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Citation Guides: AMA Citations

Find how to cite sources and properly format your paper in ALA, MLA, Chicago, CSE, ASA, and Bluebook styles.

Guide Attributions

This guide is based on the guide AMA Citation Style and AMA Citation Handout 10th Edition created by Sheila Green at Texas A&M Libraries, and used with permission.

More AMA Help

Click the logo below to visit the Purdue Online Writing Lab's guide to AMA Style. Find more detailed information about paper formatting and citing different types of sources. 

Purdue Online Writing Lab: ASA Style

Plagiarism Resources

Organize Your Research

Citation Basics

The purpose of following a specific style for your citations is to help the reader identify and find your outside sources easily. The citation points your reader to information about the source, and the formatting provides a standard way to quickly communicate that information to the reader.

AMA (American Medical Association) style is recommended for students and researchers writing in the fields of medical research and health sciences.

For each outside source included in a paper, there should be a numeral citation in the paper, which corresponds to a complete citation in the list of references at the end of the paper.

In-Text Citations

Guidelines

  • Sources are cited in the text in numerical order using superscript numerals (1, 2, 3…).
  • Superscript numerals are placed after commas, periods, and quotation marks, but before semicolons and colons.
  • Put a comma (no space in front) between the numbers for multiple citations. Use a hyphen between a consecutive series of citations.
  • Sources are placed in the reference list in the numerical order that they are cited in the text.

Example 1: A review of regulations has been complete by the WHO. 15

Example 2: The data were as follows 3,4:  (Note: two sources are cited and placed before the colon.)

Example 3: As previously reported, 11‐14,25 (Note: multiple sources cited, use hyphen when consecutive numbers are cited.)

Superscript

Add a superscript in a Word document by using the superscript button.

  1. Add the number for your citation and select the number.
  2. From the home tab, click on the superscript icon:  X2

superscript icon shown near bold, italic and other formatting in Word

References

The list of references is a list of all of the resources you used in your research paper or assignment, listed numerically in the order they were cited in the text.

  • Number the references in the order that they were cited in the text.
  • Single-space within the citation and double-space between citations.
  • There are no hanging indents as seen in other citation styles.
  • Include the last name and the first and middle initial of the authors without punctuation. If the author's middle initial isn't available, leave it out.
  • Use a comma to separate more than one author in a resource (e.g., Wheeler T, Watkins PJ).
  • If there are between 1 and 6 authors, list all authors separated by commas.
  • If there are more than 6 authors, list the first 3 followed by et al.

Cite the author(s, title, place of publication, publisher, year.

Book

1. Sacks O. Uncle Tungsten. New York, NY: Alfred A Knopf; 2001.

Book with an Editor

2. Galanter M, ed. Services Research in the Era of Managed Care. New York, NY: Kluwer Academic/Plenum; 2001.

Book by an Organization

3. World Health Organization. Injury: A Leading Cause of the Global Burden of Disease, 2000. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization; 2002

Book chapter

4. Sacks O. Face-blind. In: Roach M, Folger T, eds. The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2011. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 2011: 291-305.

Cite the author (if given), title of item cited (if none given, use the organization name), name of the Web site, URL, published date (if given), updated date (if given) and accessed date.

Websites

1. Truth and reconciliation: examining human rights violations in South Africa’s health sector. American Association for the Advancement of Science Web site. http://shr.aaas.org/trc‐med/presub.htm. Published 1997. Accessed April 30, 2004.

Online Newspapers  (For a print newspaper article, follow same as below, but omit the URL.)

2. Weiss R. The promise of precision prescriptions. Washington Post. June 24, 2000:A1. http://www.washingtonpost.com. Accessed October 10, 2001.

Online Government/Organization Reports

3. Dafney L, Gruber J. Does public insurance improve the efficiency of medical care? Medicaid expansions and child hospitalizations. http://www.nber.org/papers/w755. Published February 2000. Accessed February 26, 2004.

Journal citations follow this format:

Author(s), article title, journal abbreviation, year, volume, issue, page numbers. For online journals, add the URL and the date accessed.

Use AMA journal abbreviations instead of spelling out the journal name.

To find a journal abbreviation, go to https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog?db=journals.

  1. Use the search box at top of page next to NLM catalog to type in the journal name and then click search.
  2. You will find NLM Title Abbreviation listed under the journal name. The abbreviation is what you will use instead of spelling out the name.

For example, for the Journal of pediatric hematology/oncology nursing, the NLM Title Abbreviation is J Pediatr Hematol Oncol Nurs

Journal article, print

1. Rainier S, Thomas D, Tokarz D, et al. Myofibrillogenesis regulator 1 gene mutations cause paroxysmal dystonic choreoathetosis. Arch Neurol. 2004;61(7):1025‐1029.

Journal article, online

2. Duchin JS. Can preparedness for biological terrorism save us from pertussis? Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2004;158(2):106‐107. http://archpedi.ama‐assn.org/cgi/content/full/158/2/106. Accessed June 1, 2004.

Journal article, 6+ authors

3. Teixeira RBC, Rendahl AK, Anderson SM, et al. Coat color genotypes and risk and severity of melanoma in gray quarter horses. J Vet Intern Med. 2013;27(5):1201-1208.

Format Your Paper

All text should be Times New Roman 12-point font and single-spaced.

Margins should be 1 inch on all sides, with 1/2 inch indents.

Page numbers should be in the upper right of the page.

First page should include student name and paper title; there should be no separate title page.

There should be a separate reference page at the end of the paper.

Start your references on a new page and title it References.

List all of the works you have cited in the paper.

Number the references in the order that they were cited in your paper.

Single space each reference. Double space between references.

 

 

 Sample reference page with 4 references in numerical order