what does et al mean ?

Question

usually you find this in an academic paper

Answer 1

It is Latin, an abbreviation for the phrase "et alii". It means "and others".

Answer 2

It stands for "et alii" which is Latin for "and others." It can be used to indicate that there are other authors for a source, but space limits them from all being listed. Those of principle importance are the ones stated.

It can also be used when describing a group of people, in exemplis: "I saw Smith, Brown, Jones, et al. standing outside the store." It is equivalent to et cetera, except that it is used with people, whereas etc. is never used with persons.

Answer 3

et al is the abbreviation for the Latin phrase et alii meaning "and others." This is commonly used in shortening the name of a case, as in "Pat Murgatroyd v. Sally Sherman, et al."

Answer 4

I think in college we'd sometimes use this if several ppl authored a book and you were citing the authors...we'd sometimes put the first author followed by et al.