How to list publications on a CV

Sort every paper by its real status first

Before formatting anything, put each item in one of these piles. The pile decides the label, the section and whether a journal name appears at all.

When a paper may go on the CV at all

Grinnell College's career centre says a co-authored manuscript can be listed once it has been submitted to a journal for peer review. Until then the citation shows the stage (submitted for review, under review, in revision) and leaves the journal out; once it is in press, the journal is added. Texas Tech's template lists the same qualifiers: Submitted, Under Review, In Revision, Accepted for Publication.

The APA journal reference, element by element

APA Style's journal article page gives the pattern: authors, year, article title, journal name, volume, issue, page range, DOI. Its notes are short and specific:

• If the article has a DOI, include it.
• Always include the issue number.
• If the article has an article number instead of pages, write "Article" and the number, for example Article e0193972.
• With no DOI and the article from an academic database, end the reference after the page range; with no DOI but a working URL from an online journal, end with the URL.
• Keep the journal's own spelling of its title, even if your CV uses another spelling convention.

Status words in the date slot

APA's page on reference elements is precise about dates. For unpublished or in-progress work, give the year it was produced, and do not put "in progress" or "submitted for publication" in the date element. Use "in press" instead of a year only when the work has been accepted. For an advance online publication, use the year it appeared online.

Preprints and their versions

APA's preprint page cites the server and the DOI, as in its PsyArXiv example, and asks you to cite the preprint version if that is the one you used, while preferring the final published version where it exists. arXiv recommends citing the specific version number with the identifier, in the form arXiv:YYMM.NNNNNv2, because an identifier without a version points to whatever the latest version is.

One researcher's list, six statuses

An invented early-career hydrologist, written in APA 7 with groups. In the real CV the author's own name (Demir, S.) is set in bold, as Grinnell and Texas Tech both advise.

People, titles and journals above are invented, and the bracketed DOI and arXiv numbers are placeholders. Copy the structure, then fill in your own references from the journal or server page.

Why the under-review line has no journal

Naming the journal before a decision invites the reader to treat the paper as accepted there. Grinnell's model leaves it out until the paper is in press. Some fields expect the journal named after "submitted to"; if your advisor's CV does that, follow your field, but keep the status word in the line.

Order, grouping and long lists

• Within each group, newest first: Harvard's graduate CV guide says to list items in reverse chronological order inside every category.
• Group by type when the list is long: Texas Tech suggests subsections such as Peer-Reviewed Publications, Book Reviews, and Conference Presentations and Posters.
• Peer-reviewed papers can also be ordered by lead authorship, which Texas Tech allows as an alternative.
• A very long list can travel as an attachment, with a Selected Publications section on the CV itself.
• A short list can be the last bullet of the research job it came from, Grinnell notes, instead of a separate section.

Placement depends on the field

One of Harvard's sample CVs, a biomedical scientist's, puts presentations and publications at the end, just above references, which the guide calls the norm in her field. Humanities samples in the same guide place them earlier. Check recent CVs from your department before deciding.

Add an ORCID iD

ORCID gives researchers a unique, persistent identifier free of charge. Harvard's sample CV shows the ORCID iD in the contact line, which lets a reader see your works in one record and separates you from researchers with the same name.

Proof: sources read on 13 October 2026

• APA Style: journal article references; preprint article references; elements of reference list entries (date element); conference presentation references.
• arXiv: understanding the arXiv identifier (versions and citation).
• Grinnell College Center for Careers, Life, and Service: publications and presentations on a resume or CV.
• Texas Tech University Career Center: CV template for academic careers (2026).
• Harvard FAS Mignone Center: GSAS CVs and cover letters (2025).
• ORCID: what is ORCID.

Where honesty limits the list

• In preparation: Harvard's samples include such items in a labelled group, but many fields skip them. If you list one, it must exist as a draft you could send.
• Accepted means a decision letter. A revise-and-resubmit is still under review.
• A conference abstract is not a full paper; APA marks it "[Conference presentation abstract]".
• Misstating publications is the kind of claim a search committee checks in minutes; the page on lying on a CV covers the consequences.

Theses and dissertations

A thesis normally stays in the education section; the thesis guide shows its lines and its APA form.

Next steps

Export your references from the journal pages or a reference manager in APA, sort them into the status groups above, bold your name, and read each line against the publisher's page.

CitedCV can give a CV a Publications section and writes it only from the references you enter or upload. It does not look references up for you, so check every DOI and status yourself before you export.

Questions people ask

Sources

1. APA Style: Journal article referencesapastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/journal-article-references
2. APA Style: Preprint article referencesapastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/preprint-article-references
3. APA Style: Elements of reference list entriesapastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/elements-list-entry
4. APA Style: Conference presentation referencesapastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/conference-presentation-references
5. arXiv: Understanding the arXiv identifierinfo.arxiv.org/help/arxiv_identifier.html
6. Grinnell College: Publications and presentations on resume/CVcareer.grinnell.edu/resources/publications/
7. Texas Tech University Career Center: CV Template, Academic Careers (PDF)www.depts.ttu.edu/careercenter/International_resources/AcademicCV_Updated_2026.pdf
8. Harvard FAS Mignone Center: GSAS CVs and Cover Letters (PDF)cdn-careerservices.fas.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/161/2025/08/gsas-cvs-and-cover-letters-2025.pdf
9. ORCID: What is ORCIDinfo.orcid.org/what-is-orcid/