Organization names and personal authors in references

Two kinds of author record

A person's name is entered in two parts: the family name and the given names. An organization that is credited as author, such as Example Research Group, is entered as one literal name. The four records in the table above show the difference. The personal record for Maya Stone and the organization record are both accepted. A record that holds Stone, Maya and Example Research Group at the same time is rejected as ambiguous, and so is a record with nothing in it.

The workbench does not guess which kind of name it has been given. It will not split Example Research Group into a first and last name, and it will not decide that a name on the page is the true author.

Filling an author row in the workbench

• Under Authors, in source order, each row has Given names, Family name and Organization name, instead of a personal name.
• For a person, fill the first two boxes and leave the organization box empty. For an organization, fill only the organization box.
• Filling all three in one row holds the entry with Author details: review this source detail.
• A completely empty row is dropped. If no author is left, the entry is held with Author details: provide the source information.
• Add rows in the order printed on the source; the workbench keeps that order.

An organization author in the output

With Example Research Group as the only author of the journal-article example, the APA 7 workbench returns Example Research Group. (2024). A small study. Journal of Sample Studies, 12(2), 12–18. The name is printed whole, with no initials. In MLA output, an organization that is both the author and the journal or publisher is not repeated in the author position; the entry starts with the title instead. Names in Chinese, Japanese or Korean script are printed family name first without initials.

How the app reads names

In Citelle's Edit source screen each author row shows Last name and First name, and the row menu switches it to Organization. When the app reads names from a book record or a page's metadata, it splits a full-name string itself: the part before a comma becomes the last name, otherwise the last word does, and particles such as van, von or de stay with the last name. When a DOI record sends a personal name in capitals, such as WATSON, the app changes it to Watson, but it leaves organization names as they are. Check each split against the byline.

Keep the uncertain parts visible

• Keep the original spelling next to any correction you are considering.
• Do not invent an author so that a required-field check passes; the workbench's need for an author is a product limit, not a rule that anonymous works cannot be cited.
• Check whether a named organization is the author or only the publisher.
• Keep a chapter's author and the book's editor in their own roles, even if the same person holds both.

Four explicit name records

Maya Stone and Example Research Group are invented names. Their records illustrate two distinct input forms. The record containing both literal and personal components is ambiguous and is rejected, as is an empty person record.

Tools

• Build a source-specific reference from reviewed metadata · Citelle

Library

• APA 7: cite a journal article · Citelle
• APA 7: cite a edited-book chapter · Citelle

Next guide: Chapter authors, book editors and containing titles