"Et al." is a Latin term that means "and others" and is used in academic citations when referring to a source with multiple authors. It is used to shorten lists of author names in text citations to make repeated referencing shorter and simpler. The abbreviation "et al." is used to shorten APA in-text citations with three or more authors. In APA 7, for a work with three or more authors, list the first author and "et al." for all citations, including the first citation, unless doing so would create ambiguity. In-text citation format with "et al." includes the name of only the first authors last name plus "et al." in every citation.