Report citation generator
Cite a report from a government, organization or company, online or in print.
or fill in the details below
How to cite a report
A report citation takes three steps, for government, organization and company reports.
Step 1
Paste the report’s link
Paste its page or its PDF link. We fill in the title, the organization and the date.
Step 2
Add the report number and publisher
Give the report number if it has one. Add a publisher only when it isn’t the author, like a department that publishes an agency’s report.
Step 3
Copy your citation
Add the reference entry to your list and use the in-text citation in your paper.
How to cite a government report in APA
An APA report citation gives the author, the year, the title in italics with the report number, the publisher when it isn’t the author, and the URL.
Format
Organization. (Year). Title of report (Report No. 123). Publisher. URL
An agency and its department
National Center for Education Statistics. (2020). The condition of education 2020 (NCES 2020-144). U.S. Department of Education. https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2020144
The agency is the author and the department that publishes its reports is the publisher.
An organization as author and publisher
World Health Organization. (2023). World health statistics 2023: Monitoring health for the SDGs, sustainable development goals. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240074323
When the author is also the publisher, APA leaves the publisher out.
How to cite a report in MLA
An MLA report citation gives the author, the title in italics, the publisher, the year and the URL. When the organization is both author and publisher, MLA starts with the title.
Format
Author. Title of Report. Publisher, Year, URL.
An organization as author and publisher
World Health Statistics 2023: Monitoring Health for the SDGs, Sustainable Development Goals. World Health Organization, 2023, www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240074323.
A named author
Gottfried, Jeffrey. How Americans Use Social Media. Pew Research Center, 31 Jan. 2024, www.pewresearch.org/internet/2024/01/31/americans-social-media-use/.
How to cite a report in Chicago
Chicago gives the organization, the title in italics, the report number, the publisher, the year and the URL.
Bibliography
National Center for Education Statistics. The Condition of Education 2020. NCES 2020-144. U.S. Department of Education, 2020. https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2020144.
Footnote
National Center for Education Statistics, The Condition of Education 2020, NCES 2020-144 (U.S. Department of Education, 2020), https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2020144.
How to cite a WHO, World Bank or UN report, or an annual report
The organization is usually the author.
WHO, World Bank, UN and OECD
The organization is the author and the publisher: APA names it once. Many of their reports have a DOI; use it in place of the URL.
Research centers like Pew
When the report names its authors, they come first and the organization is the publisher.
Annual reports
The company is the author, and APA leaves out the publisher when it is the company too. Use the title on the report’s cover.
News releases
A news release from an organization isn’t a report. Cite it as a webpage with the website citation generator.
Citing the data behind a report rather than the report itself? Use the dataset citation generator.
Group authors and abbreviations in in-text citations
APA spells out a group’s name in your first citation and uses its abbreviation after that.
First citation
(World Health Organization [WHO], 2023). Put the abbreviation in square brackets after the full name.
Later citations
(WHO, 2023).
In the reference list
Always the full name, never the abbreviation. Add the abbreviation in the form and we show both in-text forms.
Frequently asked questions
How do I cite a government report in APA?
Give the agency, the year, the title in italics with the report number in parentheses, the parent department as publisher if it isn’t the author, and the URL.
How do I cite a report in MLA?
Give the author, the title in italics, the publisher, the year and the URL. If the organization wrote and published it, start with the title.
Who is the author of a report?
The people named on its cover. If none are named, the organization is the author.
Where do I put the report number?
In APA, in parentheses after the title, like (NCES 2020-144). MLA and Chicago give it after the title too.
Can I cite a report from a PDF?
Yes. Paste the PDF’s link and we read its title, or fill in the details from its cover.
Is this report citation generator free?
Yes. It’s free with no signup, and your citations go into the same list as the main Citation Generator.