Chicago Author-Date In-Text Citations with Multiple Authors
In Chicago Author-Date in-text citations, the way you cite a source depends on how many authors the work has.
Two authors
Cite both authors’ last names, joined by “and”, followed by the year: (Smith and Lee 2023).
Three or more authors
Cite only the first author’s last name, followed by et al., and the year: (Smith et al. 2023).
Applies to all in-text citations
These rules apply to both parenthetical and narrative citations in Chicago Author-Date style.
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Chicago Author-Date In-Text Citation Rules for Multiple Authors
List all authors when a work has one to three authors
When a source has one, two, or three authors, Chicago Author-Date in-text citations include the last names of all authors.
Place the authors’ last names at the beginning of the citation, followed by the publication year.
For works with up to three authors, do not use et al. in Chicago Author-Date in-text citations.
Use et al. when a work has four or more authors
If a source has four or more authors, list only the first author’s last name in the in-text citation.
Follow the first author’s name with et al. and the publication year.
In Chicago Author-Date style, et al. is used from the first citation onward for works with four or more authors.
These rules apply to Chicago Author-Date in-text citations only
The rules for citing multiple authors apply to both parenthetical and narrative in-text citations.
The author format used in the in-text citation must match the author listing at the beginning of the corresponding reference list entry.
Chicago Author-Date In-Text Citation Examples for Multiple Authors
The examples below show how Chicago Author-Date in-text citations are formatted when a source has multiple authors.
One author
List the author’s last name followed by the year.
This method improves long-term accuracy (Stryer 2019).
Two authors
List both authors’ last names, joined by “and”, followed by the year.
The data support this conclusion (Stryer and Berg 2020).
Three authors
List all authors’ last names in the order they appear in the reference list. Separate names with commas, and use “and” before the final author.
These findings have been widely discussed (Stryer, Berg, and Patel 2021).
Four or more authors
Use only the first author’s last name followed by et al. and the year.
This effect appears consistently across studies (Chen et al. 2022).
Narrative citation
Include the author names in the sentence and place the year in parentheses.
Stryer, Berg, and Patel (2021) explain this mechanism in detail.
Common Mistakes in Chicago Author-Date In-Text Citations for Multiple Authors
Using et al. for works with three authors
In Chicago Author-Date style, et al. is used only when a work has four or more authors. Works with one to three authors list all authors’ last names in the in-text citation.
Wrong
✕ (Stryer et al. 2021)
Correct
✓ (Stryer, Berg, and Patel 2021)
Using an ampersand (&) instead of “and”
Chicago Author-Date in-text citations use the word “and” between author names. The ampersand (&) is not used in Chicago style.
Wrong
✕ (Stryer & Berg 2020)
Correct
✓ (Stryer and Berg 2020)
Using commas incorrectly between author names
When listing multiple authors in Chicago Author-Date style, separate names with commas and use “and” before the final author.
Wrong
✕ (Stryer, Berg Patel 2021)
Correct
✓ (Stryer, Berg, and Patel 2021)
Using et al. incorrectly in narrative citations
In narrative citations, Chicago Author-Date style follows the same author rules as parenthetical citations. Use et al. only for works with four or more authors.
Wrong
✕ Stryer et al. (2021) explain this method.
Correct
✓ Stryer, Berg, and Patel (2021) explain this method.
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