APA Tricky Situations: Copyright Attributions for Tables and Figures

February 26, 2026

Brianna Torres

Lead Editor

Did you know that APA 7 has strict rules around copyright attribution for tables and figures that appear in your manuscript? This applies anytime you reproduce or adapt a table, figure, or image from another source. Here are the key components of a proper copyright attribution:

1. Include whether the material was reprinted or adapted. For reprinted sources, use “From,” and for adapted sources, use “Adapted from.”

2. Include all elements that are included in the reference entry—author, publication year, title, source, and DOI/URL if available.

3. Include the material’s copyright status. This includes either (a) the copyright year and name of the copyright holder, (b) a Creative Commons license statement, or (c) a statement that the work is in the public domain.

4. If permission was sought and obtained to use the image/table, include a permissions statement as requested by the copyright holder.

For tables and figures, copyright attributions go at the end of the general note for the table or figure.

See the adapted example below from the book Grow Your Money by Bola Sokunbi.

Table 1

The Rule of 72

Rate of return	Approximate time to double with the rule of 72
2%	36 years
3%	24 years
5%	14.4 years
7%	10.3 years
9%	8 years
12%	6 years
25%	2.9 years
50%	1.4 years
72%	1 year

Note. Adapted from Learn How Investing Works: Grow Your Money (p. 45), by B. Sokunbi, 2021, Wiley. Copyright 2021 by Bola Sokunbi.

Notice that the attribution includes the author, year, title, publisher, page number, and copyright holder.

If you’re stuck on how to format the copyright attribution for your reprinted or adapted table or figure, reference the below table reproduced from the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Something to note: titles, while in sentence case in the reference list, are written in title case for copyright attributions.

Source a	Reprinted or adapted status	Source information	Copyright status	Permissions statement b
Journal, magazine, newspaper, or blog	From or Adapted from	“Title of Article,” by A. A. Author and B. B. Author, year, Title of Periodical, Volume(Issue), p. xx (DOI or URL).	Copyright year by Name of Copyright Holder. or In the public domain. or CC BY-NC c	Reprinted with permission. or Adapted with permission.
Authored book or report		Title of Book or Report (p. xx), by A. A. Author and B. B. Author, year, Publisher (DOI or URL).
Edited book chapter		“Title of Chapter,” by A. A. Author and B. B. Author, in E. E. Editor and F. F. Editor (Eds.), Title of Book (any edition or volume number, p. xx), year, Publisher (DOI or URL).
Webpage or website		Title of Webpage, by A. A. Author and B. B. Author, year, Site Name (DOI or URL). or Title of Webpage, by Group Author Same as Site Name, year (DOI or URL). d

^a For works not listed here, provide the title, author, year, and source information for the work as appropriate.

^b Include a permissions statement only if permission has been sought and obtained.

^c For Creative Commons licenses (e.g., CC BY-NC, CC BY 4.0), use the specified abbreviation for the type of license associated with the material you are reprinting or adapting; “CC BY-NC” is just one example.

^d For webpages or websites, omit the site name when the site name and author are the same, which is often the case with group authors.

Note. From Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association: The Official Guide to APA Style (p. 390), by American Psychological Association, 2020, American Psychological Association. Copyright 2020 by the APA.

Finally, be sure to include a reference entry for the copyrighted table, image, or figure. If the source is not cited elsewhere in the paper, the copyright attribution itself serves as the in-text citation, so an additional in-text citation is not necessary.

If you’re unsure whether your tables, figures, or copyright attributions meet APA requirements, Professional Editing Co.'s expert editors can help!