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What's New in Each Citation Style: APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 18, and the Rest

By MLA Generator Editorial Team ·

Citation styles are not static. Every few years, a style organization publishes a new edition that adjusts the rules — sometimes substantively (the et al. threshold moved, the publisher city dropped) and sometimes lightly (a few new worked examples, a clarified ambiguity). This page surveys what changed in the most recent edition of each of the seven supported styles, what matters for writers updating from a prior edition, and how to identify which edition a given paper is in.

The shortest answer: APA 7 (2019/2020) eased its multi-author rules and added inclusive-language guidance. MLA 9 (2021) refined MLA 8’s core elements model. Chicago 18 (2024) is the newest, with AI citation rules and a lowered et al. threshold. Cite Them Right 12 (2022) added digital-source coverage. AMA 11 (2020) dropped place of publication. Vancouver and IEEE update on rolling cycles.

APA 7 (2020)

The seventh edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association was the first major overhaul of APA since 2009. The full breakdown is in the APA guide; the headline changes:

  • Singular they is accepted as both a generic pronoun (when gender is unknown) and a personal pronoun (when an individual uses it).
  • Three or more authors collapse to et al. immediately — APA 6 spelled out three to five surnames on first mention.
  • Reference-list author cap moved from 7 to 20 before using an ellipsis.
  • Publisher city dropped entirely from book references.
  • ”Retrieved from” before URLs dropped for stable sources; retained only for sources expected to change (Wikipedia, live dashboards).
  • Bias-free language guidance expanded to cover age, disability, gender, race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status.

If you are still writing in APA 6 in 2026, the most visible giveaway is the comma-separated first mention of three authors. APA 7 eliminated that pattern.

MLA 9 (2021)

The ninth edition of the MLA Handbook is a refinement of the eighth, not a reinvention. MLA 8 (2016) introduced the nine-element container model; MLA 9 tightened it and expanded the worked examples. The full breakdown is in the MLA guide; the headline changes:

  • Core elements clarified. The nine elements remained the same; MLA 9 walks through edge cases and ambiguous source types in much greater depth.
  • Annotated bibliography guidance added in section 5.132 — placement, indentation, and expected length.
  • Inclusive language chapter added, covering gender-neutral pronouns, identity-first versus person-first language, and racial/ethnic references.
  • Worked examples for digital sources expanded — social media posts, podcasts, video games, web comics, YouTube videos.
  • Author cap before et al. unchanged at three authors.

MLA 9’s continuity with MLA 8 means existing reference managers and templates configured for MLA 8 produce output that is still essentially current; only the worked examples for newer source types are likely to differ.

Chicago 18 (2024)

The newest major release. The eighteenth edition of The Chicago Manual of Style is the first revision since 2017. The full breakdown is in the Chicago guide; the headline changes:

  • Explicit AI-generated content rules — treat the AI service as the author, include the prompt or a description of what was asked, record the date used.
  • Expanded digital-source treatment — preprints, social-media posts, podcasts, streaming video, datasets all upgraded to first-class source types.
  • Author–date promoted to equal status with notes–bibliography rather than being treated as an alternative.
  • Inclusive-language updates parallel APA 7 and MLA 9.
  • Et al. threshold lowered for in-text to three or more authors (was four in CMS 17). Reference list lists up to six authors before “First three et al.” (was up to ten with ellipsis in CMS 17).
  • Place of publication is now optional (§14.30). CMS 17 required it.
  • Title case capitalizes prepositions of five or more letters and lowercases shorter ones. CMS 17 lowercased prepositions of any length.

Chicago 18 is the most recent major-edition release of any of the seven styles. Papers written before late 2024 are almost certainly in CMS 17.

Harvard — Cite Them Right 12 (2022)

The Cite Them Right variant of Harvard, published by Bloomsbury Academic, updates every 3–4 years. The twelfth edition (2022) is the most recent. The full breakdown is in the Harvard guide; the headline changes:

  • Expanded digital source examples for podcasts, social media, archived web pages, and generative AI.
  • Updated guidance on accessing institutional repositories and open-access platforms.
  • Refinements to the in-text citation rules around organizational authors and multi-volume works.
  • Et al. threshold unchanged at four or more authors.
  • ”Available at:” + “(Accessed: Month DD, YYYY)” convention retained as the standard format for web sources.

Cite Them Right 12 is the variant this site’s generator produces and the basis for the dedicated Harvard guide.

Vancouver (NLM Citing Medicine, rolling updates)

Vancouver does not follow a fixed edition cycle. The reference standard is the National Library of Medicine’s Citing Medicine, currently in its second edition (2007) with periodic web-based addenda. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) publishes recommendations that complement Citing Medicine and update every few years. The full breakdown is in the Vancouver guide; recent areas of change:

  • Preprint citation conventions added — most clinical preprints now appear on medRxiv and bioRxiv; the ICMJE recommendations document how to cite them.
  • Dataset citations added — research datasets get DOIs through repositories like Zenodo and Dryad; Vancouver and ICMJE both now support citing these as first-class sources.
  • DOI formatting unchanged — bare DOI with doi: prefix and no space.
  • Italics still absent from journal names, book titles, and Latin abbreviations.

Vancouver’s rolling-update pattern means there is no single year to point to as “the new Vancouver.” Currentness is checked against the latest ICMJE recommendations document.

IEEE (rolling updates)

The IEEE Editorial Style Manual updates on a rolling cadence with no fixed edition. Recent changes:

  • Reference format adjustments to align with ORCID identifier inclusion.
  • DOI rendering refinements — doi: 10.xxx/yyy (lowercase, space after colon, terminal period).
  • Expanded conference-paper examples as virtual conference proceedings became standard.
  • Et al. italicization retained — IEEE remains distinctive in italicizing the abbreviation.
  • Reference-list collapse to “first author et al.” at seven or more authors.

The full breakdown is in the IEEE guide. IEEE journals publish current-style requirements on each journal’s author-guidelines page; check the specific journal you are submitting to for any house modifications.

AMA 11 (2020)

The eleventh edition of the AMA Manual of Style (2020) is the most recent. The full breakdown is in the AMA guide; the headline changes:

  • Place of publication dropped for most source types. Previous editions retained it.
  • DOI formatting standardized to doi:10.xxx/yyy (no space after colon, no terminal period).
  • Author cap lowered to first three before et al. for sources with seven or more authors. AMA 10 listed up to six.
  • Expanded coverage of preprints, datasets, and supplementary materials.
  • Inclusive-language guidance updated in parallel with APA 7.
  • Superscript Arabic numerals retained as the default in-text format.
  • Et al. italicization distinction retained: italicized in body prose, set in roman in the reference list — distinct from IEEE, which italicizes in both places.

AMA 11 is what the JAMA network and most U.S. clinical journals expect in 2026.

How to tell which edition a paper is in

A paper rarely announces its edition explicitly, but signals are usually visible in the reference list.

APA 6 versus APA 7: APA 6 lists “Retrieved from” before URLs; APA 7 does not. APA 6 includes the publisher city; APA 7 does not. APA 6 spells out three authors on first in-text mention; APA 7 collapses to et al. immediately.

MLA 7 (pre-2016) versus MLA 8/9: MLA 7 uses “Print” and “Web” medium tags; MLA 8 and 9 do not. MLA 8 and 9 use the nine-element container model with commas and periods in a specific order; MLA 7 used a more rigid template.

CMS 16 versus 17 versus 18: CMS 16 and earlier required the publisher city; CMS 17 still required it; CMS 18 makes it optional. CMS 17 used a four-or-more threshold for et al. in text; CMS 18 lowers it to three or more.

AMA 10 versus 11: AMA 10 includes publisher city; AMA 11 does not. AMA 10 uses doi:10.xxx/yyy differently in formatting; AMA 11 standardized.

When a paper’s reference list looks subtly off, identifying the edition mismatch is usually the answer.

Frequently asked questions

How often do these style manuals update?
Roughly every 5–10 years for major editions, with intermittent web-based addenda between editions. APA has typically updated every decade (APA 6 in 2009; APA 7 in 2019). MLA updated in 2009, 2016, and 2021. Chicago updated in 2010, 2017, and 2024. Cite Them Right (the Harvard variant) updates every 3–4 years; the 12th edition came out in 2022. AMA 11 came out in 2020. Vancouver and IEEE update on rolling cycles with no fixed edition number. The implication: a paper written more than a decade ago is probably in an older edition than the current standard.
Does it matter which edition I cite from?
Yes. Each edition introduces real rule changes — the et al. threshold, the publisher-city requirement, the URL prefix, the page-number cutoff. A paper written to APA 6 rules looks subtly wrong against an APA 7 rubric; a paper using CMS 17 conventions in 2026 is two years behind the current Chicago manual. Markers and editors generally know the current edition and check against it.
Where can I see what changed since the last edition?
Each style's dedicated guide on this site ends with a "What's new in [latest edition]" section documenting the meaningful changes. This page surveys all seven styles at once; the per-style guides go deeper on the changes specific to each.
Does this site's generator always use the latest edition?
The generator uses the most current CSL definitions for each style, which generally track the latest edition with a lag of a few months when a new edition ships. For APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 18, Harvard (Cite Them Right 12), and AMA 11, the engine produces current-edition output. For Vancouver and IEEE — which do not follow a fixed edition cadence — the engine follows the CSL project's current conventions, which mirror what current ICMJE and IEEE journals expect.
What happens to my older papers when a new edition comes out?
Nothing — they stay in whatever edition they were written in. The new edition does not invalidate older work. The practical question is whether you need to update an older paper for republication or for inclusion in a new submission. For journal resubmissions and thesis revisions, follow the current edition; for archival reasons (a paper already submitted and graded), leave it alone.

Editorial methodology and sources