APA No-Date Citation: n.d., Examples and Retrieval Dates

The short answer

When the publication date is missing, put n.d. in its place. The parenthetical citation is (Author, n.d.); the narrative version is Author (n.d.). See APA’s missing-reference-information guidance.

For a webpage with an author, title, site and URL, the working pattern is:

Author. (n.d.). Title of page. Site Name. URL

In the finished reference, italicize the webpage title. If the author and site name are the same, omit the repeated site name. A missing date alone does not require a retrieval date; those are used for unarchived content intended to change over time. APA’s webpage reference examples.

Work through an example

This example is fictional; it demonstrates placement rather than citing a real publication:

Example Research Centre. (n.d.). Guide to reading study tables. https://example.org/study-tables

In text: (Example Research Centre, n.d.). The organization is both author and site, so its name is not repeated after the title.

For your own source, fill in these fields before formatting:

Field	What to record
Author	The named person or responsible organization. Do not infer an author from the domain alone.
Date evidence	Where you looked and whether the date belongs to this page.
Title	The specific work you read, rather than a generic site name.
Source	The site name and the working address of that page.
Change history	Whether a stable or archived version is available.

Avoid two frequent mistakes

A footer such as “© 2026 Example Organization” can describe the whole website. It does not establish the publication date of the page you used. Conversely, do not replace a real publication date with n.d. merely because a day or month is absent; the available date may be sufficient for the source type.

Do not invent a year to make a reference appear complete. Keep a note of what is missing so a later source check is quick. If the source cannot be identified or retrieved, reconsider whether it supports the claim you want to make.

Format and check your own source

Use the existing APA citation generator for a draft reference, then compare every field with the source. For several sources, try the editable source-comparison workspace, record findings and limitations, and export your notes to Word. Generated formatting still needs a source check.