of four meals. Penguin.

Case style: main title use initial caps on all important words; subtitles use sentence case style.

Edited book

INTEXT CITATION: (Daum 2015)

REFERENCE LIST: Daum, Meghan, ed. 2015. Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed: Sixteen writers on the decision not to have kids. Picador.

Chapter in an edited book

In the intext citation, cite specific page numbers. In the bibliography, include the page range for the whole chapter.

INTEXT CITATION: (Ingold 2010, 67–70)

REFERENCE LIST: Ingold, Tim. 2010. ‘Ensembles of biosocial relations’. In Biosocial Becomings: Integrating social and biological anthropology, edited by Tim Ingold and Gisli Palsson, 67–93. University of Chicago Press.

Case style: chapter article uses sentence case. Main titles use initial caps on all important words, with subtitle in sentence case.

Translated book

INTEXT CITATION: (García Márquez 1988, 45–51)

REFERENCE LIST: García Márquez, Gabriel. 1988. Love in the Time of Cholera. Translated by Edith Grossman. Cape.

Journal article

In the intext citation, cite specific page numbers. In the bibliography, include the page range for the whole article.

INTEXT CITATION: (Stein et al. 2014, 15)

REFERENCE LIST: Stein, William III, Patrick W. Smith and Galen Smith. 2014. ‘The cast net: An overlooked sampling gear’. Marine and Coastal Fisheries: Dynamics, management, and ecosystem science 6, no. 1: 12–19.

Case style: sentence case for article name; initial caps for all important words of journal title (if journal title has subtitle use sentence case for this as shown).

Journal article with DOI

INTEXT CITATION: (Keng et al. 2017, 23)

REFERENCE LIST: Keng, Shao-Hsun, Chun-Hung Lin and Peter F. Orazem. 2017. ‘Expanding college access in Taiwan, 1978–2014: Effects on graduate quality and income inequality’. Journal of Human Capital 11, no. 1 (Spring): 1–34. https://doi.org/10.1086/690235.

Note that, unlike a URL, no accessed on date is required for online sources with a DOI, as this is a permanent identifier. Always include the https:// prefix before a DOI.

Magazine article

INTEXT CITATION: (Mead 2023).

REFERENCE LIST: Mead, Rebecca. 2023. ‘Terms of Aggrievement’. New Yorker, 18 December.

Magazine article online

INTEXT CITATION: (Savy 2014)

REFERENCE LIST: Savy, Pierre. 2014. ‘L’histoire à la découpe’, La vie des idées. Accessed 16 May 2023. https://laviedesidees.fr/L-histoire-a-la-decoupe.

Online magazine titles are given in italics. Please give an accessed on date for online sources. Include full web address including http:// or https:// prefix.

Website

INTEXT CITATION: (Savy 2014)

REFERENCE LIST: Savy, Pierre. 2014. ‘L’histoire à la découpe’, La vie des idées. Accessed 16 May 2023. https://laviedesidees.fr/L-histoire-a-la-decoupe.

Online magazine titles are given in italics. Please give an accessed on date for online sources. Include full web address including http:// or https:// prefix.

INTEXT CITATION: (Google 2024)

REFERENCE LIST: Google. 2024. ‘Privacy policy’, Privacy and Terms, effective 17 September. Accessed 3 April 2025. https://policies.google.com/privacy.

INTEXT CITATION: (Manchester University n.d.)

REFERENCE LIST: Manchester University. n.d. ‘History and heritage’. Accessed 30 March 2025.  https://www.manchester.ac.uk/about/history-heritage.

The names of websites are usually set in roman type. Please give an accessed on date for websites. Include full web address including http:// or https:// prefix. 

Dissertation

INTEXT CITATION: (Smith 2022, 67)

REFERENCE LIST: Smith, James. 2022. ‘Use of technology in primary education and impact on outcomes’. PhD dissertation, University of London.

‘PhD thesis’ is also fine to use, but please be consistent throughout the reference list.

Conference papers

INTEXT CITATION: (Jones 1999)

REFERENCE LIST: Jones, David. 1999. ‘Developing big business’, Large firms policy and research conference. University of Birmingham, 18-19 December. Leeds: Institute for Large Businesses, 65–9.

Reports

INTEXT CITATION: (NPCC 2019)

REFERENCE LIST: NPCC. (2019). Modern Slavery Police Transformation Programme Annual Report to 31 March 2019. Devon and Cornwall: National Police Chiefs Council.

INTEXT CITATION: (Department of Health and Children 2006)

REFERENCE LIST: Department of Health and Children. 2006. A Vision for Change: Report of the expert group on mental health policy. Dublin: Stationery Office. http://www.dohc.ie/publications/vision_for_change.html.

Treat title of report as book title: main title caps on all important words. Subtitles use sentence case. Include URL if accessed online.

Interview

INTEXT CITATION: (Jefferson 2025)

REFERENCE LIST: Jefferson, Margo. 2025. ‘The art of criticism no. 6’. Interview by Hilton Als, Paris Review, no. 251. https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/8391/the-art-of-criticism-no-6-margo-jefferson.

Citation is listed under the interviewee. Use sentence case for interview title. As this interview was consulted online, the URL has been given.

Video/podcasts

INTEXT CITATION: (Cowan 2022). If direct quote ideally include timestamp for point at which the quote is stated (Cowan 2022, at 6:09–17)

REFERENCE LIST: Cowan, Vaitea. 2022. ‘How green hydrogen could end the fossil fuel era’. TED Talk, Vancouver, BC, April. Video, 9:15. https://www.ted.com/talks/vaitea_cowan_how_green_hydrogen_could_end_the_fossil_fuel_era.

Use sentence case for video/podcast title. Adding ‘video’, ‘podcast’ is not essential, but can help if not obvious from context. If no date can be determined from the source, please include an accessed on date.