AMA 11 reference style
Tip!
See https://www.amamanualofstyle.com/ to obtain information about AMA style. The full guidelines are
published in the Eleventh Edition of the Publication Manual of the American Medical Association and
anyone working on AMA-style journals is strongly encouraged to refer to this manual in the first instance.
Text citations
Each reference should be cited in the text, figures, tables, or boxes in consecutive numerical order
by means of superscript Arabic numerals. A reference can be cited only in a figure, table, or box
and not in the text if it is in sequence with references cited in the text. For example, if Table 2
contains reference 13, which does not appear in the text, this is acceptable as long as the last
reference cited (for the first time) before the first text citation of Table 2 is reference 12. Authors
may wish to reorder references to avoid long citation strings. For example, try to present
references in digit spans to encompass a large number of citations.
Note the following for the style of text citations:
1. Use Arabic superscript numbers outside periods and commas, but inside colons and
semicolons. When more than 2 references are cited at a given place in the manuscript, use
hyphens to join the first and last numbers of a closed series; use commas without space to
separate other parts of a multiple citation.
As reported previously,1,3-8,19
The derived data were as follows3,4:
2. If a specific page number is cited, the page number is included in the superscript citation.
These patients showed no sign of protective sphincteric addiction.3(p21),9
3. In tables, if a cell involves citation of a reference number and a footnote symbol, give the
reference number first, followed by a comma and the footnote symbol.
Patient characteristics3,a
4. Avoid placing a superscript reference citation immediately after a number or an
abbreviated unit of measure to avoid confusion.
The 2 largest studies to date included 262 and 183 patients.
✓The 2 largest studies to date included 26 patients2 and 18 patients,3 respectively.
✓✓The 2 largest studies2,3 to date included 26 and 18 patients, respectively.
Reference list
General
1. Use the author’s surname, followed by initials without periods. The names of all authors
should be given unless there are more than 6, in which case the names of the first 3
authors are used followed by “et al.”
2. A DOI is preferable to a URL in reference citations, but if a DOI is not available for an online
journal article, a URL and accessed date may be used; do not include a URL and accessed
date for articles for which a DOI is available.
3. A URL should be the last element of a reference.
4. Check journal for examples.
Reference styles
Journal article, published in an issue
Author AA, Author BB, Author CC, et al. Article title: subtitle. Abbreviated Journal Title.
Year;Volume(Issue):Page range. doi:10.1001/123456789
Obama B. United States health care reform: progress to date and next steps. JAMA.
2016;316(5):525-532. doi:10.1001/jama.2016.9797
Journal article, published online ahead of print
Author AA, Author BB, Author CC, et al. Article title: subtitle. Abbreviated Journal Title. Published
online Month Day, Year. doi:10.1001/123456789
Obama B. United States health care reform: progress to date and next steps. JAMA. Published
online January 3, 2016. doi:10.1001/jama.2016.9797
Book
Author AA, Author BB, Author CC. Book Title. Edition or Volume. Publisher; Year.
Patterson JW. Weedon’s Skin Pathology. 4th ed. Churchill Livingstone; 2016.
Chapter in a book
Author AA, Author BB, Author CC. Chapter title. In: Editor AA, Editor BB, Editor CC, eds. Book Title.
Edition. Publisher; Year:Page range.
Boushey CJ. Application of research paradigms to nutrition practice. In: Coulston AM, Boushey CJ,
Ferruzzi MG, eds. Nutrition in the Prevention and Treatment of Disease. 3rd ed. Academic Press;
2013:99-105.
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Website
Author AA, Author BB, Author CC. Title of specific item cited or name of the organisation
responsible for the site. Site Name. Accessed Month Day, Year. URL
International Society for Infectious Diseases. ProMED-mail. Accessed February 10, 2016.
http://www.promedmail.org
Charlton G. Internal linking for SEO: examples and best practices. SearchEngineWatch. Accessed
February 10, 2016. https://www.searchenginewatch.com/sew/how-to/2428041/internal-linking-
for-seo-examples-and-best-practices
Conference proceedings online
Author AA, Author BB, Author CC. Paper title. Paper presented at: Meeting Name; Meeting dates;
Meeting location. Accessed Month Day, Year. URL
Morales M, Zhou X. Health practices of immigrant women: indigenous knowledge in an urban
environment. Paper presented at: 78th Association for Information Science and Technology Annual
Meeting; November 6-10, 2015; St Louis, MO. Accessed March 15, 2016.
https://www.asist.org/files/meetings/am15/proceedings/openpage15.html
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