Q. Can I cite an organization as an author?

Sometimes a organization is listed as the author or creator of your source, such as government agency, research institution, professional association, business, or some other named group of people. In those cases, you should cite the organization's name where you would include author information in your citation. In some citation styles, this is called a "group author" or "corporate author."

Here is how to cite an organization as an author in APA, Chicago Notes & Bibliography, and MLA Styles. View our Citation Resources guide for how to find information in other styles.

APA Style (7th ed.)

APA Style refers to organizations as authors as "group authors." The APA Publication Manual says in section 8.21 that you should write out the full name of the group author as it appears in the source. If it has a well know abbreviation, you can include that abbreviation in your first in-text citation and then use the abbreviation only in further in-text citations. For your Reference List citation, always spell out the full name of the organization as it appears in the source. If the group author and the publisher are the same, you can skip the publisher in your Reference List citation (section 10.2).

Example APA Group Author In-Text Citations

APA Style in-text citations should follow an author-date system (American Psychological Association [APA], 2020, p. 261).

American Psychological Association (APA, 2020) states that in-text citations should follow an author-date system (p. 261).

You should paraphrase more often than you directly quote (APA, 2020, p. 269).

Example APA Group Author Reference List Citation

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.).

Chicago Notes & Bibliography Style (18th ed.)

According to the Chicago Manual section 13.86, list an organization as an author only if there is no personal author listed. The organization may also be listed as the publisher in the same entry. Chapter 8, sections 8.63-8.71 provide rules for how to write organization's names in Chicago Style.

Example Chicago Note with Organization as Author

1.     University of Chicago Press, The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th ed. (University of Chicago Press, 2024), 13.86. https://doi.org/10.7208/cmos18.

Example Chicago Bibliography Entry with Organization as Author

University of Chicago Press. The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th ed. University of Chicago Press, 2024. https://doi.org/10.7208/cmos18.

MLA Style (9th ed.)

MLA Style calls organization who are authors "corporate authors." Do not any articles (a, an, the) at the beginning of the name of a corporate author (see section 5.18 of the MLA Handbook). If you are doing a prose in-text citation, write out the full name of the organization. If you are doing a parenthetical in-text citation, you can shorten the name to the shortest noun phrase (i.e., the first noun and any modifiers before it). See section 6.6 of the MLA Handbook. 

If you the corporate author is the same as the publisher, you can skip the publisher element of the Works Cited page citation. If the corporate author and publisher are different, then include both. See section 5.19 of the MLA Handbook.

Example MLA Corporate Author In-Text Citations

The Modern Language Association of America states that paraphrasing shows that you understand the source you are citing while keeping your voice as an author (98).

Paraphrase to show that you understand the source you are citing while keeping your voice as an author (Modern Language Association, 98)

Example MLA Corporate Author Works Cited Page Citations

MLA Committee on Information Technology. Guidelines for Evaluating Digital Scholarship. Modern Language Association of America, September 2024. www.mla.org/content/download/191995/file/Guidelines-Evaluating-Digital-Scholarship.pdf.

MLA Handbook. 9th ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2021.