how to cite a research article online

Journal Article References

This page contains reference examples for journal articles, including the following:

• Journal article
• Journal article with an article number
• Journal article with missing information
• Retracted journal article
• Retraction notice for a journal article
• Abstract of a journal article from an abstract indexing database
• Monograph as part of a journal issue
• Online-only supplemental material to a journal article

1. Journal article

Grady, J. S., Her, M., Moreno, G., Perez, C., & Yelinek, J. (2019). Emotions in storybooks: A comparison of storybooks that represent ethnic and racial groups in the United States. Psychology of Popular Media Culture , 8 (3), 207–217. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000185

• Parenthetical citation : (Grady et al., 2019)
• Narrative citation : Grady et al. (2019)
• If a journal article has a DOI, include the DOI in the reference.
• Always include the issue number for a journal article.
• If the journal article does not have a DOI and is from an academic research database, end the reference after the page range (for an explanation of why, see the database information page ). The reference in this case is the same as for a print journal article.
• Do not include database information in the reference unless the journal article comes from a database that publishes works of limited circulation or original, proprietary content, such as UpToDate .
• If the journal article does not have a DOI but does have a URL that will resolve for readers (e.g., it is from an online journal that is not part of a database), include the URL of the article at the end of the reference.

2. Journal article with an article number

Jerrentrup, A., Mueller, T., Glowalla, U., Herder, M., Henrichs, N., Neubauer, A., & Schaefer, J. R. (2018). Teaching medicine with the help of “Dr. House.” PLoS ONE , 13 (3), Article e0193972. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0193972

• Parenthetical citation : (Jerrentrup et al., 2018)
• Narrative citation : Jerrentrup et al. (2018)
• If the journal article has an article number instead of a page range, include the word “Article” and then the article number instead of the page range.

3. Journal article with missing information

Missing volume number.

Lipscomb, A. Y. (2021, Winter). Addressing trauma in the college essay writing process. The Journal of College Admission , (249), 30–33. https://www.catholiccollegesonline.org/pdf/national_ccaa_in_the_news_-_nacac_journal_of_college_admission_winter_2021.pdf

Missing issue number

Sanchiz, M., Chevalier, A., & Amadieu, F. (2017). How do older and young adults start searching for information? Impact of age, domain knowledge and problem complexity on the different steps of information searching. Computers in Human Behavior , 72 , 67–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.02.038

Missing page or article number

Butler, J. (2017). Where access meets multimodality: The case of ASL music videos. Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy , 21 (1). http://technorhetoric.net/21.1/topoi/butler/index.html

• Parenthetical citations : (Butler, 2017; Lipscomb, 2021; Sanchiz et al., 2017)
• Narrative citations : Butler (2017), Lipscomb (2021), and Sanchiz et al. (2017)
• If the journal does not use volume, issue, and/or article or page numbers, omit the missing element(s) from the reference.
• If the journal is published quarterly and the month or season (Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer) is noted, include that with the date element; see the Lipscomb example.
• If the volume, issue, and/or article or page numbers have simply not yet been assigned, use the format for an advance online publication (see Example 7 in the Publication Manual ) or an in-press article (see Example 8 in the Publication Manual ).

4. Retracted journal article

Joly, J. F., Stapel, D. A., & Lindenberg, S. M. (2008). Silence and table manners: When environments activate norms. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin , 34 (8), 1047–1056. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167208318401 (Retraction published 2012, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38 [10], 1378)

• Parenthetical citation : (Joly et al., 2008)
• Narrative citation : Joly et al. (2008)
• Use this format to cite the retracted article itself, for example, to discuss the contents of the retracted article.
• First provide publication details of the original article. Then provide information about the retraction in parentheses, including its year, journal, volume, issue, and page number(s).

5. Retraction notice for a journal article

de la Fuente, R., Bernad, A., Garcia-Castro, J., Martin, M. C., & Cigudosa, J. C. (2010). Retraction: Spontaneous human adult stem cell transformation. Cancer Research , 70 (16), 6682. https://doi.org/10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-10-2451

The Editors of the Lancet. (2010). Retraction—Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children. The Lancet , 375 (9713), 445. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60175-4

• Parenthetical citations : (de la Fuente et al., 2010; The Editors of the Lancet, 2010)
• Narrative citations : de la Fuente et al. (2010) and The Editors of the Lancet (2010)
• Use this format to cite a retraction notice rather than a retracted article, for example, to provide information on why an article was retracted.
• The author of the retraction notice may be an editor, editorial board, or some or all authors of the article. Examine the retraction notice to determine who to credit as the author.
• Reproduce the title of the retraction notice as shown on the work. Note that the title may include the words “retraction,” “retraction notice,” or “retraction note” as well as the title of the original article.

6. Abstract of a journal article from an abstract indexing database

Hare, L. R., & O'Neill, K. (2000). Effectiveness and efficiency in small academic peer groups: A case study (Accession No. 200010185) [Abstract from Sociological Abstracts]. Small Group Research , 31 (1), 24–53. https://doi.org/10.1177/104649640003100102

• Parenthetical citation : (Hare & O’Neill, 2000)
• Narrative citation : Hare and O’Neill (2000)
• Although it is preferable to cite the whole article, the abstract can be cited if that is your only available source.
• The foundation of the reference is the same as for a journal article.
• If the abstract has a database accession number, place it in parentheses after the title.
• Note that you retrieved only the abstract by putting the words “Abstract from” and then the name of the abstract indexing database in square brackets. Place this bracketed description after the title and any accession number.
• Accession numbers are sometimes referred to as unique identifiers or as publication numbers (e.g., as PubMed IDs); use the term provided by the database in your reference.

7. Monograph as part of a journal issue

Ganster, D. C., Schaubroeck, J., Sime, W. E., & Mayes, B. T. (1991). The nomological validity of the Type A personality among employed adults [Monograph]. Journal of Applied Psychology , 76 (1), 143–168. http://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.76.1.143

• Parenthetical citation : (Ganster et al., 1991)
• Narrative citation : Ganster et al. (1991)
• For a monograph with an issue (or whole) number, include the issue number in parentheses followed by the serial number, for example, 58 (1, Serial No. 231).
• For a monograph bound separately as a supplement to a journal, give the issue number and supplement or part number in parentheses after the volume number, for example, 80 (3, Pt. 2).

8. Online-only supplemental material to a journal article

Freeberg, T. M. (2019). From simple rules of individual proximity, complex and coordinated collective movement [Supplemental material]. Journal of Comparative Psychology , 133 (2), 141–142. https://doi.org/10.1037/com0000181

• Parenthetical citation : (Freeberg, 2019)
• Narrative citation : Freeberg (2019)
• Include the description “[Supplemental material]” in square brackets after the article title.
• If you cite both the main article and the supplemental material, provide only a reference for the article.

Journal article references are covered in the seventh edition APA Style manuals in the Publication Manual Section 10.1 and the Concise Guide Section 10.1

Thursday, February 23: The Clark Library is closed today.

APA Style (7th Edition) Citation Guide: Journal Articles

• Introduction
• Journal Articles
• Magazine/Newspaper Articles
• Books & Ebooks
• Government & Legal Documents
• Biblical Sources
• Secondary Sources
• Films/Videos/TV Shows
• How to Cite: Other
• Additional Help

Table of Contents

Journal article from library database with doi - one author, journal article from library database with doi - multiple authors, journal article from a website - one author.

Journal Article- No DOI

Note: All citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent in a Reference List.

A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.

This Microsoft support page contains instructions about how to format a hanging indent in a paper.

• APA 7th. ed. Journal Article Reference Checklist

If an item has no author, start the citation with the article title.

When an article has one to twenty authors, all authors' names are cited in the References List entry. When an article has twenty-one or more authors list the first nineteen authors followed by three spaced ellipse points (. . .) , and then the last author's name. Rules are different for in-text citations; please see the examples provided.

Cite author names in the order in which they appear on the source, not in alphabetical order (the first author is usually the person who contributed the most work to the publication).

Italicize titles of journals, magazines and newspapers. Do not italicize or use quotation marks for the titles of articles.

Capitalize only the first letter of the first word of the article title. If there is a colon in the article title, also capitalize the first letter of the first word after the colon.

If an item has no date, use the short form n.d. where you would normally put the date.

Volume and Issue Numbers

Italicize volume numbers but not issue numbers.

Retrieval Dates

Most articles will not need these in the citation. Only use them for online articles from places where content may change often, like a free website or a wiki.

Page Numbers

If an article doesn't appear on continuous pages, list all the page numbers the article is on, separated by commas. For example (4, 6, 12-14)

Library Database

Do not include the name of a database for works obtained from most academic research databases (e.g. APA PsycInfo, CINAHL) because works in these resources are widely available. Exceptions are Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, ERIC, ProQuest Dissertations, and UpToDate.

Include the DOI (formatted as a URL: https://doi.org/...) if it is available. If you do not have a DOI, include a URL if the full text of the article is available online (not as part of a library database). If the full text is from a library database, do not include a DOI, URL, or database name.

In the Body of a Paper

Books, Journals, Reports, Webpages, etc.: When you refer to titles of a “stand-alone work,” as the APA calls them on their APA Style website, such as books, journals, reports, and webpages, you should italicize them. Capitalize words as you would for an article title in a reference, e.g., In the book Crying in H Mart: A memoir , author Michelle Zauner (2021) describes her biracial origin and its impact on her identity.

Article or Chapter: When you refer to the title of a part of a work, such as an article or a chapter, put quotation marks around the title and capitalize it as you would for a journal title in a reference, e.g., In the chapter “Where’s the Wine,” Zauner (2021) describes how she decided to become a musician.

The APA Sample Paper below has more information about formatting your paper.

• APA 7th ed. Sample Paper

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Journal, Volume Number (Issue Number), first page number-last page number. https://doi.org/doi number

Smith, K. F. (2022). The public and private dialogue about the American family on television: A second look. Journal of Media Communication, 50 (4), 79-110. https://doi.org/10.1152/j.1460-2466.2000.tb02864.x

Note: The DOI number is formatted as a URL: https://doi.org/10.1152/j.1460-2466.2000.tb02864.xIf

In-Text Paraphrase:

(Author's Last Name, Year)

Example: (Smith, 2000)

In-Text Quote:

(Author's Last Name, Year, p. Page Number)

Example: (Smith, 2000, p. 80)

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given., & Last Name of Second Author, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Journal, Volume Number (Issue Number), first page number-last page number. https://doi.org/doi number

Note: Separate the authors' names by putting a comma between them. For the final author listed add an ampersand (&) after the comma and before the final author's last name.

Note: In the reference list invert all authors' names; give last names and initials for only up to and including 20 authors. When a source has 21 or more authors, include the first 19 authors’ names, then three ellipses (…), and add the last author’s name. Don't include an ampersand (&) between the ellipsis and final author.

Note : For works with three or more authors, the first in-text citation is shortened to include the first author's surname followed by "et al."

Reference List Examples

Two to 20 Authors

Case, T. A., Daristotle, Y. A., Hayek, S. L., Smith, R. R., & Raash, L. I. (2011). College students' social networking experiences on Facebook. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 3 (2), 227-238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2008.12.010

21 or more authors

Kalnay, E., Kanamitsu, M., Kistler, R., Collins, W., Deaven, D., Gandin, L., Iredell, M., Saha, J., Mo, K. C., Ropelewski, C., Wang, J., Leetma, A., . . . Joseph, D. (1996). The NCEP/NCAR 40-year reanalysis project. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society , 77 (3), 437-471. https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0477(1996)077<0437:TNYRP>2.0.CO;2

In-Text Citations

Two Authors/Editors

(Case & Daristotle, 2011)

Direct Quote: (Case & Daristotle, 2011, p. 57)

Three or more Authors/Editors

(Case et al., 2011)

Direct Quote: (Case et al., 2011, p. 57)

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any.  Name of Journal, Volume Number (Issue Number if given). URL

Flachs, A. (2010). Food for thought: The social impact of community gardens in the Greater Cleveland Area.  Electronic Green Journal, 1 (30). http://escholarship.org/uc/item/6bh7j4z4

Example: (Flachs, 2010)

Example: (Flachs, 2010, Conclusion section, para. 3)

Note: In this example there were no visible page numbers or paragraph numbers; in this case you can cite the section heading and the number of the paragraph in that section to identify where your quote came from. If there are no page or paragraph numbers and no marked section, leave this information out.

Journal Article - No DOI

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any.  Name of Journal, Volume Number (Issue Number), first page number-last page number. URL [if article is available online, not as part of a library database]

Full-Text Available Online (Not as Part of a Library Database):

Steinberg, M. P., & Lacoe, J. (2017). What do we know about school discipline reform? Assessing the alternatives to suspensions and expulsions.  Education Next, 17 (1), 44–52.  https://www.educationnext.org/what-do-we-know-about-school-discipline-reform-suspensions-expulsions/

Example: (Steinberg & Lacoe, 2017)

(Author's Last Name, Year, p. Page number)

Example: (Steinberg & Lacoe, 2017, p. 47)

Full-Text Available in Library Database:

Jungers, W. L. (2010). Biomechanics: Barefoot running strikes back.  Nature, 463 (2), 433-434.

Example: (Jungers, 2010)

Example: (Jungers, 2010, p. 433)

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APA Style 7th Edition: Citing Your Sources

• Basics of APA Formatting
• In Text Quick View
• Block Quotes
• Books & eBooks

Standard Format

Formatting rules, various examples.

• Thesis/Dissertation
• Audiovisual
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• Additional Resources
• Reference Page

Adapted from American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed).  https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

The following formats apply to all journals, periodicals, magazines, newspapers, etc. whether you found them in an online database, search engine, or in print.

• Volume, issue and page numbers in periodicals:  Continuous pagination throughout a volume: only cite the volume number (in italics), followed by a comma and then the page numbers: 20 , 344-367.
•   Do Not copy and paste URLS from library databases or other platforms that restrict public access.

See Ch. 10 pp. 313-352 of APA Manual for more examples and formatting rules

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Citation guides

All you need to know about citations

How to cite an online journal article in APA

To cite an online journal article in a reference entry in APA style 6th edition include the following elements:

• Author(s) of the article: Give the last name and initials (e. g. Watson, J. D.) of up to seven authors with the last name preceded by an ampersand (&). For eight or more authors include the first six names followed by an ellipsis (…) and add the last author's name.
• Year of publication: Give the year in brackets followed by a full stop.
• Title of the research article: Only the first letter of the first word and proper nouns are capitalized.
• Title of periodical: Give the full, non-abbreviated title of the periodical in title case. It should also be italicized.
• Volume number: The volume number is also italicized.
• Issue number: For journals that are paginated by issue give the issue number in brackets.
• Page numbers: Give the full page range.
• DOI or URL: Include the digital object identifier (DOI) if one is assigned or start with 'Retrieved from' followed by the URL.

Here is the basic format for a reference list entry of an online journal article in APA style 6th edition:

Author(s) of the article . ( Year of publication ). Title of the research article . Title of periodical , Volume number ( Issue number ) Page numbers . DOI or URL

To cite an online journal article in a reference entry in APA style 7th edition include the following elements:

• Author(s) of the article: Give the last name and initials (e. g. Watson, J. D.) of up to 20 authors with the last name preceded by an ampersand (&). For 21 or more authors include the first 19 names followed by an ellipsis (…) and add the last author's name.
• DOI or URL: Include the digital object identifier (DOI) as a hyperlink starting with 'https://doi.org/'. If no DOI can be found, include the URL that directly links to the cited work.

Here is the basic format for a reference list entry of an online journal article in APA style 7th edition:

Author(s) of the article . ( Year of publication ). Title of the research article . Title of periodical , Volume number ( Issue number ), Page numbers . DOI or URL

APA reference list examples

Take a look at our reference list examples that demonstrate the APA style guidelines for an online journal article citation in action:

An online journal article with two authors and a DOI

Langner, M., & Imbach, R . ( 2000 ). The University of Freiburg: A model for a bilingual university . Higher Education in Europe , 25 ( 4 ), 461–468 . https://doi.org/10.1080/03797720120037796

Hofman, C. A., & Rick, T. C . ( 2018 ). Ancient biological invasions and island ecosystems: Tracking translocations of wild plants and animals . Journal of Archeological Research , 26 ( 1 ), 65–115 . https://doi.org/10.1007/s10814-017-9105-3

This citation style guide is based on the official Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association ( 6 th edition).

More useful guides

• APA Referencing: Journal articles
• APA Reference List: Electronic Sources
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How to Cite a Research Paper in APA

Last Updated: October 19, 2022 Fact Checked

This article was reviewed by Gerald Posner . Gerald Posner is an Author & Journalist based in Miami, Florida. With over 35 years of experience, he specializes in investigative journalism, nonfiction books, and editorials. He holds a law degree from UC College of the Law, San Francisco, and a BA in Political Science from the University of California-Berkeley. He’s the author of thirteen books, including several New York Times bestsellers, the winner of the Florida Book Award for General Nonfiction, and has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History. He was also shortlisted for the Best Business Book of 2020 by the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. There are 12 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 161,911 times.

If you’re citing a research article or paper in APA style, you’ll need to use a specific citation format that varies depending on the source. Assess whether your source is an article or report published in an academic journal or book, or whether it is an unpublished research paper, such as a print-only thesis or dissertation. Either way, your in-text citations will need to include information about the author (if available) and the date when your source was published or written.

Sample Citations

Writing an In-Text Citation

• For example, you may write, “Gardener (2008) notes, ‘There are several factors to consider about lobsters’ (p. 199).”

• For example, you may write, “‘There are several factors to consider about lobsters’ (Gardner, 2008, p. 199).” Or, “The paper claims, ‘The fallen angel trope is common in religious and non-religious texts’ (Meek & Hill, 2015, p.13-14).”
• For articles with 3-5 authors, write out the names of all the authors the first time you cite the source. For example: (Hammett, Wooster, Smith, & Charles, 1928). In subsequent citations, write only the first author’s name, followed by et al.: (Hammett et al., 1928).
• If there are 6 or more authors for the paper, include the last name of the first author listed and then write "et al." to indicate that there are more than 5 authors.
• For example, you may write, "'This is a quote' (Minaj et al., 1997, p. 45)."

• For example, you may write, “‘The risk of cervical cancer in women is rising’ (American Cancer Society, 2012, p. 2).”

• For example, you may write, “‘Shakespeare may have been a woman’ (“Radical English Literature,” 2004, p. 45).” Or, “The paper notes, ‘There is a boom in Virgin Mary imagery’ (“Art History in Italy,” 2011, p. 32).”

• For example, you may write, “‘There are several factors to consider about lobsters’ (Gardner, 2008, p. 199).” Or, “The paper claims, ‘The fallen angel trope is common in religious and non-religious texts’ (“Iconography in Italian Frescos,” 2015, p.13-14).”

• For example, you may write, “‘There are several factors to consider about lobsters’ (Gardner, 2008, p. 199).” Or, “The paper claims, ‘The fallen angel trope is common in religious and non-religious texts’ (“Iconography in Italian Frescos,” 2015, p.145-146).”

• For example, you may write, “‘The effects of food deprivation are long-term’ (Mett, 2005, para. 18).”

Creating a Reference List Citation for a Published Source

• Material on websites is also considered “published,” even if it’s not peer-reviewed or associated with a formal publishing company.
• While academic dissertations or theses that are print-only are considered unpublished, these types of documents are considered published if they’re included in an online database (such as ProQuest) or incorporated into an institutional repository.

• For example, you may write, “Gardner, L. M.” Or, “Meek, P. Q., Kendrick, L. H., & Hill, R. W.”
• If there is no author, you can list the name of the organization that published the research paper. For example, you may write, “American Cancer Society” or “The Reading Room.”
• Formally published documents that don’t list an author or that have a corporate author are typically reports or white papers .

• For example, you may write, “Gardner, L. M. (2008).” Or, “American Cancer Society. (2015).”

• For example, you may write, “Gardner, L. M. (2008). Crustaceans: Research and data.” Or, “American Cancer Society. (2015). Cervical cancer rates in women ages 20-45.”

• For example, for a journal article, you may write, “Gardner, L. M. (2008). Crustaceans: Research and data. Modern Journal of Malacostracan Research, 25, 150-305.”
• For a book chapter, you could write: “Wooster, B. W. (1937). A comparative study of modern Dutch cow creamers. In T. E. Travers (Ed.), A Detailed History of Tea Serviceware (pp. 127-155). London: Wimble Press."

• For example, you may write, “Kotb, M. A., Kamal, A. M., Aldossary, N. M., & Bedewi, M. A. (2019). Effect of vitamin D replacement on depression in multiple sclerosis patients. Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders, 29, 111-117. Retrieved from PubMed, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30708308.
• If you’re citing a paper or article that was published online but did not come from an academic journal or database, provide information about the author (if known), the date of publication (if available), and the website where you found the article. For example: “Hill, M. (n.d.). Egypt in the Ptolemaic Period. Retrieved from https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ptol/hd_ptol.htm”

Citing Unpublished Sources in Your Reference List

• Print-only dissertations or theses.
• Articles or book chapters that are in press or have been recently prepared or submitted for publication.
• Papers that have been rejected for publication or were never intended for publication (such as student research papers or unpublished conference papers).

• If the paper is currently being prepared for publication, include the author’s name, the year when the current draft was completed, and the title of the article in italics, followed by “Manuscript in preparation.” For example: Wooster, B. W. (1932). What the well-dressed man is wearing. Manuscript in preparation.
• If the paper has been submitted for publication, format the citation the same way as if it were in preparation, but instead follow the title with “Manuscript submitted for publication.” For example: Wooster, B. W. (1932). What the well-dressed man is wearing. Manuscript submitted for publication.
• If the paper has been accepted for publication but is not yet published, replace the date with “in press.” Do not italicize the paper title, but do include the title of the periodical or book in which it will be published and italicize that. For example: Wooster, B. W. (in press). What the well-dressed man is wearing. Milady’s Boudoir.

• If the paper was written for a conference but never published, your citation should look like this: Riker, W. T. (2019, March). Traditional methods for the preparation of spiny lobe-fish. Paper presented at the 325th Annual Intergalactic Culinary Conference, San Francisco, CA.
• For an unpublished paper written by a student for a class, include details about the institution where the paper was written. For example: Crusher, B. H. (2019). A typology of Cardassian skin diseases. Unpublished manuscript, Department of External Medicine, Starfleet Academy, San Francisco, CA.

• For example, you may write, “Pendlebottom, R. H. (2011). Iconography in Italian Frescos (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). New York University, New York, United States.”

Community Q&A

• If you want certain information to stand out in the research paper, then you can consider using a block quote. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://libraryguides.vu.edu.au/apa-referencing/7JournalArticles
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/in_text_citations_author_authors.html
• ↑ https://bowvalleycollege.libguides.com/c.php?g=714519&p=5093747
• ↑ https://guides.libraries.psu.edu/apaquickguide/intext
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/in_text_citations_the_basics.html
• ↑ https://libguides.southernct.edu/c.php?g=7125&p=34582#1951239
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_electronic_sources.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_articles_in_periodicals.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_books.html
• ↑ https://morlingcollege.libguides.com/apareferencing/unpublished-or-informally-published-work
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/general_apa_faqs.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_other_print_sources.html

About This Article

To cite a research paper in-text in APA, name the author in the text to introduce the quote and put the publication date for the text in parentheses. At the end of your quote, put the page number in parentheses. If you don’t mention the author in your prose, include them in the citation. Start the citation, which should come at the end of the quote, by listing the author’s last name, the year of publication, and the page number. Make sure to put all of this information in parentheses. If there’s no author, use the name of the organization that published the paper or the first few words from the title. To learn how to cite published and unpublished sources in your reference list, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Cite a Website

Don't let plagiarism errors spoil your paper, citing a website in apa.

Once you’ve identified a credible website to use, create a citation and begin building your reference list. Citation Machine citing tools can help you create references for online news articles, government websites, blogs, and many other website! Keeping track of sources as you research and write can help you stay organized and ethical. If you end up not using a source, you can easily delete it from your bibliography. Ready to create a citation? Enter the website’s URL into the search box above. You’ll get a list of results, so you can identify and choose the correct source you want to cite. It’s that easy to begin!

If you’re wondering how to cite a website in APA, use the structure below.

Author Last Name, First initial. (Year, Month Date Published). Title of web page . Name of Website. URL

Example of an APA format website:

Austerlitz, S. (2015, March 3). How long can a spinoff like ‘Better Call Saul’ last? FiveThirtyEight. http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-long-can-a-spinoff-like-better-call-saul-last/

Keep in mind that not all information found on a website follows the structure above. Only use the Website format above if your online source does not fit another source category. For example, if you’re looking at a video on YouTube, refer to the ‘YouTube Video’ section. If you’re citing a newspaper article found online, refer to ‘Newspapers Found Online’ section. Again, an APA website citation is strictly for web pages that do not fit better with one of the other categories on this page.

Social media:

When adding the text of a post, keep the original capitalization, spelling, hashtags, emojis (if possible), and links within the text.

Facebook posts:

Structure: Facebook user’s Last name, F. M. (Year, Monday Day of Post). Up to the first 20 words of Facebook post [Source type if attached] [Post type]. Facebook. URL

Source type examples: [Video attached], [Image attached]

Post type examples: [Status update], [Video], [Image], [Infographic]

Gomez, S. (2020, February 4). Guys, I’ve been working on this special project for two years and can officially say Rare Beauty is launching in [Video]. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/Selena/videos/1340031502835436/

Life at Chegg. (2020, February 7) It breaks our heart that 50% of college students right here in Silicon Valley are hungry. That’s why Chegg has [Images attached] [Status update]. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/LifeAtChegg/posts/1076718522691591

Twitter posts:

Structure: Account holder’s Last name, F. M. [Twitter Handle]. (Year, Month Day of Post). Up to the first 20 words of tweet [source type if attached] [Tweet]. Twitter. URL

Source type examples: [Video attached], [Image attached], [Poll attached]

Example: Edelman, J. [Edelman11]. (2018, April 26). Nine years ago today my life changed forever. New England took a chance on a long shot and I’ve worked [Video attached] [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/Edelman11/status/989652345922473985

Instagram posts:

APA citation format: Account holder’s Last name, F. M. [@Instagram handle]. (Year, Month Day). Up to the first 20 words of caption [Photograph(s) and/or Video(s)]. Instagram. URL

Example: Portman, N. [@natalieportman]. (2019, January 5). Many of my best experiences last year were getting to listen to and learn from so many incredible people through [Videos]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/BsRD-FBB8HI/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

If this guide hasn’t helped solve all of your referencing questions, or if you’re still feeling the need to type “how to cite a website APA” into Google, then check out our APA citation generator on CitationMachine.com, which can build your references for you!

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Free APA Citation Generator

Generate citations in APA format quickly and automatically, with MyBib!

🤔 What is an APA Citation Generator?

An APA citation generator is a software tool that will automatically format academic citations in the American Psychological Association (APA) style.

It will usually request vital details about a source -- like the authors, title, and publish date -- and will output these details with the correct punctuation and layout required by the official APA style guide.

Formatted citations created by a generator can be copied into the bibliography of an academic paper as a way to give credit to the sources referenced in the main body of the paper.

👩‍🎓 Who uses an APA Citation Generator?

College-level and post-graduate students are most likely to use an APA citation generator, because APA style is the most favored style at these learning levels. Before college, in middle and high school, MLA style is more likely to be used. In other parts of the world styles such as Harvard (UK and Australia) and DIN 1505 (Europe) are used more often.

🙌 Why should I use a Citation Generator?

Like almost every other citation style, APA style can be cryptic and hard to understand when formatting citations. Citations can take an unreasonable amount of time to format manually, and it is easy to accidentally include errors. By using a citation generator to do this work you will:

• Save a considerable amount of time
• Ensure that your citations are consistent and formatted correctly
• Be rewarded with a higher grade

In academia, bibliographies are graded on their accuracy against the official APA rulebook, so it is important for students to ensure their citations are formatted correctly. Special attention should also be given to ensure the entire document (including main body) is structured according to the APA guidelines. Our complete APA format guide has everything you need know to make sure you get it right (including examples and diagrams).

⚙️ How do I use MyBib's APA Citation Generator?

Our APA generator was built with a focus on simplicity and speed. To generate a formatted reference list or bibliography just follow these steps:

• Start by searching for the source you want to cite in the search box at the top of the page.
• MyBib will automatically locate all the required information. If any is missing you can add it yourself.
• Your citation will be generated correctly with the information provided and added to your bibliography.
• Repeat for each citation, then download the formatted list and append it to the end of your paper.

MyBib supports the following for APA style:

Daniel is a qualified librarian, former teacher, and citation expert. He has been contributing to MyBib since 2018.

Referencing Generator

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• Select style:
• Archive material
• Chapter of an edited book
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• E-book or PDF
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• Music or recording
• Online image or video
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• Press release
• Religious text

What Is Cite This For Me’s Reference Generator?

Cite This For Me’s open-access generator is an automated citation machine that turns any of your sources into references in just a click. Using a reference generator helps students to integrate referencing into their research and writing routine; turning a time-consuming ordeal into a simple task.

A referencing generator accesses information from across the web, drawing the relevant information into a fully-formatted bibliography that clearly presents all of the sources that have contributed to your work.

If you don’t know how to reference a website correctly, or have a fast-approaching deadline, Cite This For Me’s accurate and intuitive reference generator will lend you the confidence to realise your full academic potential. In order to get a grade that reflects all your hard work, your references must be accurate and complete. Using a citation machine not only saves you time but also ensures that you don’t lose valuable marks on your assignment.

Not sure how to format your citations, what citations are, or just want to find out more about Cite This For Me’s reference generator? This guide outlines everything you need to know to equip yourself with the know-how and confidence to research and cite a wide range of diverse sources in your work.

Why Do I Need To Reference?

Simply put, when another source contributes to your work, you have to give the original owner the appropriate credit. After all, you wouldn’t steal someone else’s possessions so why would you steal their ideas?

Regardless of whether you are referencing a website, an article or a podcast, any factual material or ideas you take from another source must be acknowledged in a citation unless it is common knowledge (e.g. Winston Churchill was English). Failing to credit all of your sources, even when you’ve paraphrased or completely reworded the information, is plagiarism. Plagiarising will result in disciplinary action, which can range from losing precious marks on your assignment to expulsion from your university.

What’s more, attributing your research infuses credibility and authority into your work, both by supporting your own ideas and by demonstrating the breadth of your research. For many students, crediting sources can be a confusing and tedious process, but it’s a surefire way to improve the quality of your work so it’s essential to get it right. Luckily for you, using Cite This For Me’s reference generator makes creating accurate references easier than ever, leaving more time for you to excel in your studies.

In summary, the citing process serves three main functions:

• To validate the statements and conclusions in your work by providing directions to other sound sources that support and verify them.
• To help your readers locate, read and check your sources, as well as establishing their contribution to your work.
• To give credit to the original author and hence avoid committing intellectual property theft (known as ‘plagiarism’ in academia).

How Do I Cite My Sources With The Cite This For Me Referencing Generator?

Cite This For Me’s reference generator is the most accurate citation machine available, so whether you’re not sure how to format in-text references or are looking for a foolproof solution to automate a fully-formatted bibliography, this referencing generator will solve all of your citing needs.

Crediting your source material doesn’t just prevent you from losing valuable marks for plagiarism, it also provides all of the information to help your reader find for themselves the book, article, or other item you are citing. The accessible interface of the reference generator makes it easy for you to identify the source you have used – simply enter its unique identifier into the citation machine search bar. If this information is not available you can search for the title or author instead, and then select from the search results that appear below the reference generator.

Don’t know how to reference a website? The good news is that by using tools such as Cite This For Me’s reference generator, which help you work smarter, you don’t need to limit your research to sources that are traditional to cite. In fact, there are no limits to what you can cite, whether you are referencing a website, a YouTube video or a tweet.

To use the reference generator, simply:

• Select your style from Harvard, APA, OSCOLA and many more*
• Choose the type of source you would like to cite (e.g. website, book, journal, video)
• Enter the URL , DOI , ISBN , title, or other unique source information to find your source
• Click the ‘Cite’ button on the reference generator
• Copy your new citation straight from the referencing generator into your bibliography
• Repeat for each source that has contributed to your work.

*If you require another style for your paper, essay or other academic work, you can select from over 1,000 styles by creating a free Cite This For Me account.

Once you have created your Cite This For Me account you will be able to use the reference generator to create multiple references and save them into a project. Use Cite This For Me’s highly-rated iOS or Android apps to generate references in a flash with your smartphone camera, export your complete bibliography in one go, and much more.

What Will The Reference Generator Create For Me?

Cite This For Me’s reference generator will create your citation in two parts: an in-text citation and a full citation to be copied straight into your work.

The reference generator will auto-generate the correct formatting for your bibliography depending on your chosen style. For instance, if you select a parenthetical style the reference generator will generate an in-text citation in parentheses, along with a full citation to slot into your bibliography. Likewise, if the reference generator is set to a footnote style then it will create a fully-formatted citation for your reference list and bibliography, as well as a corresponding footnote to insert at the bottom of the page containing the relevant source.

Parenthetical style examples:

In-text example: A nation has been defined as an imagined community (Anderson, 2006).* Alternative format: Anderson (2006) defined a nation as an imagined community.

*The reference generator will create your references in the first style, but this should be edited if the author’s name already appears in the text.

Bibliography / Works Cited list example: Anderson, B. (2006). Imagined Communities. London: Verso.

What Are Citation Styles?

A citation style is a set of rules that you, as an academic writer, must follow to ensure the quality and relevance of your work. There are thousands of styles that are used in different academic institutions around the world, but in the UK the most common are Harvard, APA and Oscola.

The style you need to use will depend on the preference of your lecturer, discipline or academic institution – so if you’re unsure which style you should be using, consult your department and follow their guidelines exactly, as this is what you’ll be evaluated on when it comes to marking. You can also find your university’s style by logging into your Cite This For Me account and setting your institution in ‘My Profile’.

Citing isn’t just there to guard against plagiarism – presenting your research in a clear and consistent way eases the reader’s comprehension. Each style has a different set of rules for formatting both the page and your references. Be sure to adhere to formatting rules such as font type, font size and line spacing to ensure that your work is easily legible. Furthermore, if your work is published as part of an anthology or collected works, each entry will need to be presented in the same style to maintain uniformity throughout. It is important to make sure that you don’t jump from one style to another, so follow the rules carefully to ensure your reference list and bibliography are both accurate and complete.

If you need a hand with your citations then why not try Cite This For Me’s reference generator? It’s the quickest and easiest way to cite any source, in any style. The reference generator above will create your citations in the Harvard referencing style as standard, but it can generate fully-formatted references in over 1,000 styles – including university variations of each style. So, whether your lecturer has asked you to adopt APA referencing , or your subject requires you to use OSCOLA referencing , we’re sure to have the style you need. To access all of them, simply go to Cite This For Me’s website to create your free Cite This For Me account and search for your specific style such as MLA or Vancouver .

How Do I Format A Reference List Or Bibliography?

Drawing on a wide range of sources greatly enhances the quality of your work, and reading above and beyond your recommended reading list – and then using these sources to support your own thesis – is an excellent way to impress your reader. A clearly presented reference list or bibliography demonstrates the lengths you have gone to in researching your chosen topic.

Typically, a reference list starts on a new page at the end of the main body of text and includes a complete list of the sources you have actually cited in your paper. This list should contain all the information needed for the reader to locate the original source of the information, quote or statistic that directly contributed to your work. On the other hand, a bibliography is a comprehensive list of all the material you may have consulted throughout your research and writing process. Both provide the necessary information for readers to retrieve and check the sources cited in your work.

Each style’s guidelines will define the terminology of ‘reference list’ and ‘bibliography’, as well as providing formatting guidelines for font, line spacing and page indentations. In addition, it will instruct you on how to order each list – this will usually be either alphabetical or chronological (meaning the order that these sources appear in your work). Before submitting your work, be sure to check that you have formatted your whole paper according to your style’s formatting guidelines.

Sounds complicated? Citing has never been so easy; Cite This For Me’s reference generator will automatically generate fully-formatted citations for your reference list or bibliography in your chosen style. Sign in to your Cite This For Me account to save and export your bibliography.

How Do References Actually Work?

Although the reference generator will create your bibliography for you in record time, it is still useful to understand how this system works behind the scenes. As well as saving you time with its referencing generator, Cite This For Me provides the learning resources to help you fully understand the citing process and the benefits of adopting great citing standards.

The referencing process:

• Find a book, journal, website or other source that will contribute to your work
• Save the quote, image, data or other information that you will use in your work
• Save the source information that enables you to find it again (i.e. URL, ISBN, DOI etc.)
• Format the source information into a citation
• Copy and paste the citation into the body of the text
• Repeat for each source that contributes to your work.
• Export or copy and paste the fully-formatted citation into your bibliography.

Manage all your references in one place

Create projects, add notes, cite directly from the browser and scan books’ barcodes with a mobile app.

Sign up to Cite This For Me – the ultimate reference management tool.

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

In-Text Citations: The Basics

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

Note:  This page reflects the latest version of the APA Publication Manual (i.e., APA 7), which released in October 2019. The equivalent resource for the older APA 6 style  can be found here .

Reference citations in text are covered on pages 261-268 of the Publication Manual. What follows are some general guidelines for referring to the works of others in your essay.

Note:  On pages 117-118, the Publication Manual suggests that authors of research papers should use the past tense or present perfect tense for signal phrases that occur in the literature review and procedure descriptions (for example, Jones (1998)  found  or Jones (1998)  has found ...). Contexts other than traditionally-structured research writing may permit the simple present tense (for example, Jones (1998)  finds ).

APA Citation Basics

When using APA format, follow the author-date method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the year of publication for the source should appear in the text, like, for example, (Jones, 1998). One complete reference for each source should appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.

If you are referring to an idea from another work but  NOT  directly quoting the material, or making reference to an entire book, article or other work, you only have to make reference to the author and year of publication and not the page number in your in-text reference.

On the other hand, if you are directly quoting or borrowing from another work, you should include the page number at the end of the parenthetical citation. Use the abbreviation “p.” (for one page) or “pp.” (for multiple pages) before listing the page number(s). Use an en dash for page ranges. For example, you might write (Jones, 1998, p. 199) or (Jones, 1998, pp. 199–201). This information is reiterated below.

Regardless of how they are referenced, all sources that are cited in the text must appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.

In-text citation capitalization, quotes, and italics/underlining

• Always capitalize proper nouns, including author names and initials: D. Jones.
• If you refer to the title of a source within your paper, capitalize all words that are four letters long or greater within the title of a source:  Permanence and Change . Exceptions apply to short words that are verbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs:  Writing New Media ,  There Is Nothing Left to Lose .

( Note:  in your References list, only the first word of a title will be capitalized:  Writing new media .)

• When capitalizing titles, capitalize both words in a hyphenated compound word:  Natural-Born Cyborgs .
• Capitalize the first word after a dash or colon: "Defining Film Rhetoric: The Case of Hitchcock's  Vertigo ."
• If the title of the work is italicized in your reference list, italicize it and use title case capitalization in the text:  The Closing of the American Mind ;  The Wizard of Oz ;  Friends .
• If the title of the work is not italicized in your reference list, use double quotation marks and title case capitalization (even though the reference list uses sentence case): "Multimedia Narration: Constructing Possible Worlds;" "The One Where Chandler Can't Cry."

Short quotations

If you are directly quoting from a work, you will need to include the author, year of publication, and page number for the reference (preceded by "p." for a single page and “pp.” for a span of multiple pages, with the page numbers separated by an en dash).

You can introduce the quotation with a signal phrase that includes the author's last name followed by the date of publication in parentheses.

If you do not include the author’s name in the text of the sentence, place the author's last name, the year of publication, and the page number in parentheses after the quotation.

Long quotations

Place direct quotations that are 40 words or longer in a free-standing block of typewritten lines and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, indented 1/2 inch from the left margin, i.e., in the same place you would begin a new paragraph. Type the entire quotation on the new margin, and indent the first line of any subsequent paragraph within the quotation 1/2 inch from the new margin. Maintain double-spacing throughout, but do not add an extra blank line before or after it. The parenthetical citation should come after the closing punctuation mark.

Because block quotation formatting is difficult for us to replicate in the OWL's content management system, we have simply provided a screenshot of a generic example below.

Formatting example for block quotations in APA 7 style.

Quotations from sources without pages

Direct quotations from sources that do not contain pages should not reference a page number. Instead, you may reference another logical identifying element: a paragraph, a chapter number, a section number, a table number, or something else. Older works (like religious texts) can also incorporate special location identifiers like verse numbers. In short: pick a substitute for page numbers that makes sense for your source.

Summary or paraphrase

If you are paraphrasing an idea from another work, you only have to make reference to the author and year of publication in your in-text reference and may omit the page numbers. APA guidelines, however, do encourage including a page range for a summary or paraphrase when it will help the reader find the information in a longer work. 

• Harvard Library
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Finding and Reading Journal Articles

• Journal Articles: Why You Use Them

Why are articles so important to research?

• Subject Databases: Organizing Research Conversations
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• Sources in the Disciplines
• Reading in the Disciplines

Journal articles are the academic's stock in trade, t he basic means of communicating research findings to an audience of one’s peers. That holds true across the disciplinary spectrum, so no matter where you land as a concentrator, you can expect to rely on them heavily. 

Regardless of the discipline, moreover,  journal articles perform an important knowledge-updating function .

Textbooks and handbooks and manuals will have a secondary function for chemists and physicists and biologists, of course. But in the sciences, articles are the standard and  preferred publication form. 

In the social sciences and humanities , where knowledge develops a little less rapidly or is driven less by issues of time-sensitivity , journal articles and books are more often used together.

Not all important and influential ideas warrant book-length studies, and some inquiry is just better suited to the size and scope and concentrated discussion that the article format offers.

Journal articles sometimes just present the most  appropriate  solution for communicating findings or making a convincing argument.  A 20-page article may perfectly fit a researcher's needs.  Sustaining that argument for 200 pages might be unnecessary -- or impossible.

The quality of a research article and the legitimacy of its findings are verified by other scholars, prior to publication, through a rigorous evaluation method called peer-review . This seal of approval by other scholars doesn't mean that an article is the best, or truest, or last word on a topic. If that were the case, research on lots of things would cease. Peer review simply means other experts believe the methods, the evidence, the conclusions of an article have met important standards of legitimacy, reliability, and intellectual honesty.

Searching the journal literature is part of being a responsible researcher at any level: professor, grad student, concentrator, first-year. Knowing why academic articles matter will help you make good decisions about what you find -- and what you choose to rely on in your work.

Think of journal articles as the way you tap into the ongoing scholarly conversation , as a way of testing the currency of  a finding, analysis, or argumentative position, and a way of bolstering the authority (or plausibility) of explanations you'll offer in the papers and projects you'll complete at Harvard. 

• Next: Subject Databases: Organizing Research Conversations >>

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• Open access
• Published: 27 July 2024

Knowledge mapping of impulsive buying behavior research: a visual analysis using CiteSpace

• Xiyun Gong   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6614-9711 1 ,
• Choy Leong Yee 1 ,
• Shin Yiing Lee 1 ,
• Ethan Yi Cao   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6271-8857 2 &
• Abu Naser Mohammad Saif   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7078-6780 1 , 3  

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications volume  11 , Article number:  967 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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• Business and management

With the development of e-commerce, impulse buying behavior has transitioned from offline to online, presenting significant exploration value. This study aims to provide a comprehensive knowledge map and in-depth analysis of research on impulsive purchase behavior, helping readers understand the latest global trends in this field from 1967 to September 30, 2023. The study offers a visual analysis using CiteSpace, encompassing 704 academic articles on impulsive buying behavior published over 55 years. The status is revealed through collaboration networks, co-citation networks, and trend analysis. Researchers explore impulsive buying behavior in various contexts, with “e-commerce” being a primary focus. Notable new keywords include technology, customer satisfaction, perceived value, and virtual reality, among others. These terms contribute to future research directions. Overall, this pioneering research combines visual analysis to provide valuable insights and research recommendations for academics studying impulsive buying behavior.

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Introduction.

Impulse buying refers to unplanned purchases, and this buying habit is sudden and immediate (Nigam et al., 2023 ). Over the last decades, researchers have examined impulsive buying behavior from different perspectives according to its significance (Wang et al., 2022b ; Xiao and Nicholson, 2011 ). Impulse buying accounts for 39% of the total revenue generated by department stores based on past research (Miao et al., 2020 ). In addition to this, Goel et al. ( 2022 ) and Lin and Chuang ( 2005 ) discovered that eighty percent of customers buy on impulse at least occasionally. According to Moreira et al. ( 2017 ), purchasing items in physical stores may involve greater impulse buying than purchasing items online. Because offline shopping engages all five senses, while online shopping cannot replicate certain immediate experiences, such as touch, smell, and taste.

Because of the growth of e-commerce, impulsive buying may now be observed in online shopping as well (Hellemans et al., 2022 ). With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, social media, and mobile commerce, the number of studies related to online impulse buying in the digital age is rapidly increasing. According to the eMarketer report ( 2019 ), global e-retail sales are predicted to grow from US$ 3.535 trillion in 2019 to US$ 6.542 trillion by the end of 2023, accounting for 22% of total retail sales. This growth is driven by the increasing use of mobile devices and internet shopping. Additionally, a 2021 survey indicated that more than 80% of online buyers had made an impulse purchase at least once, accounting for over 40% of the total amount of money spent online by customers using e-commerce applications (Saleh Al-Omoush et al., 2021 ).

After 2020, the global COVID-19 outbreak and subsequent lockdowns prompted customers to participate in more online purchasing, which may have led to an increase in online impulse purchases (Goel et al., 2022 ). According to the literature record, during the pre-COVID period, e-buying represented 40% to 50% of all purchases; during the COVID-19 pandemic, it rose to 90% to 95% (Saleh Al-Omoush et al., 2021 ). Furthermore, the development of information technology fosters the growth of e-commerce, which has exacerbated impulsive purchasing behavior in the online environment (Zhao et al., 2022 ). As social networking sites (SNS) like Facebook, Weibo, and Meituan have developed, more and more customers and businesses have come to understand the value of social commerce (Xu et al., 2020 ). Over 70% of online purchases, according to a social commerce report, are affected by social commerce websites (Xu et al., 2020 ; Jingdong and Nielsen, 2017 ). Additionally, research into the live-streaming market and impulsive purchases are rapidly growing. In Asia, the percentage is higher (30%) than the global average of 16% of online buyers who make direct product purchases through live-streaming platforms, particularly in Thailand (51%), India (32%), Malaysia (31%), and China (27%) (Peng et al., 2021 ). Furthermore, live shopping may provide online customers with an easier shopping environment, and it may also encourage impulse buying behavior. Moreover, this study gives academics a basic idea of how this field will be researched in the future.

Therefore, research on impulse buying has always been at the forefront of the times and the world. Thus, this current study seeks to fully comprehend the research by using CiteSpace’s knowledge mapping. Many fields have used knowledge mapping extensively to offer a comprehensive and unbiased perspective of a particular study topic (Fang et al., 2018 ). However, over the years, some literature articles on impulse buying have been published by scholars (Verma and Yadav, 2021 ; Xiao and Nicholson, 2013 ). Besides, some research has examined IBB from the standpoint of meta-analysis (Zhao et al., 2022 ; Iyer et al., 2020 ). Current studies still lack a visual perspective. Thus, we conducted a scientometric analysis using CiteSpace 6.1 to provide an overview and visual analysis of the subject, clearly showing the bibliometric characteristics and visualizing relationships of articles published on this topic in reputable scholarly journals indexed in Web of Science (WoS) from 1967 to the end of September 2023. In addition, the following research questions put forward by us:

Q1: What is the current development trend of impulse buying behavior in the world?

Q2: What is the future direction of impulse buying behavior, and which fields are predicted to be most influential based on the highest citations and keywords?

Q3: What are the newly introduced theories and models regarding impulsive buying behavior within the current collaboration networks and emerging trend analysis, compared to similar types of articles?

The structure of this article is as follows. First, it begins with a review of impulsive buying behavior. This is followed by an explanation of the materials and methods used. Next, the results of the collaboration network, co-citation network, and future trends of impulsive buying behavior are presented. Finally, the conclusion section summarizes the entire article and includes a discussion.

Impulsive buying behavior (IBB)

As time has progressed, authors in the field of impulsive buying behavior have presented varying definitions and interpretations. Stern ( 1962 ) defined impulsive buying behavior as any purchase that a shopper makes without prior planning. Rook ( 1987 ) described impulse buying as a purchase behavior driven by a strong and irresistible urge. Rook and Fisher ( 1995 ) characterized buying impulses as part of a hedonically complex process. Later, Kacen and Lee ( 2002 ) explained impulse buying behavior as a spontaneous purchase characterized by moderately quick decision-making and a subjective desire for immediate possession of the goods. Sharma et al. ( 2010 ) discourse that impulsive buying denotes a relatively fast and hedonically complex purchasing behavior, which means that the impulse leading to the purchase being made omits any careful, deliberate evaluation of alternative or future consequences. Furthermore, they also highlight the term “impulsive buying,” which refers to a quick and hedonistically complicated purchasing behavior, meaning that the surge that led to the purchase was uninformed and did not consider any other options or potential future results. Based on the opinions of the authors mentioned above, this article comes to the following general conclusion. Impulse buying is regarded as unplanned purchasing, characterized by sudden and immediate decisions. It is defined as a more thrilling, tempting, dynamic, and instantaneous buying behavior compared to planned purchasing.

Traditional studies on impulse buying have classified contributing elements as either internal or external (Iyer et al., 2020 ; Kalla and Arora, 2011 ; Wansink, 1994 ; Xiao and Nicholson, 2013 ). Regarding internal factors, the most common ones are related to consumers, such as impulse buying propensity, pre-purchase emotions (Ozer and Gultekin, 2015 ), consumer characteristics, gender, age, motivations, and emotions. For external factors, environmental considerations like window displays and store design are widely studied by scholars (Gudonavičienė and Alijošienė, 2015 ). Moreover, previous research on impulse buying can be categorized into two types. The first type analyzes the potential consequences of impulsive shopping behavior (Dittmar and Drury, 2000 ; Rook, 1987 ; Vohs and Faber, 2007 ). The other type is pertinent to the factors that determine impulsive buying behavior, such as culture (Miao et al., 2020 ), self-interpretation (Zhang and Shrum, 2009 ), and the kinds of foods that are eaten (Mishra and Mishra, 2011 ). With the progress of the times, IBB has been gradually classified into online and offline categories (Goel et al., 2022 ). Still, the research on online impulse buying only started 20 years ago, and this part has excellent potential. Based on the enormous economic benefits behind impulse buying, the current research factors need to be continuously explored, and finding the latest research trends is conducive to innovation.

Material and methodology

Data sources.

The Web of Science (WoS) core collection was used to gather all relevant information. The WoS Citation database, created by American Thomson Reuters, is a platform for information retrieval. The primary indexes are the Science Citation Index Expanded, the Social Science Citation Index, and the Arts and Humanities Citation Index. This database includes over 9,000 academic publications from internationally renowned and significant academic journals (Abati et al., 2021 ; Liao et al., 2018 ). Thus, we obtained the WoS Core Collection’s data because this database is recognized as one of the most essential literature indexes in the world (Saif et al., 2022 ). In this research, we primarily focused on the element of consumer behavior. Then, we used the keywords “impulsive buying” or “impulse buying” or “impulsive consumption” or “impulsive purchase” or “impulse purchase” or “impulse shopping” or “ impulsive shopping “ or “customer impulse purchasing” or “unplanned purchase” or “sudden purchasing behavior” to search for relevant papers. The term “impulse buying” was included in all literature investigations, whether in the keywords or abstracts. As far as we know, the first article concerning impulsive buying behavior was published in 1967, so we considered materials published between 1967 and 2023 (Data collection ended on September 30, 2023). Book chapters, review articles, and editorial materials were eliminated to obtain high-quality research papers; this left 704 articles that might move on with further analysis.

Knowledge mapping

According to Cui et al. ( 2017 ), knowledge mapping is a part of bibliometrics analysis, which is defined as “the quantitative analysis of publications in a given field.” Extracting and visually reorganizing the knowledge from several previously published scientific research documents is the aim of mapping and analyzing scientific knowledge (Chen, 2013 ). Fang et al. ( 2018 ) consider that knowledge mapping aids academics in having a better understanding of the intellectual structure in a particular field of study and research status. In bibliometrics analysis, keyword analysis can show the hot research topics and future research paths. The data on authors, journals, institutions, and nations can assist other academics in identifying the authors who have contributed the most to a field or the institutions that are the most authoritative (Chen and Liu, 2020 ). The most important analysis in bibliometric studies is co-citation, as it can reveal the relationships between articles. High citation rates and numerous links to other articles indicate highly relevant and significant work (Small, 2003 ).

CiteSpace 6.1 software was used to do the visualization for this research. Professor Chen of Drexel University proposed CiteSpace, a Java-based application package (Cheng et al., 2021 ). CiteSpace quantitatively analyzes the literature in specific disciplines and bases its analysis and visualization of emerging patterns and trends in the body of scientific knowledge on the co-citation analysis theory and the pathfinder, minimum spanning trees method (Chen et al., 2008 ; Fan et al., 2020 ). In recent years, CiteSpace has been utilized by academics from various fields, such as marketing, environment, tourism, and so on (Geng and Maimaituerxun, 2022 ; Yao et al., 2020 ; Li et al., 2017 ). Analytical goals are represented by nodes (often circles) in CiteSpace’s graph. The value of a node increases with its size. The multicolored links between the various nodes display their relationship, with the various colors denoting different publishing years.

Research outputs and their categories

As shown in Fig. 1 , the development of articles on impulse buying behavior published over 55 years (1967–2022) is presented in chronological order. The initial publication on impulse buying dates back to 1967. Subsequently, the number of publications about this topic appears to have experienced a relatively gradual growth over the years that followed. From 2008 to 2011, growth occurred; however, it marginally increased. From 2016 to 2019, it fluctuated twice before reaching 53 in 2019 from 46 in 2016. Since then, publications on impulse buying behavior have increased dramatically. These data also suggest that the rising number of publications reflects a growing interest among scholars in impulse buying behavior.

The figure, which denotes the number of published papers on impulsive buying behavior between 1967 and 2022, is constructed by a curve chart.

Furthermore, Fig. 2 presents the top ten subject categories, including “Business” (312 articles, account for 27.5%), “Management” (104, 9.2%), “Computer Science Information Systems” (59, 5.2%), “Psychology Multidisciplinary” (53, 4.7%), “Economics” (40, 3.5%), “Hospitality Leisure Sport Tourism” (37, 3.3%), “Information Science Library Science” (30, 2.6%), “Information Science Library Science” (30, 2.6%), “Computer Science Interdisciplinary Applications” (25, 2.2%), “Operations Research Management Science” is associated with 24 articles (2.1%), while “Environmental Studies” and “Environmental Sciences” both have 23 articles each in tenth place, representing 2% of all publications. The distribution of the top ten subjects suggests that the study of impulsive buying behavior is an interdisciplinary one. It exhibits close ties with various disciplines, including environmental science, computer science, psychology, and management.

The figure denotes annual article output in the 10 subject categories is constructed by a colorful stacked chart.

Over the past two decades, online impulse purchasing has drawn much scholarly attention and created publishing opportunities (Bashar et al., 2022 ). The rapid development of information technology has facilitated the speed of e-commerce growth in the last few years, which amplified impulsive buying behavior in an online setting (Zhao et al., 2022 ). Therefore, impulse buying is closely related to the field of computer science information systems, which is especially reflected in social commerce, live-streaming, artificial intelligence (AI), etc. First, it is about social commerce. Based on the background of WeChat social commerce, Chen et al. ( 2019b ) offer a model to investigate the impact of product recommendations on social media on users’ impulsive purchasing tendencies. Under the context of the C2C Facebook “buy and sell” group, Chen et al. ( 2016 ) did an online experiment and found that higher textual information quality and numbers of “likes” can usually increase consumers’ urge to buy impulsively. Second, for the live-streaming portion, Jiang and Cai ( 2021 ) created a live e-commerce supply chain pricing model with online influencers regarded as retailers. Moreover, this model examines the influence of customers’ satisfaction levels and impulsive purchasing patterns. Besides, two pieces of research explore the antecedents of live-streaming under the stimulus-–organism–response framework. One is to take the consumption vision and telepresence as the organism to link with the urge to buy impulsively (Khoi et al., 2023 ). The other put perceived enjoyment and perceived usefulness in the organism part to connect with the urge to buy impulsively. It is worth noting that the research of Zhang et al. ( 2023 ) combines artificial intelligence with live-streaming shopping. It tested the influence of artificial intelligence-driven virtual influencers by investigating the underlying emotional mechanisms and persuasive factors that influence audiences’ parasocial interaction and impulse purchase intentions and confirmed the assessment-emotion-action scheme. Furthermore, it highlights the significance of the AI workforce applied to retailing and marketing managers.

In addition, as impulse buying becomes more widespread, people investigate the underlying mechanisms. As a result, more academics are using psychological models and theories to explain this behavior. The theory of planned behavior and stimulus-organism-response theory were used by most scholars to define impulsive buying behavior (Vazquez et al., 2020 ; Wu et al., 2020 ). Additionally, some researchers use the cognitive-affective personality system theory to investigate why impulsive purchases occur in emergencies and crises (Xiao et al., 2022 ). Similarly, based on the regulatory focus theory and emotion-cognition-behavior loop, Yu ( 2022 ) investigated the function of cognitive traits in modulating the relationship between unpleasant emotions and impulsive purchases during the COVID-19 epidemic. Third, a large part of related articles in the field of economics is about COVID-19. During the COVID-19 epidemic, scholars worldwide have studied related impulse buying behaviors because shopping is closely associated with the economy. Ahmed et al. ( 2020 ) investigate patterns of impulsive purchases made by US residents during the COVID-19 epidemic in key US cities and conclude that COVID-19 is a crucial moderator of this behavior. Likewise, Küçükkambak and Süler ( 2022 ) focus on the Turkish consumer as the target audience and find people’s fear of COVID-19 impacts compulsive and impulsive buying behaviors. Gupta et al. ( 2021 ) research on Indian consumers’ impulsive buying behavior during COVID-19 shows that the COVID-19 pandemic had a major effect on consumer purchasing behaviors, as evidenced by stockpiling and impulsive purchases.

Finally, regarding the Hospitality Leisure Sport Tourism discipline, currently, some studies have incorporated time scarcity (Li et al., 2021 ) or time pressure (Sohn and Lee, 2017 ) into exploring tourists’ impulsive behavior. What’s more, Chen et al. ( 2019a ) provide a model that demonstrates how website quality (as determined by hedonic value) influences impulsive purchasing behaviors in online tourism, along with some recommendations. Compared with the disciplines mentioned, impulsive buying research in tourism is fewer; however, it is valuable for scholars to explore it deeply. Currently, wireless technology is used in tourism and hospitality services. Therefore, to increase sales, tourist and hospitality businesses must better comprehend the connection between technology and impulsive buying (Ahn et al., 2020 ).

Consequently, the research on impulse buying behavior has progressed with the progress of times, and there has been a phenomenon of continuously extending from the field of management and business to Computer Science Information Systems, Psychology Multidisciplinary, Economics, Hospitality Leisure Sport Tourism, and other fields.

The collaboration of impulsive buying behavior

Country collaboration network.

Between 1967 and 2023, the country collaboration network, depicted in Fig. 3 , comprises 70 nations and 182 linkages. Countries have established a relatively mature cooperation network based on their close ties in this field. Table 1 lists the top 10 countries in terms of frequency which shows that the USA and Mainland China both have the highest frequency with 164 articles. However, the centrality score of 0.58 with the USA surpasses that of China by 2.23 times. Next, the countries ranked in descending order of publication frequency are India (85 articles), Taiwan, and China (62 pieces). It is noteworthy that despite South Korea and England having 34 articles each, their centrality differs greatly. Although the number of articles in Malaysia does not exceed 30, its centrality is 10 times that of South Korea.

The figure denotes country collaboration network based on impulsive buying behavior research for the year from 1976 to 2023.

Institution collaboration network

Figure 4 shows the 413 nodes and 262 lines that make up the institution collaboration network from 1967 to 2023. There is cooperation between the agencies, but it is not close. Most of these networks are now made up of small groups. Because of this, it is understood that the subject is still developing and not fully developed. However, we are aware that there are two groups of institutions that have a close relationship based on the links between institutions. One includes Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Great Lakes Institute Management, and Beijing Institute of Technology. The other is Florida State University and Kyung Hee University.

The figure denotes institutional collaboration network based on impulsive buying behavior research for the year from 1976 to 2023.

As can be seen from the table ranking the top 10 institutions by number of papers, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University has published the most articles on impulsive buying (10), closely followed by Great Lakes Institute Management (8), New York University (7), Beijing University of Posts & Telecommunications (6), Washington State University (6), Beijing Institute of Technology (5), Florida State University (5), Kyung Hee University (5), Michigan State University (5), University of Minnesota (5) and University of Valencia (5). Five of these institutions are from the US, three are from China, and the rest are from India, South Korea, and Spain.

As the ranking indicated in Tables 1 and 2 , the top three countries are the United States, China, and India. The following section elaborates on the reasons for the countries’ ranking in Table 2 from the chronological order displayed in the WoS database and the external factors.

Firstly, in 1967, the United States was the first country to publish research on impulsive purchase behavior, 25 years far ahead of second-ranked England (the first research published time is 1992). Many influential studies on offline impulse buying emerged during this period. It has been estimated that almost 90% of customers occasionally make impulsive purchases in the United States (Awan and Abbas Nayyar, 2015 ). In a word, impulse buying is part of American culture.

Between 2000–2009, countries such as South Korea, China, Indonesia, and Australia began to enter the initial research period. In terms of publication growth rate, most countries are developing very steadily except China, which is the fastest-growing of these countries. There are three reasons to explain this: First, China ranked second in the world’s most populous country. Population, on the one hand, determines its purchasing power, which emerges in a lot of study cases; on the other hand, it indicates there will be more research to publish in this field. Second, China’s e-commerce has been in a stage of rapid development since 2003, and online shopping has become mainstream. Bashar et al. ( 2022 ) found that the number of articles published on online impulsive buying behavior in China is 2.88 times that of the United States, which is over 2 times more than the multiple of articles published in this research (The ratio of the number of articles published by China and the United States in this article is 1.38). From this vantage point, it is also more determined that research on Chinese consumers’ impulsive buying behavior has been mainly influenced by the rise of online shopping. Third, in June 2000, the China Electronic Commerce Association (CECA) was established, which means that the Chinese government greatly values the growth of e-commerce.

In 2010, Asian countries, such as Malaysia, Pakistan, and India, started to research this area progressively, and India has the highest publication growth rate among the three. One of the reasons is that it currently has the largest population in the world. Besides, out of 30 emerging economies, India is ranked as the “second most attractive retail destination” globally (Mehta and Chugan, 2013 ). By 2025, the Indian consumer market is anticipated to have quadrupled, placing it among the world’s top five economies (Cheng, 2014 ). As for Malaysia, from 2012 to 2014, five major e-commerce platforms, including Lazada, Zalora, Rakuten, etc, joined in, which drove the online shopping market of this country (Kiu and Lee, 2017 ).

In conclusion, the ranking publishing numbers shown in Tables 1 and 2 are closely related to each country’s culture, time of internet development background, and population base.

Author collaboration network

Figure 5 (since the CiteSpace software automatically reversed the order for the first and last name of the author, the name order in this paragraph has been corrected) displays the 492 authors and 423 collaboration links for the impulsive buying behavior study between 1967 and 2023. Only a few authors in the study on impulse buying behavior demonstrate tight collaboration, and overall, there isn’t much academic interaction. The top ten authors of linked papers are listed in Table 3 , along with their names. For instance, Jiangsu University’s Umair Akram has contributed more to this area and has written six articles. One of the first scholars to study Internet impulse purchasing was Umair Akram. He classified conventional and online impulsive buying behavior to let subsequent readers research more clearly; at that time, most studies researched traditional impulse buying behavior exclusively (Akram et al., 2017 ). Additionally, he researched the environmental effects of social commerce in China and how the survey website’s quality influences online impulse buying behavior, etc., offering multiple perspectives on China’s online retail industry (Akram et al., 2018 ). The number of articles contributed by Professor Bharadhwaj Sivakumaran is 5, ranking after Umair Akram. He is currently working at SRM University. It’s worth noting that his articles have a high-impact factor, meaning his research significantly contributes to impulse buying. He can think outside the box and explore impulse buying from the perspective of service and store environment (Mohan et al., 2013 ; Sharma et al., 2014 ). He can consider the standpoint of consumers and advise them on how to alleviate or lessen impulsive buying when most researchers are researching how impulse buying benefits marketers (Upadhye et al., 2021 ), which has a certain amount of innovative value. Next, the writers who contributed four articles to the table are J Jeffrey Inman, Sanjeev Prashar, T Sai Vijay, and Chandan Prasad. Finally, the writers who published three articles were Zubair Akram, Shobhit Kakaria, and Muhammad Kaleem Khan. Research on impulse buying is currently in a developmental phase, characterized by a relatively limited number of authoritative scholars in the domain. Umair Akram and Bharadhwaj Sivakumaran currently represent academics who study impulse buying. Among them, Bharadhwaj Sivakumaran focused on impulse buying behavior in India and cross-cultural comparison, whereas Umair Akram mainly researched impulsive buying behavior in China.

The figure denotes author collaboration network based on impulsive buying behavior research for the year from 1976 to 2023.

Co-citation network for documents

Figure 6 represents the co-citation network for documents, which, between 1967 and 2023, contained 983 references and 3649 co-citation relationships. The clusters were labeled using the log-likelihood ratio (LLR) with the title extraction and indexing terms. It is commonly used and advised to utilize LLR, one of the algorithms, to extract cluster labels from the cited literature at various locations (Fang et al., 2018 ). The document co-citation networks silhouette scores are all higher than 0.7, which suggests the clusters have dependable quality. Based on the clusters in the impulsive buying realm, the following section is divided into four parts: Changes in times, social platforms and their extensions, product types for impulse buying, and consumers’ impulsive buying factors.

The figure denotes document co-citation network based on impulsive buying behavior research for the year from 1976 to 2023.

First, it is about Changes in time. As Fig. 6 shows, Cluster #1 COVID-19 (silhouette score = 0.975, cited mean year is 2019) ranks second in the size comparison. It is a known fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on the world economy and healthcare, instilling fear, terror, and uncertainty in the hearts of billions of people (Islam et al., 2021 ). During this period, people make crazy impulse purchases of necessities, food, fitness products, etc. In this regard, scholars worldwide have explored Covid-19 and impulse buying. Naeem ( 2021 ) showed that fear of illness, fear of empty shelves, concern of price increases, and social pressure to buy extra items to justify staying at home enhanced panic and impulsive shopping behavior among consumers. Similarly, the study of Anas et al. ( 2022 ) found that the two main factors influencing consumers’ impulsive purchasing decisions during COVID-19 were fear and the availability of resources. Furthermore, based on the view of Chiu et al. ( 2022 ), it was evident that the perception of COVID-19 had a positive impact on fear, which in turn contributed to impulsive purchases of exercise products. In general, although COVID-19 has passed, these connected studies continue to offer insights into fear-induced panic impulsive buying, and future studies might further explore the relationship between negative emotions and impulse buying.

Next, for the social platforms and their extensions. Web 2.0 has given rise to social platforms, which are online shopping services that link customers and let them find, share, recommend, rate, and buy products (Hajli, 2015 ). However, Cluster #3 social platforms (profile score = 0.96) ranked fourth with 52 sizes; the average cited year was 5 years ago. Social platforms, including Facebook, TikTok, blogs, Instagram, and Pinterest, are developing in full swing. Its emergence has also led to different research derivatives: Cluster #0 live-streaming shopping (silhouette score = 0.882, cited mean year is 2020), Cluster #9 social media celebrity (silhouette score = 0.96, cited mean year is 2017), Cluster #2 facebook browsing (silhouette score = 0.959, cited mean year is 2017). In terms of Cluster #0: Live-streaming shopping with the largest cluster size. It is a novel shopping model developed with social platforms. Compared with the traditional online shopping model, live-streaming shopping pays more attention to the interaction between merchants and consumers. Moreover, the effects of the time scarcity characteristic are the icing on the cake of this kind of shopping which provides favorable conditions for stimulating consumers’ impulse purchases (Hao and Huang, 2023 ). Besides, the study of Xu et al. ( 2020 ) examines the impact of contextual and environmental factors, such as the streamer attractiveness on viewers’ cognitive and emotional states and subsequent reactions. From this, it can be seen that the study view of streamers is also an essential research perspective in live-streaming shopping. It is also closely related to another cluster, the #9 social media celebrity. Currently, various studies are exploring the relationship between social media celebrities and impulse purchases in the background of social platforms. According to Chen et al. ( 2021 ), consumers’ recognition of social platform celebrities can increase their trust in marketing activities and thus increase impulse purchases. Similarly, Xiang et al. ( 2016 ) explored the relationship between shoppers’ intimacy with media personalities (parasocial interaction PSI) and impulse buying tendency and found a positive correlation. And for cluster #2 Facebook browsing, it’s a unique variable source from the Facebook social platform. Although it is a niche cluster, it also occupies the third cluster. This shows that the Facebook platform, with a huge population base, performs outstandingly among other social platforms. At present, social platforms are still developing and extending. Most of the research on impulse buying with social platforms comes from China. Future exploration can be done from the perspective of Cross-country comparison, new-style social platforms, and new forms of consumption.

Third, in terms of the product types for impulse buying. Among the top ten clusters, the most prominent is Cluster #4 luxury goods (silhouette score = 0.92, mean the cited year is 2014), and Cluster #8 food waste (silhouette score = 0.956, the mean the cited year is 2010). The cluster #4 luxury goods, which ranked fourth in the forefront of size, with the COVID-19 pandemic and digital transformation, the luxury goods industry has also gradually introduced online models (Hoang et al., 2022 ). The impulse buying behavior of luxury products represents a new group. First, scholars have confirmed that material goods or services represent unique personality traits of materialistic people (Islam et al., 2021 ). Second, it is about the element of trust. Trust has a significant influence on impulse buying (Chen et al., 2021 ). Luxury products have been shown to boost people’s feelings of trust, encouraging them to make impulsive purchases (Chen et al., 2021 ). For cluster #8 food waste, the average year is within 5 years. The relationship between food waste and impulse buying varies greatly from different angles. Lahath et al. ( 2021 ) consider impulsive buying to be a factor in food waste, and their study reveals the mediating role of impulse buying and the moderating role of neuroticism on food waste during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This kind of food waste caused by anxiety and panic is highly negative.

On the contrary, the results of Liao et al. ( 2022 ) show that impulse buying is one factor that significantly affects food waste reduction intention. The purpose of the differences between these two studies is the main reason for the relationship differences. The former believes that impulse leads to food waste. The latter supposes that discount promotion induces impulsive buying, solving the problem of wasted expired products.

Finally, for the consumer’s impulsive buying factors, Cluster #5 subjective well-being (silhouette score = 0.954, cited mean year is 2011), Cluster #6 brand attachment (silhouette score = 0.952, cited mean year is 2017), and Cluster #9 flow experience (silhouette score = 0.882, cited mean year is 2020) are all subjective factors of impulse buying consumers in Table 4 . For #5 subjective well-being, many researchers have integrated personality traits into subjective well-being and impulse buying behavior. Seinauskiene et al. ( 2016 ) discovered that lower well-being levels enhance materialism, which then fuels a higher level of impulsive purchase tendencies. Besides, the research of (Silvera et al., 2008 ) also integrated Interpersonal variables in related studies. It was proven that, at the cognitive level, impulsive purchasing has a negative correlation with subjective well-being but that, at the emotional level, it has a positive correlation with social influence and emotional sensitivity. Concerning Cluster #6: Brand attachment, many scholars have integrated brand attachment into impulse buying research. According to the study of Japutra et al. ( 2019 ), brand attachment entirely mediates the association between ideal self-congruence. Besides, findings from Japutra et al. ( 2022 ) demonstrate a positive relationship between impulsive and obsessive-compulsive purchasing and the three aspects of brand attachment: passion, prominence, and anxiety. Then, it is about the #9 flow experience cluster closely related to social platforms and online shopping. Bao and Yang ( 2022 ) discovered that consumers’ flow experience, trust, and customer’ serendipity encourage impulse buying.

Author co-citation network

The author co-citation network is represented in Fig. 7 , and 786 authors and 5245 links are linked with collaboration. The relationship between scholars’ co-citations is close. More authors are cited when the font and node are larger. It is essential to note that in this analysis, only an article’s first author will be considered (Fang et al., 2018 ). Lists the top 10 researchers according to citation counts. With 415 citations, ROOK DW was the author who received the most attention, yet his centrality (0.15)—a measure of how impactful a scientific contribution may be—ranked fourth, not first. As a USC Marshall School of Business professor, he offered a novel understanding of its phenomenology when consumer impulse buying was still not fully understood (Rook, 1987 ). Furthermore, the normative features of impulsive buying were also first empirically examined by him as a researcher. In the article of Rook and Fisher ( 1995 ), the authors demonstrated that only when customers feel that acting on impulse is acceptable does the association between the buying impulsiveness trait and related purchase behaviors become meaningful.

The figure depicts the documents’ co-citation network based on impulsive buying behavior research for the year ranging from 1976 to 2023.

As table 5 shows, it is worth noting that although BEATTY SE and KACEN JJ are both in the top five in frequency, their centrality is relatively low in the top ten. Scholar Beatty SE’s citations (276) came in second place. Her position at The University of Alabama is as a professor of marketing. Besides, she put forth a precursor model of impulsive buying and used data extracted at two points in time (during post- and pre-shopping interviews) from a regional shopping mall setting, providing a basis for future research and Management impact (Beatty and Ferrell, 1998 ). KACEN JJ is a Clinical professor at the University of Houston, College of Business Administration. Her research is full of great originality and focuses on the impact of cultural differences on impulse buying. Most of the research was on impulse buying in the United States at that time, but she started doing cross-cultural studies. Her team discovered that the impulse buying scale is suitable for the United States but not for other countries, and then they analyzed the moderating role of culture different from the perspectives of individualism and collectivism. Additionally, they concentrated on cultural differences in consumers’ satisfaction with planned and impulsive purchases, which contribute to this realm (Lee and Kacen, 2008 ; Kacen and Lee, 2002 ).

On the contrary, although the frequency of STERN H and PARBOTEEAH DV is not in the top five, their centrality enters the top two. STERN H is the founder of the impulse buying theory, which provides fresh eyes on consumer purchasing behavior. The article he published in 1962 has been highly cited over 1900, in which he is the first to define impulse buying as divided into four categories: Pure Impulse Buying, Reminder Impulse Buying, Suggestion Impulse Buying, and Planned Impulse Buying (Stern, 1962 ). PARBOTEEAH DV is an Associate Professor at Eastern New Mexico University. She mainly contributes to online impulsive buying behavior. When online impulse buying emerged, she applied environmental psychology theory to expand on prior impulse buying (Parboteeah et al., 2009 ). Through the authors’ co-citation analysis, future researchers can find more research inspiration from related authors’ perspectives.

In summary, scholars read the most influential articles based on their needs to explore impulse purchases. If readers are interested in original empirical research or the precursor model of impulse buying, they can refer to these articles. Moreover, they can read more articles by ROOK DW and BEATTY SE. In addition, KACEN JJ is one of the most influential researchers in this field. She mainly focuses on exploring the differences in cross-cultural research on impulse buying. Thus, readers can learn the information from her studies comparing impulse buying behaviors among different countries. As for readers who want to learn more about the deep classification of impulsive buying behavior, it is recommended to read the articles about impulse buying theory from STERN H. Finally, the articles by PARBOTEEAH DV can provide more inspiration for academics studying environmental psychology and online impulsive buying.

Journal Co-citation network

The journal co-citation network represents the network of journals that contribute to a particular field of research. Figure 8 displays the publications that have contributed the most over the past 21 years about impulsive buying behavior. A journal receives more citations, the more significant the node diameter (Mustafee et al., 2014 ). The top ten most-cited journals out of the 790 that were currently retrieved are displayed in Table 6 . More than 280 frequencies have been cited in conjunction with the top ten journals. With 544 co-citations, the Journal of Consumer Research leads the field, followed by the Journal of Business Research with 463 co-citation frequencies. Most publications of impulsive buying articles concentrate on marketing, psychology, and computer science. This analysis can be a valuable reference for academics looking for a relevant journal to publish their research in this area.

The figure denotes the journals’ co-citation network based on impulsive buying behavior research for the year from 1976 to 2023.

The most prolific journals in the study of impulsive behavior are listed in Table 7 . With 29 articles published between 2001 and 2022, the Journal of Retailing and Consumers Services is the top journal in this area. Frontiers in Psychology (28), Journal of Business Research (17), Sustainability (13), and International Journal of Retail Distribution Management (12) round out the top five most prolific journals. It should be noted that while Table 7 highlights high-impact factors journals that published articles relating to impulsive buying behavior, Table 6 emphasizes the contributing journals with the highest frequency of citations in the impulsive buying behavior field. According to Fang et al. ( 2018 ), it is generally accepted that high-impact factors journals may also have more excellent citation rates.

Emerging trends of impulsive buying behavior

References with the highest number of citations.

Citation bursts are formed when an article acquires a lot of citations in a short period. These bursts can help reveal some of a specific topic’s research dynamics (Fang et al., 2018 ). Albeit impulsive buying behavior is a developing topic, particular articles obtained a lot of citations, as seen in Table 8 . The table ranks the top 26 articles about impulsive buying behavior based on their citation quantity and popular period. The following will analyze this from three perspectives (long history, strength ranking, and potential).

The article of Beatty and Ferrell ( 1998 ) was the first popular citation published about 20 years ago to offer a model of the pre-cursors for impulse buying and empirically evaluate it using information obtained from pre- and post-shopping interviews at two different intervals in time, and its studies served as the basis for later studies on impulsive buying behavior.

Then, we analyze the strengths of the top three articles from the perspective of the top three articles. All the top three articles lasted for four years in burst. To begin with, Xiang et al. ( 2016 ) have the number one Strength Value (14.28), which is also one of the earlier articles based on parasocial interaction with the social platform. The article introduces parasocial interaction theory to examine the influence of social relationship factors on the formation of impulse buying behavior on the Mogujie ( www.mogujie.com ) social platform. The theoretical contribution part combines psychology, marketing, and communication theory and laid the foundation for subsequent researchers to conduct an in-depth exploration of social relationships and purchasing behavior. Following it, the article of Chen et al. ( 2016 ), with the second Strength Value (10.34), uses C2C Facebook as background research and empirically studies the impact of advertising information quality, impulsive traits, and the number of “likes” on advertising. These factors can be combined with the recent past and combined with popular social media wins with novelty. After that, the article of strength (8.93) at position third discusses the impact of social networking website content on users’ emotional reactions. The study expanded on the SOR paradigm’s use in social commerce impulsive buying and clarified the distinction between impulsive buying and buying (Huang, 2016 ). In fact, these three articles have the common keyword “social platform”, consistent with the hot clustering tag words mentioned earlier.

Next, we will introduce some articles with a strength value within the top 20, but with relatively recent publication years. For example, an article by Aragoncillo and Orus ( 2018 ), ranked as having the highest recent burst year, offers the first step in validating a scale that effectively measures the influence of social media on impulse buying behavior. Comparing online and offline channels and obtaining results that indicate increased impulse buying behavior, provides direction for subsequent scholars to explore further comparisons between online and offline impulse buying.

Secondly, another recent article ranked 16 in strength, offers a novel perspective based on pre-purchase tendencies and impulse buying behavior. Furthermore, it proposes a new model encompassing personal characteristics, addressing a current gap in the literature (Bellini et al., 2017 ).

Another newer burst year article is from (Wu et al., 2016 ), which mainly proposes a novel research model to examine impulse buying behavior in a complete manner (starting from the trust belief and technology use with the mediator of flow experience).

Overall, among these three newer burst year articles, two of them start from the impulse buying models, and one compares from the online and offline channels. These mindsets provide scholars with many different ideas for impulse buying extension.

Analysis of keywords

Examining keywords might reveal the direction in which a topic trends. Identifying the research hotspots or the most critical topic in the field also helps to understand future study paths. Figure 9 depicts the time zone of impulsive purchasing behavior. It shows the changing process of keywords. Starting from the period 1996 to 2009, some keywords first appeared a long time ago, but they are still popular at present, such as experience, environment, personality, compulsive buying, motivation, etc. Since 2009, in the rapid development of e-commerce year, the keyword e-commerce has been integrated into the field of impulse buying. Meanwhile, more scholars are exploring online impulse buying further. Besides, many studies are related to high-level consumer demand, such as perceived value, and customer satisfaction. The following content will introduce the keywords regarding their interconnection in a roughly chronological order.

The figure illustrates the time zone view of keywords based on impulsive buying behavior research for the year ranging from 1996 to 2023.

The first part is the keyword “experience”, which appeared in 1996. It emerged at the earliest in this field; however, the frequency will peak in 2021. This keyword has a broad research scope. It is closely related to keywords like “environment”, “flow experience”, “motivation”, “self-control”, etc. According to studies from Selby and Joiner ( 2013 ), arousal brought on by music and perfume increases pleasure levels, which in turn improves approach behavior and shopping satisfaction and explores the moderating effects of store environment on the impulse shopping process. In the same year, Chen and Teng ( 2013 ) discovered a comprehensive model of the effects of online store image on purchase intention in an e-commerce environment and proposed in the future section to explore more specifically which online store features lead to impulse buying behavior. Furthermore, experience is often discussed in conjunction with flow theory as a motivation for impulse buying (Wu et al., 2020 ) considering that pleasant experience and website attributes are both critical driving factors for impulse purchases. Similarly, in the research of Wu et al. ( 2016 ), flow experience was used as a mediating factor driving online shopping. In a word, the flow experience is deeply integrated into online shopping. For self-control, it can suppress emotions, and impulsive consumption is often related to the benefits of hedonic experience. In the desire-willpower model, impulse buying is emphasized as a struggle between desire and willpower (Wang et al., 2020a ; Hofmann et al., 2009 ). In short, self-control and hedonic experience are also antagonistic. Thus, if we explore the relationship between experience and self-control from the perspective of confrontation and combine it with dual-system theory, we will find discoveries. In the future, this part can also do more to innovate impulse purchase models.

Moreover, some studies currently explore personality and materialism together. Then, about another classic word, “personality.” This keyword only appeared three times before 2013 and did not reach its frequency peak until 2018. Currently, most research on personality explores the five-factor personality model and impulse buying. According to Thompson and Prendergast ( 2015 ), the five-factor personality model’s extraversion, conscientiousness, and neuroticism measurements unanimously predicted impulse buying. Based on the research of Verplanken and Herabadi ( 2001 ), they found that impulsive buying in the big five model background, the cognitive facet, was inversely associated with conscientiousness, the desire for personal organization, and the shopping need. The affective aspect was associated with action orientation and a lack of autonomy. Otero-López and Villardefrancos ( 2013 ) showed some relationship between the Five-Factor Model personality traits, materialism, and over-purchasing. Authors find extraversion has a positive association with materialism. However, openness and agreeableness have negative relations with materialism, which, in turn, is associated with higher excessive buying propensity. Furthermore, Badgaiyan and Verma ( 2014 ) test the impact of five intrinsic causes on impulsive purchase behavior, including personality, culture, materialism, shopping enjoyment propensity, and impulsive buying tendency. Presently, the part about personality can be explored from different perspectives. There are three categories of personality traits: high-order, low-order, and mid-order. Most of the 5-Factor Model of Personality belongs to high-order. In the future, impulsive buying behavior can be explored with different levels of personality traits. In addition, there is also a blank in the cross-culture exploration of personality, and discoveries will be made comparing the perspectives of individualism and collectivism (Olsen et al., 2016 ).

With the proliferation of e-commerce, the research hotspot trend form of impulse buying gradually changed from offline to online. In a 20-year study on e-commerce, there have been many articles analyzing the factors of online impulse (Kumar et al., 2021 ). The e-commerce keywords in Fig. 9 are shown in 2009, which was also a year of rapid development of e-commerce. The development of e-commerce not only activates the deep needs of consumers but also drives the development of Technology.

As for the consumers’ deep needs, it is divided into value level and interpersonal interaction level. Regarding the consumer value level, perceived value (2022) is first to be mentioned. Perceived value includes different dimensions, such as utilitarian value, emotional value, conditional value, social value, cognitive value, and hedonic value. It is related to Utilitarian and customer satisfaction. From Fig. 9 , the keyword “utilitarian” appeared 6 years earlier than “perceived value” in this field. It can be seen that Utilitarian value is used most frequently as one of the perceived values connected with impulse purchases. At present, people often combine the terms “hedonic” and “utilitarian” together to study impulse buying. According to a study (Zhang et al., 2018 ), consumers who are more impulsive place a higher weight on the hedonic value of internet comments than those who are less impulsive do. Yang et al. ( 2021 ) investigate how, in the context of mobile commerce (m-commerce), customers’ perceived values (utilitarian and hedonic values) influence their impulse buying behavior (IBB). Furthermore, Liu et al. ( 2022 ) discovered that affective impulsive buying is caused by affective information processing while cognitive impulsive buying is dominated by cognitive information processing. Additionally, research has shown that hedonic consumption is dominated by affective information processing while utilitarian consumption is dominated by cognitive. Not only that, “customer satisfaction” is often researched together with perceived value, especially from the perspective of hedonic value. For instance, Madhu et al. ( 2023 ) empirically investigate the intercorrelation between online impulse buying tendencies, online promotions, hedonic motivations, impulse purchase decisions, and customer satisfaction. Besides, Widagdo and Roz ( 2021 ) examine how customers’ satisfaction with online purchasing in Indonesia is influenced by website quality, hedonic shopping motivation, and impulse buying. Generally, if current research can expand beyond the perspectives of utilitarianism and hedonic value, adopt a comparative approach from other dimensions of perceived value, and conduct further studies in this field, there will likely be breakthroughs. At the level of interpersonal interaction, “word of mouth” and “trust” have also been explored together by scholars in this domain. Zhao et al. ( 2020 ) researched from the perspective of word-of-mouth information quality and added consumers’ social psychological distance to study the impact of word-of-mouth on trust. Finally, it was discovered that the relationship between information quality and trust is mediated by social psychological distance. Furthermore, Hidayanto et al. ( 2017 ) examined the factors influencing consumers’ intention to participate in online group buying. Their research found that electronic word-of-mouth significantly affects information search and trust. So far, the research on these two keywords is still in the development stage in this area, and future research is suitable for adding more social psychology theories to support it.

Then, regarding the keyword “technology”, in 2012, it became a popular word related to impulse buying, as Fig. 9 presented. The technology mentioned here consists of three components: first, the continuous change of the website has brought about technology upgrades. Second, technology products, such as apps and virtual reality, are prominent in the new era. Third, research on interdisciplinary new technology combined with Impulse Buying. The following chapters will elaborate on the literature review from these three aspects. The first is about website technology. Based on the research of Wu et al. ( 2016 , the results reveal that two critical factors, technology use, and trust beliefs, are necessary for online impulse buying. Similarly, Kimiagari and Asadi Malafe, ( 2021 ) integrated the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) into the SOR model and looked into the connection between cognitive and affective reactions to internal and external stimuli and impulse buying behavior based on social media. The second is for technological products. Chang and Tseng ( 2014 ) think that modern technological advancements (such as apps) allow e-retailers to provide clients with more practical and user-friendly online locations, giving consumers more choices and increasing their likelihood of impulse purchasing online. Saffari et al. ( 2023 ) took metaverse shopping as the background, then applied the role of emotion and cognition to the dual process, discussed through the electroencephalography method, and the distinction between planned shopping and unplanned shopping is made. Furthermore, the empirical findings of Chen et al. ( 2022 ), which were applied to the virtual reality (VR) environment retail industry, demonstrate that interaction and vitality have a beneficial impact on telepresence, perceived diagnostic, and fun, which incite consumers to make impulsive purchases. The third is about multidisciplinary analysis techniques. Bak et al. ( 2022 ) present data as a potential biomarker for identifying impulse purchase behavior through a brain-computer interface-based method for processing brain signals. Their study explores the hypothesis that duty-free shopping enhances impulsive buying behavior. In summary, there is still significant potential in the intersection of technology and impulse buying, particularly in the context of the latest Internet technology, new-era technology applications combined with the metaverse, and interdisciplinary research methods. Furthermore, existing research on the behavioral mechanisms underlying impulsive buying behavior remains unclear (Liu et al., 2022 ). Therefore, future research could delve deeper into the factors influencing impulse buying from psychological and technical perspectives.

Conclusions

Impulsive buying behavior has received considerable attention in consumer research (lyer et al., 2020 ). With the advance of the times, impulse buying has continuously extended from the business and management field to computer science information systems, psychology multidisciplinary, economics, and hospitality leisure sport tourism. Moreover, the number of publications on impulse buying in 2022 is 2.42 times higher than in 2018, highlighting significant research potential in this field. The current impulsive buying behavior literature review focuses on online impulse buying (Abdelsalam et al., 2020 ; Bashar et al., 2022 ; Chan et al., 2017 ). Besides, a limited number of studies on impulsive buying behavior have employed meta-analysis (lyer et al., 2020 ; Zhao et al., 2022 ).

Nevertheless, current research overlooks a comprehensive exploration of traditional impulse buying from a temporal perspective and lacks a visual analysis perspective. Therefore, more investigations are necessary in this field. This study provides an objective and comprehensive review of this knowledge area by exploring the history and future trends of the impulse buying topic using CiteSpace software. The data, derived from the WoS Core Collection, spans the period from 1967 to September 30, 2023.

Based on our country’s collaboration network, China’s publication volume (including Taiwan) is 1.38 times that of the United States. However, one literature article shows that the number of articles published in China is 2.88 times that of the United States (Bashar et al., 2022 ). The conclusions drawn in this article are approximately twice those of this study.

Likewise, the country distribution pie chart shown in another article (Kathuria and Bakshi, 2024 ) reveals that the number of articles published by China is over twice that of the United States. The difference in the proportion of quantities is because these two articles focus on online impulse buying and the setting year after 2000. Thus, we deduce the following conclusion from the previously mentioned points: Over the past twenty years, China has experienced faster development in online impulse purchase research than the United States.

However, the United States has a longer history of offline impulse buying, which has provided a solid foundation for early research in this area. Furthermore, the population base is an essential factor driving impulse buying research. India and China, the two most populous countries in the world, have seen rapid development in this field. In the author collaboration network, the top-ranked author, Umair Akram, is consistent with the author’s ranking in the online impulse buying literature review research (Bashar et al., 2022 ).

Conversely, most of the top 10 authors in this study are from China. Umair Akram mainly studies impulse buying in China. He classified traditional impulse buying behavior and online impulse buying behavior. Bharadhwaj Sivakumaran mainly studies impulse buying in India. He thinks outside the box and explores impulse buying from the service and store environment perspective. Notably, the authors ranked 4-7 are also from Indian institutions. According to the institution collaboration network, the United States, China, and India are the top three countries. As for cooperation between institutions, two groups of institutions have more connections. One group is the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the Great Lakes School of Management, and the Beijing Institute of Technology. The other group is Florida State University and Kyung Hee University. Other institutions’ relationships are relatively scattered, consistent with the country’s collaboration network’s top three ranks, which include the United States, China, and India, which are also more prominent in terms of authors and institutions involved in impulse-buying research.

Therefore, future scholars should explore the similarities and differences in impulse-buying behavior between China and India due to their similar population sizes. Additionally, comparing the differences in impulse-buying behavior between the United States and these developing countries would also be valuable. Thus, this study recommends stronger international collaboration to establish a more extensive research network in this area.

Next, this study conducted an in-depth analysis based on co-citations from the perspectives of clusters, authors, and journals. First, clusters based on the co-citation articles are special content that distinguishes the current study from other literature reviews in this field. These clusters reflect the times’ changes (e.g., COVID-19), social platforms and their extensions (social platforms, live shopping), and consumer impulse buying factors, such as subjective well-being, brand attachment, and flow experience, which add more cause variables for online impulse buying (Zhao et al., 2022 ). Second, the author co-citation network allows readers to find relevant theories and research foundations from the works of different authors. For instance, STERN H is the founder of impulse buying theory, and he divided impulse buying into four types. KACEN JJ researched how cultural differences affect impulsive purchases. Third, regarding journal co-citations, according to the journals in the research of Bashar et al. ( 2022 ), our research added high-quality journals, such as the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Psychology & Marketing, and Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, which recommended to readers. Some of these journals are based on the integration of psychology and marketing disciplines.

Concisely, this research expands the content on the latest social platforms and buying causes factors in this field by summarizing and categorizing ways. Meanwhile, the current study encourages scholars to start from classic theories and provide new research angles for researchers to explore impulse buying behavior deeply. For instance, scholars can apply categorical and comparative thinking, such as classifying impulse buying into four different types or classifying cultures to create more innovation on the background of social platforms in this field.

Finally, regarding the emerging trends of impulsive buying behavior, this paper includes articles with the highest number of citations and trends in keywords over time zones. First, it is about the highest number of citation articles; it not only supplements the latest and high-quality reference articles to the existing review literature research (Bashar et al., 2022 ) but also provides classic articles covering the precursor model of impulse buying (Beatty and Ferrell, 1998 ). The top three articles with the latest literature strength are centered around impulse buying behavior on social platforms. Among the two articles published in the latest outbreak year, one starts from the perspective of trust belief and technology use to create a new model to examine the impulse buying behavior of the whole population (Wu et al., 2016 ). The other article is a comparative study of impulse buying through online and offline channels (Aragoncillo and Orus, 2018 ). Second, the time-zone keyword figure helps researchers understand the latest factors that trigger impulsive buying behavior, related theories, models, and cutting-edge trends. For example, the dual-system theory can examine impulsive purchasing from two angles: promotion and inhibition. Consumer need is the facilitator and self-control is the inhibitory factor. Furthermore, needs can be divided into value level and interpersonal interaction level. On the one hand, value-level needs can be explored in conjunction with the theory of consumption values.

On the other hand, interpersonal interaction level can be combined with social psychology theory and the five-factor model of personality. This is similar to the article about a systematic literature review of impulse buying, which also highlights the Big Five model and flow theory (Redine et al., 2023 ), like our research. However, our article suggests that personality traits can be divided into different levels—lower-order, mid-order, and higher-order traits- for further research. In addition, the emerging part of the future is centered on “technique,” which can start from three levels of direction. In addition, the future emerging part centers on “technique,” which can start from three levels of direction. The first level is the technical upgrade brought about by continuous website changes, which indicates that the variables related to the website should be considered. This point is also partially consistent with the perspective of an article doing a meta-analysis on online impulsive buying (Zhao et al., 2022 ). Readers can glean insights from this article’s examination of website-related variables for expansion. Another level of exploration pertains to technology products such as virtual reality and other technological advancements. Scholars are encouraged to integrate new-era technological products, like the metaverse, with impulse purchases in novel scenarios. Additionally, there’s a call for research on interdisciplinary approaches that combine new technology with impulse buying. For instance, an article by Xiao and Nicholson ( 2013 ) conducts a systematic review of a multidisciplinary cognitive-behavioral framework of impulse buying, synthesizing insights from multiple disciplines to explore the antecedents of impulse buying. However, it’s suggested that researchers incorporate techniques from other disciplines to enhance their exploration of impulse buying.

Moreover, this study enhances readers’ comprehension of the current landscape of impulse buying research. By integrating current literature and keyword trend figures over time zones with theoretical models, the study offers a roadmap for future research directions. Furthermore, it provides effective strategies tailored to the perspectives of market managers, consumers, industry stakeholders, and researchers—covering management policies, impulse control, marketing strategies, and research methodologies. These insights empower market managers and consumers to mitigate impulsive buying tendencies. Consumers can reflect on factors contributing to impulsive purchases and the influence of popular social platforms to avoid excessive buying. For marketing planners, understanding the psychological theories and models behind impulsive consumer behavior can inform strategies to boost sales legally and ethically. Finally, researchers can draw inspiration from this study to explore various perspectives, linking offline impulsive buying behaviors to theoretical foundations and conducting innovative research based on current trends.

Hence, this study significantly contributes to the analysis of impulse buying behavior. By systematically analyzing 704 articles published on WoS, it provides a clear overview of the current research status of impulse buying, presented chronologically from a visual perspective. The research expands beyond the study of online impulse buying, addressing offline impulse buying and filling gaps in existing literature. Specifically, it offers an in-depth analysis and summary of the latest publication trends and country distribution, highlighting impulse buying as a thriving area of research. Additionally, the study elaborates on the most productive authors, institutions, and countries according to collaboration networks, drawing new conclusions through comparative analysis. Through keyword time zone analysis, the study further explores impulse buying behavior by integrating impulse buying factors and theoretical foundations, offering innovative insights across three technical levels.

Limitations and future scope

Although this work uses CiteSpace software to yield a thorough and unbiased analysis of publications on impulsive buying behavior, it cannot replace a total literature review. As a result, this study could provide researchers and academics with a thorough picture of impulsive buying behavior. In addition to bibliometric analysis, future studies may also use content analyses of papers addressing techniques and conceptual issues. Additionally, because this study relies solely on Web of Science data, its descriptive analysis is constrained to the correctness of that database. Consequently, this research shows that impulsive buying behavior is a prospective academic topic that is valuable to explore. Since the research in this field exceeded three digits for the first time in 2021, global research on impulse buying has continued to grow rapidly and develop into multiple disciplines. Currently, the research background on impulse buying mainly focuses on online shopping. Over the next five years, the United States, China, and India will continue to be the top three countries in this subject regarding institutional rankings and publication volume. In the future, many related areas will be related to impulsive buying behavior. Through the clusters by co-citation network, high quantity articles of citation, and time zone view of keywords by this research, the future hotspots will continue to extend in social platforms, live-streaming, luxury goods, and food waste.

Moreover, researchers can combine online experience, consumer value, and psychological theories to think deeply about the mechanism behind impulsive buying behavior. Furthermore, technology and impulse buying still have huge potential, especially in the latest Internet technology themes, metaverse background, and interdisciplinary research methods. Besides, future studies can expand the research scope by adding more keywords, such as technique impulsive buying behavior and tourism impulsive buying behavior. Meanwhile, exploration in this domain can continue across different academic databases.

Data availability

The Web of Science database was used to retrieve the necessary data for this research. Hence, the data may be accessed using the same search query and filters that were used in this study. However, the data can also be made available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author.

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Gong, X., Yee, C.L., Lee, S.Y. et al. Knowledge mapping of impulsive buying behavior research: a visual analysis using CiteSpace. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 11 , 967 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-03473-9

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Ashraf AR , Mackey TK , Schmidt J, et al. Safety and Risk Assessment of No-Prescription Online Semaglutide Purchases. JAMA Netw Open. 2024;7(8):e2428280. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.28280

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Safety and Risk Assessment of No-Prescription Online Semaglutide Purchases

• 1 Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
• 2 Global Health Program, Department of Anthropology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla
• 3 Global Health Policy and Data Institute, San Diego, California
• 4 S-3 Research, San Diego, California
• 5 Institute of Biochemistry and Medical Chemistry, Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
• 6 Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary

The popularity of branded semaglutide is surging, with widespread media coverage, viral social media exposure, and celebrity endorsements. 1 Although Wegovy (Novo Nordisk) is approved for long-term weight management, Ozempic (Novo Nordisk) (only approved for type 2 diabetes) is often used off-label for this purpose. Global regulatory agencies, including the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), European Medicines Agency, and World Health Organization (WHO), have warned about fake versions driven by patient demand, high cost, and shortages. Illegal online pharmacies, which operate without valid licenses and sell medicines like semaglutide without prescription, represent a consumer risk for ineffective and dangerous products.

In this qualitative study, we conducted risk assessment of semaglutide online sourcing ( Figure and eAppendix in Supplement 1 ). We followed the SRQR reporting guideline.

First, we conducted structured searches on Google and Bing to catalog websites advertising semaglutide without a prescription in July 2023. Websites meeting inclusion criteria were selected for a product test buy protocol. 2 Two 0.25-mg per dose prefilled pens or equivalent semaglutide injection vials were ordered from each website. Upon product receipt, authors (A.R.A., and A.F.) used the International Pharmaceutical Federation’s (FIP) checklist for visual inspection to assess potential counterfeiting or falsification risks, compared with genuine Ozempic brand 1-mg semaglutide solution for injection in a prefilled pen. 3 Products were then tested for quality, including sterility and microbiological contamination, according to European Pharmacopoeia and US Pharmacopeia guidelines. Quantification of active ingredients was performed using liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Test purchases and analytical testing were performed August from 2023 to March 2024.

Search engine monitoring generated 1080 hyperlinks, with 317 (29.35%) for online pharmacies. Nearly one-half (134 sites [42.27%]) belonged to illegal pharmacy operations; 763 links were websites not offering products for sale, including 615 news and informational websites and 148 telemedicine websites requiring consultation to obtain prescription before purchase.

Six online vendors classified as not recommended or rogue by LegitScript and/or National Association of Boards of Pharmacy and offering parenteral semaglutide products were included in test buys. Three websites offered prefilled 0.25-mg per dose semaglutide injection pens, and 3 sold vials of lyophilized semaglutide to be reconstituted to solution for injection (1-3 mg). All vendors referred to weight loss and obesity on their product page. Prices for the smallest dose and quantity ranged from US $113 to $360 (mean [SD], US $218.5 [$93.6]) ( Table ).

Test purchases were confirmed via email and WhatsApp. Of 6 products purchased, only 3 were received. Three vendors selling Ozempic injections engaged in nondelivery scams requesting extra payments (range, US $650-$1200) to purportedly clear customs, confirmed as fraudulent by customs agencies. Although genuine Ozempic scored the full 22 points on the FIP checklist, test purchased products scored 8 or 9 with clear discrepancies in regulatory registration information, accurate labeling, and evidence products were likely unregistered or unlicensed.

Upon quality testing, one sample had elevated presence of endotoxin (8.95 EU/mg) indicating possible contamination, although no viable microorganisms were detected. LC-MS revealed the presence of semaglutide in all samples, but with considerably lower purity levels (7%-14% vs advertised 99%). The measured semaglutide content substantially exceeded the labeled amount in each sample by 29% to 39%, meaning that users could receive up to 39% more semaglutide per injection. These risk factors indicate likely falsification that does not meet legitimate product quality standards.

This qualitative study found that semaglutide products are actively being sold without prescription by illegal online pharmacies, with vendors shipping unregistered and falsified products. Two websites evaluated were sent FDA warning letters for unlawful sale of unapproved and misbranded semaglutide. 4 , 5 US poison centers have reported a 1500% increase in calls related to semaglutide, highlighting the need for enhanced pharmacovigilance including for online sourcing harms. 6 Study limitations include limited sample of products tested due to nondelivery scams. Furthermore, although tested products represent some accessible semaglutide products sold online, higher priced offerings were excluded, limiting generalizability of the findings.

Accepted for Publication: June 21, 2024.

Published: August 2, 2024. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.28280

Open Access: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC-BY License . © 2024 Ashraf AR et al. JAMA Network Open .

Corresponding Author: Tim K. Mackey, MAS, PhD, Global Health Program, Department of Anthropology, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr, MC 0505, La Jolla, CA 92093 ( [email protected] ).

Author Contributions: Dr Ashraf had full access to all of the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

Concept and design: Ashraf, Mackey, Vida, Li, Fittler.

Acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data: All authors.

Drafting of the manuscript: Ashraf, Mackey, Kulcsár, Vida, Fittler.

Critical review of the manuscript for important intellectual content: Ashraf, Mackey, Schmidt, Kulcsár, Li, Fittler.

Statistical analysis: Ashraf, Kulcsár, Li.

Obtained funding: Mackey, Fittler.

Administrative, technical, or material support: Ashraf, Mackey, Vida, Li.

Supervision: Mackey, Fittler.

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Mr Schmidt reported receiving grant TKP2021-EGA-17 from the Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office outside the submitted work. No other disclosures were reported.

Funding/Support: The research was supported by the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (grant NKFI-ID 143684).

Role of the Funder/Sponsor: The funder had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Data Sharing Statement: See Supplement 2 .

Additional Contributions: The research was performed in collaboration with Mass Spectrometry Core Facility at the Szentágothai Research Centre of the University of Pécs.

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The Basics of In-Text Citation | APA & MLA Examples

Published on March 14, 2022 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on February 28, 2024.

An in-text citation is a short acknowledgement you include whenever you quote or take information from a source in academic writing. It points the reader to the source so they can see where you got your information.

In-text citations most commonly take the form of short parenthetical statements indicating the author and publication year of the source, as well as the page number if relevant.

We also offer a free citation generator and in-depth guides to the main citation styles.

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Table of contents

What are in-text citations for, when do you need an in-text citation, types of in-text citation, frequently asked questions about in-text citations.

The point of an in-text citation is to show your reader where your information comes from. Including citations:

• Avoids plagiarism by acknowledging the original author’s contribution
• Allows readers to verify your claims and do follow-up research
• Shows you are engaging with the literature of your field

Academic writing is seen as an ongoing conversation among scholars, both within and between fields of study. Showing exactly how your own research draws on and interacts with existing sources is essential to keeping this conversation going.

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An in-text citation should be included whenever you quote or paraphrase a source in your text.

Quoting means including the original author’s words directly in your text, usually introduced by a signal phrase . Quotes should always be cited (and indicated with quotation marks), and you should include a page number indicating where in the source the quote can be found.

Paraphrasing means putting information from a source into your own words. In-text citations are just as important here as with quotes, to avoid the impression you’re taking credit for someone else’s ideas. Include page numbers where possible, to show where the information can be found.

However, to avoid over-citation, bear in mind that some information is considered common knowledge and doesn’t need to be cited. For example, you don’t need a citation to prove that Paris is the capital city of France, and including one would be distracting.

Different types of in-text citation are used in different citation styles . They always direct the reader to a reference list giving more complete information on each source.

Author-date citations (used in APA , Harvard , and Chicago author-date ) include the author’s last name, the year of publication, and a page number when available. Author-page citations (used in MLA ) are the same except that the year is not included.

Both types are divided into parenthetical and narrative citations. In a parenthetical citation , the author’s name appears in parentheses along with the rest of the information. In a narrative citation , the author’s name appears as part of your sentence, not in parentheses.

Note: Footnote citations like those used in Chicago notes and bibliography are sometimes also referred to as in-text citations, but the citation itself appears in a note separate from the text.

An in-text citation is an acknowledgement you include in your text whenever you quote or paraphrase a source. It usually gives the author’s last name, the year of publication, and the page number of the relevant text. In-text citations allow the reader to look up the full source information in your reference list and see your sources for themselves.

At college level, you must properly cite your sources in all essays , research papers , and other academic texts (except exams and in-class exercises).

Add a citation whenever you quote , paraphrase , or summarize information or ideas from a source. You should also give full source details in a bibliography or reference list at the end of your text.

The exact format of your citations depends on which citation style you are instructed to use. The most common styles are APA , MLA , and Chicago .

Check if your university or course guidelines specify which citation style to use. If the choice is left up to you, consider which style is most commonly used in your field.

• APA Style is the most popular citation style, widely used in the social and behavioral sciences.
• MLA style is the second most popular, used mainly in the humanities.
• Chicago notes and bibliography style is also popular in the humanities, especially history.
• Chicago author-date style tends to be used in the sciences.

Other more specialized styles exist for certain fields, such as Bluebook and OSCOLA for law.

The most important thing is to choose one style and use it consistently throughout your text.

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Caulfield, J. (2024, February 28). The Basics of In-Text Citation | APA & MLA Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved August 5, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/citing-sources/in-text-citation-styles/

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A One Health Investigation into H5N1 Avian Influenza Virus Epizootics on Two Dairy Farms

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Background In early April 2024 we studied two Texas dairy farms which had suffered incursions of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) the previous month.

Methods We employed molecular assays, cell and egg culture, Sanger and next generation sequencing to isolate and characterize viruses from multiple farm specimens (cow nasal swab, milk specimens, fecal slurry, and a dead bird).

Results We detected H5N1 HPAIV in 64% (9/14) of milk specimens, 2.6% (1/39) of cattle nasal swab specimens, and none of 17 cattle worker nasopharyngeal swab specimens. We cultured and characterized virus from eight H5N1-positive specimens. Sanger and next-generation sequencing revealed the viruses were closely related into other recent Texas epizootic H5N1 strains of clade 2.3.4.4b. Our isolates had multiple mutations associated with increased spillover potential. Surprisingly, we detected SARS-CoV-2 in a nasal swab from a sick cow. Additionally, 14.3% (2/14) of the farm workers who donated sera were recently symptomatic and had elevated neutralizing antibodies against a related H5N1 strain.

Conclusions While our sampling was limited, these data offer additional insight into the large H5N1 HPAIV epizootic which thus far has impacted at least 96 cattle farms in twelve US states. Due to fears that research might damage dairy businesses, studies like this one have been few. We need to find ways to work with dairy farms in collecting more comprehensive epidemiological data that are necessary for the design of future interventions against H5N1 HPAIV on cattle farms.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Funding Statement

This project was supported in part by the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grant from the American Rescue Plan Act, award number 2023-70432-39558, through USDA APHIS and Professor Gregory C. Grays startup funding from the University of Texas Medical Branch. The findings and conclusions in this presentation are those of the authors and should not be construed to represent any official USDA or US Government determination or policy.

Author Declarations

I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.

The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

This research was approved by the University of Texas Medical Branch IRB, Protocol 23-0085

I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals.

I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance).

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