You cite an HTML full-text paper exactly as you would cite its original published version — the format doesn't change the citation, the source metadata does.
Use the Original Publication Information
When you read a paper as HTML (on PubMed Central, a journal website, or an institutional repository), you're still citing the official published article. Your citation should include:
- Author names
- Publication year
- Article title
- Journal name
- Volume and issue numbers
- Page numbers or article number
- DOI (digital object identifier)
The fact that you accessed it as HTML rather than PDF is irrelevant to the citation format. Both are digital versions of the same published work.
Where to Find Citation Details
Most HTML versions display full citation metadata at the top or bottom of the page. Look for:
- The journal's official citation format (often shown in a "Cite this article" box)
- The DOI link (usually starts with "https://doi.org/...")
- Volume, issue, and page information in the header
Copy these details directly rather than trying to reconstruct them yourself.
Common Citation Formats
APA 7th:
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of article. Journal Name, volume(issue), page–page. https://doi.org/xx.xxxx/xxxxx
MLA 9th:
Author Last Name, First Name. "Article Title." Journal Name, vol. number, no. number, Year, pp. page–page, doi:xx.xxxx/xxxxx.
Chicago:
Author Last Name, First Name. "Article Title." Journal Name volume, no. issue (Year): page–page. https://doi.org/xx.xxxx/xxxxx.
Verify Your Citations Automatically
Manual citation formatting is error-prone, especially across different style guides. WisPaper's TrueCite feature automatically locates the correct source metadata while you write and checks your citation formatting against APA, MLA, Chicago, and other standards — catching formatting errors and ensuring every reference traces back to a real published source.
The key principle: cite the published article, not the file format you happened to read it in.
