AMA Citation Style Guide (10th ed.)

This guide is developed in line with American Medical Association. AMA Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors. 10^th ed. London, UK: Oxford University Press; 2007.

What is AMA?

The AMA style is primarily used in medicine, especially within the United States. It is numbered, which means that you have to assign a number to each separate reference entry and use these numbers to indicate which source is being cited in the text. As such, it is dissimilar from most other styles, though it borrows some ideas from Chicago and Oxford and is very close to Vancouver. Alternatively, it could be said that AMA refines the concept of in-text styles such as APA by reducing the amount of information in the citation to the bare minimum.

Why Cite Your Sources?

• When reading instructions, you may see an insistence on avoiding plagiarism and using the AMA style correctly. Here are some reasons why it exists and is so important to various educational and research organizations:
• Regardless of whether you are a student or a researcher, you cannot know the entirety of your field. As such, you have to consult others’ works as well as your past ones to find information.
• The knowledge that you consult has to come from a reliable source, one that has a trustworthy reputation. As such, you are expected to favor scientific journals and books over websites, except for official ones for research organizations.
• No matter how reliable your source, it is worthless if the reader cannot find it. The accusation of referring to an article that does not exist is worse than that of using an untrustworthy website.
• Plagiarism is usually bad enough to warrant a harsh punishment that will at best entail you having to redo the assignment from scratch. You should avoid it whenever there is even a slight possibility for your own good.

General Principles of AMA Formatting

Manual of AMA style is not very specific about formatting requirements, and most of the time students should follow the instructions of their professors. Following are the recommendations of style if none are provided by the instructor.

• Double-spacing
• Margins – 1″ (2.54 cm)
• Any font type. 12 pt. AMA suggests two typefaces (a serif for body text and a sans serif for titles and subheads) with appropriate use of styles, such as bold and italics for a scholarly publication.
• Every page should be numbered starting with the title page. Page numbers are usually put in the upper left corner.

Papers written in AMA are required to have four sections:

• Title Page
• Abstract (structured or unstructured)
• Body (introduction, methods, results, discussion)
• References

AMA Title Page

AMA style does not have strict rules about formatting the title page; however, it should include several crucial features:

• Title
• Authors’ Name
• Degrees (above bachelors)
• Course Number
• Institutional Affiliation
• Word Count (for text only, excluding title, abstract, references, tables, and figures)

Remember that every instructor may have his or her preferences in organizing the title page.

AMA Abstract

• Abstracts are written on a separate page.
• The word “ABSTRACT” is written in UPPER CASE, left justified, boldface, and has a triple-space afterward it.
• The text on the abstract page is NOT indented.
• The sections of the abstract are single-spaced with double spaces between them.
• Structured abstracts are used for original data, systematic reviews, and clinical reviews; they are usually limited to 250-300 words.
• Unstructured abstracts are used for every other manuscript and are limited to 150 words.
• 3-10 keywords may be placed after the abstract.

AMA Headings

Level 1. Left-aligned, Bold, Uppercase and Lowercase. Double Space After.

Level 2. Centered, Italicized, Uppercase and Lowercase. Double Space After.

AMA Reference List

The reference list is put on a separate page with the title “References” bold and left hand justified on the top of the page. Every source used in the body of the paper must appear in the reference list. Here is the list of requirements for the organization of this page:

• All the references are numbered and listed in the order they appear in the body of the paper.
• Reference numbers are indented 0.25″.
• The reference page in AMA is single-spaced with double spaces between entries.
• Regardless of the type of source referenced, a comma is never inserted between the last name and the first name of the author.
• If a piece of information and/or idea is borrowed from a specific page or range of pages, numbers of the said pages should be identified at the end of the corresponding reference.
• Authors’ last names are fully spelled. First name and middle name initials are put after the last name with no periods or commas between them.

Example:

1.      Wolf ZR. Nursing practice breakdowns: Good and bad nursing. Medsurg Nursing. 2012;21(1):16-36

When identifying page numbers, be sure to put them in full without shortenings. In addition, there are no spaces after the year of publishing

Example of an incorrect entry:

1.      Riley JB. Communication in Nursing. 8th Ed.St. Louis, MO: Elsevier. 2017: 111-7.

Example of a correct entry:

1.      Riley JB. Communication in Nursing. 8th Ed.St. Louis, MO: Elsevier. 2017:111-117.

AMA References

AMA Books Citation

When citing a book in AMA, a student is to provide authors’ last names as they appear on the cover of the book with initials. Commas are put between the authors’ names, and a period is put after the last author’s name. After that, you are to state the title of the book in italics with capitalization. Then the publication place and the publisher’s name are given. At the end of the entry, provide the year of the publication and page numbers, if specific pages are cited.

One author

Structure:

Last Name Initials. Book Title: Subtitle. City of publication, Country/State code: Publisher; Year.

Example:

1. Drewett P. Field Archaeology: An Introduction. London, England: UCL Press; 2012.

Note:

• Locations in the U.S. or Canada: City, 2-letter State abbreviation.
• Locations outside the US: City, Country.
• Provide the name of the publisher after a colon, excluding Co. and Inc., which are not necessary for the identification of the publisher. However, do not omit the words Books and Press.
• Use a semicolon before providing the year of the publication.
• If the date of publication cannot be located, use the words “date unknown” in place of the date.

Two to six authors

Structure:

Last Name Initials, Last Name Initials, Last Name Initials, Last Name Initials, Last Name Initials, Last Name Initials. Book Title: Subtitle. City of publication, Country/State code: Publisher; Year.

Example:

1. Greene J, Scott D. Finding Sand Creek. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press; 2004.
2. McNeil AJ, Frey R, Embrechts P. Quantitative Risk Management: Concepts, Techniques and Tools. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press; 2015.

More than seven authors

Provide last names and initials for the first three authors of the work and add “et al.” after the third author.

Structure:

Last Name Initials, Last Name Initials, Last Name Initials, et al. Book Title: Subtitle. City of publication, Country/State code: Publisher; Year.

Example:

1. Mehrer M, Flatman J, Flemming N, et al. GIS and Archaeological Site Location Modeling. Boca Raton, FL: Taylor & Francis; 2006.

Corporate/organization author

For corporate authors, AMA style offers to use the acronym (if applicable) instead of the full name.

Structure:

Organization Name. Book Title: Subtitle. City of publication, Country/State code: Publisher; Year.

Example:

1. Ministry of Health. Future Directions for Eating Disorders Services in New Zealand. Wellington, New Zealand: Author; 2008.
2. WorldatWork. WorldatWork Handbook of Compensation, Benefits, & Total Rewards: A Comprehensive Guide for HR Professionals. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons; 2007.

Unknown author

Structure:

Book Title: Subtitle. City of publication, Country/State code: Publisher; Year.

Example:

1. Alluvial Archaeology in Europe. New York, NY: Routledge; 2009.

Edited book, no author

In an edited book with no author, move the editor name to the author position and follow it with the abbreviation ed. for one editor or eds. for multiple editors.

Structure:

Last Name Initials, ed. Book Title: Subtitle. City of publication, Country/State code: Publisher; Year.

Example:

1. Palenchar M, Greenwald H, eds. The Management of Organizations: Responsibility for Performance. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation; 2009.

Edited book with an author/authors

When citing an edited source, place the editor’s last name and initials immediately after the book’s title, followed by the abbreviation ed. for one editor or eds. for multiple editors after a comma.

Structure:

Author’s Last Name Initials. Book Title: Subtitle. Last Name Initials, ed. City of publication, Country/State code: Publisher; Year.

Example:

1. Calfee M. Strategic Issues Management: A Systems and Human Resources Approach. Emory KV, ed. Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass; 2011.

An author with a translator

When referencing a translated book, place the name(s) of the translator(s) immediately after the book’s title, add the abbreviation trans.

Structure:

Author’s Last Name Initials. Book Title: Subtitle. Last Name Initials, trans. City of publication, Country/State code: Publisher; Year.

Example:

1. Leary P. Metaphors in the History of Psychology. Burt AW, Kernberg FL, trans. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press; 2009.

Different editions

Include information about the edition immediately after the title. No italics or parentheses. Never indicate the first edition.

Structure:

Last Name Initials. Book Title: Subtitle. # ed. City of publication, Country/State code: Publisher; Year.

Example:

1. Shotton ML, Schiraldi G. The Need for Revision. 2^nd ed. Chicago, IL: Dover; 2016.

Chapter in an edited book

When citing a chapter of an edited book, put the authors of the chapter in the author’s position and cite the name of the chapter without italics or capitalization. Enter the word In and state the editors’ names in general format followed by abbreviation ed. Please pay special attention to the page numbers as they are required for this type of source.

Structure:

Author’s Last Name Initials. Chapter title. In Last Name Initials, ed. Book Title: Subtitle. City of publication, Country/State code: Publisher; Year:pages.

Example:

1. Wiener P. Gender issues across the globe. In: Krugman AA, Kempe FD, eds. Gender Identity and Gender Politics. Frankfurt, Germany: Springer; 2013:134-146.

Multivolume work

Give volume number preceded by Vol / Vols with no period. End with a period.

Structure:

Last Name Initials. Book Title: Subtitle. Vols x–x. City of publication, Country/State code: Publisher; Year.

Example:

1. Haybron DM. Perspectives on Piaget’s Theory. Vols 1–4. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill; 2011.

Encyclopedia/dictionary

Structure:

Last Name Initials, ed. Book Title: Subtitle. Vols x–x. City of publication, Country/State code: Publisher; Year.

Example:

1. Graham T, ed. Encyclopedia of Psychology: The Great Discoveries. Vols 1–3. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO; 2009.

Note:

• If a specific entry is used, it is cited as a book chapter with page numbers being an essential part of the citation.
• Remember to put the entry’s author in the first position.
• If the entry’s author is unknown, start with the name of the entry.

1. Wallace RJ Jr, Griffith DE. Antimycobacterial agents. In: Kasper DL, Fauci AS, Longo DL, Braunwald E, Hauser SL, Jameson JL, eds. Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine. 16^th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill; 2005:946.

Online book

Online books are cited as printed books with the addition of URL and access date.

Structure:

Last Name Initials. Book Title: Subtitle. City of publication, Country/State code: Publisher; Year. URL. Accessed Month Date, Year.

Example:

1. Kolt GS, Andersen MB, eds. Psychology in the Physical and Manual Therapies. Edinburgh, Scotland: Churchill Livingstone; 2004. http://www.netLibrary.com/urlapi.asp?action=summary&v=1&bookid=79424. Accessed January 24, 2019.

Online book (no date and publication place)

When citing electronic books with no available data about the publication date and place, state the name of the website, provide a URL and the access date.

Structure:

Last Name Initials. Book Title: Subtitle. E-Library Name. URL. Accessed Month Date, Year.

Example:

1. Kopf R. Low Blood Pressure—Hypotension Treated with Homeopathy and Schuessler Salts (Homeopathic Cell Salts). Booktrix. https://www.bookrix.com/_ebook-robert-kopf-low-blood-pressure-hypotension-treated-with-homeopathy-and-schuessler-salts-homeopathic/. Accessed January 18, 2019.

Chapter in an online book or web document

Structure:

Last Name Initials. Chapter title. In Last Name Initials, ed. Book Title: Subtitle. City of publication, Country/State code: Publisher; Year. URL. Accessed Month Date, Year.

Example:

1. National Research Center. Chapter 2: How teachers teach: Specific methods. In National Research Center. Science Teaching Reconsidered: A Handbook. Washington, DC: National Academy Press; 1997. https://www.nap.edu/read/5287/chapter/3. Accessed January 18, 2019.

Online encyclopedia/dictionary

When citing an online encyclopedia or a dictionary, include the name of the website after the title of the work.

Structure:

Entry title. In Last Name Initials, ed. Book Title: Subtitle. Website. URL. Accessed Month Date, Year.

Example:

1. Kashmiri Shaiva philosophy. In Fieser J, Dowden B, eds. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. IEP. http://www.iep.utm.edu/kashmiri/. Accessed January 18, 2019.

AMA Articles Citation

Scholarly journal article

Structure:

Last Name Initials. Article title. Periodical Abbreviation. Year;volume(issue):pages.

Example:

1. Williams P. Emotions and consumer behavior. JCR. 2014;40(5):8–11.

Magazine article

Structure:

Last Name Initials. Article title. Magazine Title. Month Date, Year:pages.

Example:

1. Columbus L. Roundup of cloud computing forecasts and market estimates. Forbes Magazine. March 16, 2016:1–3.

Newspaper article

Structure:

Last Name Initials. Article title. Newspaper Title. Month Date, Year:pages.

Example:

1. Gellman B, Nakashima E. US spy agencies mounted 231 offensive cyber-operations in 2011, documents show. Washington Post. July 25, 2013:C3–C4.

Letter to the editor in a magazine

Structure:

Last Name Initials. Article title [Letter to the editor]. Newspaper Title. Month Date, Year:pages.

Example:

1. Jenkins J. It’s time for the President to take responsibility for his words and actions [Letter to the editor]. The Washington Post. January, 2017;233:17.

Review article

There are no special rules for citing review articles in AMA citation style. Therefore, students are to use the general format for citing articles.

Structure:

Last Name Initials. Article title. Periodical Abbreviation. Year;volume(issue):pages.

Example:

1. Raab J. Extending Our Knowledge on Network Governance. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory. 2013;24(2):531-535.

Abstract

You may use the abstract only if the full article is not available. If you are citing the abstract in AMA as part of the full article, cite the full article without any additions. Otherwise, add information about the abstract in square brackets including the number of the abstract or the citation of the journal it originally came from.

Structure:

Last Name Initials. Article title [abstract taken from Periodical Abbreviation. Year;volume(issue):pages]. Periodical Abbreviation.
Year;volume(issue):pages.

Example:

1. Elner VM, Hassan AS, Frueh BR. Graded full-thickness anterior blepharotomy for upper eyelid retraction [abstract taken from Arch Ophthalmol. 2004;122(1):55-60]. Arch Facial Plast Surg. 2004;6(4):277.

Article in an online journal (DOI)

According to the 10^th edition of the AMA Style Guide, it is advisable to provide a DOI of an article if it is available. There is only one accepted format of DOI: doi:0000000/000000000000

Structure:

Last Name Initials. Article title. Periodical Abbreviation. Year;volume(issue):pages. doi:

Example:

1. Baldwin DS, Anderson IM, Nutt DJ. Evidence-based pharmacological treatment of anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder: A revision of the 2005 guidelines from the British Association for Psychopharmacology. Journal of Psychopharmacology. 2014;28(5):403–439. doi:10.1177/0269881114525674

Article in an online journal (without DOI)

When citing online journals with no DOI, AMA requires students to mention the URL, published or last updated date, and the access date.

Structure:

Last Name Initials. Article title. Periodical Abbreviation. Year;volume(issue):pages. URL. Published Month Date, Year. Accessed Month Date, Year.

Example:

1. Round J. Apocatastasis: Redefining tropes of the Apocalypse in Neil Gaiman and Dave Mckean’s Signal to Noise. International Online Journal of Comic Art. 2015;15. http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/26013/. Published January 9, 2017. Accessed January 18, 2019.

Online newspaper/magazine article

Structure:

Last Name Initials. Article title. Newspaper/Magazine Title. URL. Published Month Date, Year. Accessed Month Date, Year.

Example:

1. Tuchman P. How do you sell a work of art built into the earth? The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/27/arts/design/robert-smithson-earthwork-art.html?smid=pl-share&_r=0. Published January 27, 2017. Accessed January 18, 2019.

Online book review

There are no special rules for citing online book reviews in AMA citation style. Therefore, you are to use the general format for citing articles.

Structure:

Last Name Initials. Article title. Periodical Abbreviation. Year;volume(issue):pages. URL. Published Month Date, Year. Accessed Month Date, Year.

Example:

1.  Ascher M. But I thought the earth belonged to the living. Texas Law Review. 2011;89(2):1149–1177. http://www.texaslrev.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Ascher-89-TLR-1149.pdf. Accessed January 18, 2019.

Note:

• Alternatively, provide a DOI instead of a link.
• If the publication date is unknown, avoid the section.

AMA Website Citation

Page from website

Structure:

Last Name Initials. Page title. Website Name. URL. Published Year. Accessed Month Date, Year.

Example:

1. Preston J. John Preston on the Thorpe affair. Penguin Books. https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/on-writing/why-i-write/2016/john-preston-on-the-thorpe-affair/. Published 2017. Accessed January 18, 2019

Page from website with unknown author

Structure:

Page title. Website Name. URL. Published Month Date, Year. Accessed Month Date, Year.

Example:

1. How sibling rivalry made Anne the ‘neglected’ Brontë. Penguin Books. https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/on-writing/times-and-life/2017/jan/how-sibling-rivalry-made-anne-the-other-bronte/. Published 2017. Accessed January 18, 2019.

Page from website. Organization

When citing a web page from an organization’s website, put the organization’s name after the title of the webpage instead of the name of the website.

Structure:

Page title. Organization Name. URL. Published Year. Accessed Month Date, Year.

Example:

1. WHO statement on reports of alleged misconduct. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/17-01-2019-who-statement-on-reports-of-alleged-misconduct/. Published January 17, 2019. Accessed January 18, 2019.

Blog

There are no special rules for citing blog posts; therefore, AMA suggests using the general format for websites.

Structure:

Last Name Initials. Blog post title. Website Name. URL. Published Year. Accessed Month Date, Year.

Example:

1. Cush A. You’ll never guess who’s angry about CNN “deceptively” editing a video of Sylville Smith’s sister. Gawker. http://gawker.com/youll-never-guess-whos-angry-about-cnn-deceptively-ed-1785416442. Published August 17, 2016. Accessed January 17, 2019.

Video or film

AMA citation style allows putting a director’s or a producer’s name in the author’s position. Make sure to put a medium in square brackets.

Structure:

Director’s or Producer’s Last Name Initials. Film/Video Title [Medium]. Place of production: Production company; Year.

Example:

1. Nguyen H, Solanki V. Caffeinated: Every Cup of Coffee Has a Story [Amazon Streaming]. United States: Film Buff; 2015.

Podcast/YouTube

When citing a video, provide the author only if you are sure that the person created the video. Do not list the person posting the video online as the author. If you are unsure, treat the citation as having no author.

Structure:

Director’s or Producer’s Last Name Initials. Film/Video Title [Video]. YouTube. URL. Published Month Date, Year. Accessed Month Date, Year.

Example:

1. Alcock P. Electromagnetic levitation quadcopter [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCON4zfMzjU. Published June 29, 2012. Accessed January 17, 2019.

AMA Dissertation and Thesis Citation

Dissertation/thesis

Structure:

Last Name Initials. Title of Work.[Dissertation or master’s thesis]. City of publication, Country/State code: Institution; Year.

If the thesis is available online, add the URL, publication date (if available), and the access date.

Last Name Initials. Title of Work. [Dissertation or master’s thesis]. City of publication, Country/State code: Institution; Year. Published Month Date, Year. Accessed Month Date, Year.

Example:

1. Patel B. A Computational Pipeline to Uncover Genomic Regulatory Regions That Modulate the WNT Signaling Pathway. [Undergraduate thesis]. Stanford, CA: Stanford University; 2016.
2. Patel B. A Computational Pipeline to Uncover Genomic Regulatory Regions That Modulate the WNT Signaling Pathway. [Undergraduate thesis]. Stanford, CA: Stanford University; 2016. https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/jz288sd3151. Accessed January 18, 2019.

AMA Lecture Citation

Online lecture notes/presentation slides

When citing lectures in AMA, put the professor’s name in the author’s position. Never use italics in the title of the lectures.

Structure:

Last Name Initials. Title of lecture [Class lectures]. City of publication, Country/State code: Institution; Year. Published Month Date, Year. Accessed Month Date, Year.

Example:

1. Arnold D. Functional analysis [Class lectures]. Stanford, CA: Stanford University; 2016. http://www-users.math.umn.edu/~arnold/502.s97/functional.pdf. Accessed January 18, 2019.

AMA style allows putting an author’s or a presenter’s name in the author position when citing presentations.

Structure:

Last Name Initials. Title of lecture [Class lectures]. City of publication, Country/State code: Institution; Year. Published Month Date, Year. Accessed Month Date, Year.

Example:

1. Pomije B. Online shopping. Presented at: Class lecture, January 9, 2011; Stanford, CA. http://www.slideshare.net/pobr0702/online-shopping-presentation-10492184. Accessed January 18, 2019

AMA Government Documents Citation

Government publication

Structure:

Organization Name. Publication Title. Publication Number. City of publication, Country/State code: Publisher. Published Month Date, Year.

Example:

1. United States Congress House Committee on Energy and Commerce. DOE for the 21st century: Science, Environment, and National Security Missions. E&C Publication No. 114–119. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Publishing Office. Published November 16, 2017.

AMA Personal Communication Citation

Personal communication and unpublished material are not included in the AMA reference list. However, parenthetical in-text citation is a must.

Examples:

(K. Dawson, personal communication, April, 2010).

In a conversation with Dr. Smith (October 2009)…

As described in recent literature (H. E. Marman, MD, unpublished data, January 2005)…

AMA In-Text Citations

AMA citations style uses superscripts to give credit to the initial author of an idea or information that the student has borrowed. The superscript number should appear to the right of periods, commas, and quotation marks and to the left of colons and semicolons. Give credit to all the sources that were used in a sentence by using unique superscript numbers.

Example:

The engineer announced that the house was built on solid ground¹; however, the observers doubted that.

When using direct quotations, the superscript number is put outside the quotation marks.

Example:

“The role of obesity on the development of allergic rhinitis is not well defined, whereas allergic rhinitis may have an impact on obesity.”¹

If the direct quotation is four lines or longer, it should be indented and put into a distinct section with a reduced type. In this case, no quotation marks are needed.

Example:

The report states:

Allergic diseases, such as asthma and allergic rhinitis, are common chronic inflammatory diseases of the airways. Obesity is an increasingly common pediatric disease and is a risk factor for the development of asthma in that obese patients with asthma tend to have more severe asthma that does not respond well to standard asthma therapy. On the contrary, children with asthma maybe at a high risk of obesity, suggesting that the relationship of asthma and obesity seems to be interrelated.¹

When citing the same source more than once, include the page number in the reference in parentheses.

Example:

The engineer announced that the house was built on solid ground.¹⁽¹⁴⁾

Tables and Figures in AMA

The AMA style does not provide specific guidelines on table formatting, especially because different medical journals that use it have varying standards. The only specific stipulation is that you should use single spacing for everything except for the main text, such as additional objects. To separate it from neighboring passages, you should use double spacing on the edges. As such, you should use formatting that you prefer or follow the example provided in this guide (see figure 1). Generally, you should use numerical references like that of usual in-text citations.

Figure 1. Glass World¹.

You should note that the AMA style generally frowns on overusing tables and figures. They are intended to present complex data and relationships in a more accessible manner, and so you should only use them when doing so is absolutely necessary. Also, do not overcomplicate the presentation of data, as it will be adjusted to reduce any clutter in the editing process regardless. When using a table or figure you have taken from a print source, be sure to identify the paper or book as well as the location of the object clearly. Online sources are easier to cite because you can provide a direct link to the item a lot of the time, though they may not be as credible.

Reference List

1.    Glass World. EnvironmentalScience.org. https://www.environmentalscience.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/NEPA-CEQA-640×425.jpeg. Accessed August 19, 2019.