How to cite authors in Harvard style?

Create a spot-on reference in Harvard

Select a source type:

This article presents the principles of giving authors' names in bibliographic references. For the rules of giving authors' names in the text of your paper, see the article on in-text citations in accordance with the Harvard style.

How to cite authors in a list of references

General case

In accordance with the Harvard citation style, the names of all authors should generally be given; the order of the names is to be the same as in the source itself. The details of an author are presented as their last name and initials separated by a comma:

Last NameInitials

Attention: A dot is put after each element of the initials.

If a source has more than one author, the conjunction 'and' is put before the last author's details:

Last Name, Initials of the 1st author, Last Name, Initials of the 2nd author and Last Name, Initials of the 3rd author

Attention: No comma is put before the conjunction 'and'.

Examples in a list of references:

Fitzgerald, F. S., (2012). The Great Gatsby. London: Max Bollinger.

Plaza, J., Dámek, F., Villena, I., Innes, E. A., Katzer, F. and Hamilton, C. M., (2020). Detection of Toxoplasma gondii in retail meat samples in Scotland. Food and Waterborne Parasitology [online]. 20, article no: e00086. [Viewed 20 January 2021]. Available from: doi: 10.1016/j.fawpar.2020.e00086

Source with a great number of authors

In certain cases, a source may have a great number of authors, up to several thousand. When it is either impossible or impractical to provide the full list of authors in a bibliographic reference, the Harvard citation style allows giving the data of the first author only followed by 'et al.':

Last Name, Initials of the 1st author et al.

Example in a list of references:

Aaij, R. et al., (2020). Searches for low-mass dimuon resonances [online]. [Preprint]. [Viewed 10 January 2021]. Available from: doi: 10.1007/JHEP10(2020)156

Source with a group author (organisation, institution, etc.)

If a source's author is an organisation, an institution, etc., its name is given at the beginning of the reference, there where individuals authors' names are given:

British Standards Institution, (2005). Food safety management systems — Requirements for any organization in the food chain BS EN ISO 22000:2005. London: British Standards Publications.

Source without a credited author

If the author of a source is unknown, the title of the work is given instead of the author's name at the beginning of the reference:

An easy vanilla cake recipe [online], (2021). House & Garden. [Viewed 11 January 2021]. Available from: https://www.houseandgarden.co.uk/recipe/simple-vanilla-cake-recipe

Editors, translators, and other contributors

If a source has not only a credited author but also an editor, a compiler, etc., the respective contributor's full name is given in the reference together with their role:

Shakespeare, W., (2007). Complete works. Edited by Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen. New York, NY: Modern Library.

For an edited source without a credited author, the editor's name is given instead of the author's data, as well in the inverted form (initials after last name), with the role abbreviation 'ed. / eds.' added:

Chandler, D. and Sisk, T. D., eds., (2013). Routledge handbook of international statebuilding. Abingdon: Routledge.

If you are referencing a part of an edited source, the names of the editors are indicated with the initials before the last name:

Le Pelley, M. E., Griffiths, O. and Beesley, T., (2017). Associative accounts of casual cognition. In: M. R. Waldmann, ed. The Oxford handbook of casual reasoning. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. pp. 13–28.

For a translated source, the translator's full name is given in the reference, together with the language of the original work (if available):

Knausgård, K. O., (2014). Boyhood island. Translated from Norwegian by Don Bartlett. London: Harvill Secker.

Other citation styles: