Can a narrative citation "Jones and colleagues (2019)..." be compliant with APA 7th standards?

Question

I have been looking high and low and cannot find the answer to this question. I would prefer to replace the traditional Latin (et al.) with common English (and colleagues) in a narrative citation.

I recently had an article reviewer comment on my writing, saying "Jones and colleagues (2019)..." must be written "Jones et al. (2019)..."

I have looked though the APA 7th guidelines (Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association - 7th Edition) and find no such rule. Nor do I find where my style of writing is supported. So, is anything allowed which is not specifically disallowed? Or is anything wrong which is not specifically allowed?

I see on the APA website writing that follows this style, but these details are not in the official guidelines document.

• Et al.: When and How?
• The legacy of trauma

However, looking in Chapter 8 of the aforementioned guidelines does not make it clear. The narrative examples are only for a single author.

I would appreciate any authoritative help on this.

Answer 1

In the sixth edition of the APA Manual (p. 108) there is a clear rule for this:

4.26 Latin Abbreviations

Use the following standard Latin abbreviations only in parenthetical material; in non-parenthetical material, use the English translation of the Latin terms; in both cases, include the correct punctuation that accompanies the term:

cf.   compare
e.g.,   for example,
, etc.   , and so forth
i.e.,   that is,
viz.,   namely,
vs.   versus, against

...

Exception: In the reference list and in text, use the Latin abbreviation et al., which means and others, in nonparenthetical as well as parenthetical material.

The section heading, "Latin Abbreviations", is both in the table of contents and in the index of the sixth edition. Look for it in the seventh. But I would be surprised if this has changed.

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You can of course always use English when you want to give background information about an author and their research:

Marco Jones and his team from the University of Belfast have been studying Stack Exchange questions for the past thirty years and have developed the standard methodology. They have recently published a comprehensive summary of their findings (Jones et al., 2023).

But don't do this when you are just citing a source and the reader doesn't need to know more about who the authors are.

Answer 2

Thanks to Ben for the answer which gave me a very clear place to look in the APA 7th manual. It seems the rules are a little different in the 7th.

6.29 Latin Abbreviations

Use the following standard Latin abbreviations only in parenthetical material; in the narrative, use the translation of the Latin term. In both cases, punctuate as if the abbreviation were spelled out in the language in which you are writing.

This makes it look as though the rules are the same as what Ben wrote about the 6th edition. However, a little lower we see this in the 7th.

Use the Latin abbreviation “et al.” (which means “and others”) in both narrative and parenthetical citations (see Section 8.17).

also, in section 8.17 it says this:

For a work with three or more authors, include the name of only the first author plus “et al.” in every citation, including the first citation, unless doing so would create ambiguity

So, as it turns out, "et al." should not be translated in narrative citations because it is an exception.

Answer 3

The 7th Edition Abbreviations Guide on the APA's official blog clearly says to always use et al., even in narrative citations. It is on the second page of the document, under the "Latin" column, to the right.

The APA blog is much more user friendly and accessible than the manual itself. It has information on everything, from basic referencing to paper formatting, often with examples and downloadable documents to archive for the future.

Hope this helps!