AMA Citation Style Quick Guide

St. Catherine University Libraries https://libguides.stkate.edu/citationstyles/ama

This handout serves as a quick reference to using the American Medical Association Manual of Style for citing common

information sources. The complete AMA Manual of Style 11th Edition (2020) is available as a print book and e-book: See

our catalog link for details: https://libsearch.stkate.edu/permalink/01CLIC_SCU/1rlsps1/alma991004689439103689

Overall rules for all references

Authors: List their last name and the initials of their first and middle names. Separate author names with commas. Do

not use periods between initials. If there are one to six authors, list all authors. If there are seven or more authors, list

the first three and then abbreviate with et al.

1-6 authors: Smith IS, Hanson JP, Adams WE, Tomas TR, Williams AD, Chen, W.

7 or more authors: Wormser GP, Ramanathan R, Nowakowski J, et al.

Editors: follow the same rules as authors for formatting and determining how many editors to list. After the list of

editor names, include “ed.” (if one editor) or “eds.” (for two or more).

No author or editor: begin the citation with the title of the item.

Journal titles: Use the journal abbreviation of the National Library of Medicine (NLM). Search the NLM Catalog

(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/journals) to find abbreviations.

DOI format: the DOI should be in plain text (not formatted as a link)

Accessed date and URL: may be used only if a DOI cannot be located. Use the most direct URL possible.

Journal Articles

General format:

Author AA, Author BB, Author CC. Title of article. Abbreviated Title of Journal. Year of publication;volume(issue):inclusive

page numbers or e-locator. DOI (if not provided, may use an accessed date and a URL)

Print Journal Article

Wormser GP, Ramanathan R, Nowakowski J, et al. Duration of antibiotic therapy for early Lyme disease. Ann

Intern Med. 2003;138:697-705.

Electronic/Online Journal Article with DOI

Marreiros HF, Loff C, Calado E. Osteoporosis in paediatric patients with spina bifida. J Spinal Cord Med.

2012;35(1):9-21. doi: 10.1179/2045772311Y.0000000042

Electronic/Online Journal Article without DOI

Sunderam S, Kissin DM, Crawford SB, et al. Assisted reproductive technology surveillance—United States, 2012.

MMWR Surveill Summ. 2015;64(suppl 6):1-29. Accessed Feb 1, 2022.

https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/36175/cdc_36175_DS1.pdf

Books and E-books

General format:

Author AA, Author BB, Author CC. Title of book. Edition number (if beyond first). Publisher name; year of publication. To

indicate online access, add an accessed date and a URL.

Chapter in a Book or E-book

General format:

Author(s). Chapter title. In: Editor(s). Book Title. Edition number (if applicable). Publisher name; copyright year:inclusive

pages. To indicate online access, add the accessed date and URL.

Print Book (entire)

Goldberg L, Elliot DL. Exercise for Prevention and Treatment of Illness. FA Davis; 1994.

Chapter in an edited Print Book

Gamble VN. On becoming a physician: a dream not deferred. In: White EC, ed. The Black Women's Health Book:

Speaking for Ourselves. Seal Press; 1990:52-64.

Prince M, Glozier N, Sousa R, Dewey M. Measuring disability across physical, mental, and cognitive disorders. In:

Regier DA, Narrow WE, Kuhl EA, Kupfer DJ, eds. The Conceptual Evolution of DSM-5. American Psychiatric

Publishing Inc; 2011:189-227

Online/E-Book (entire)

Guyatt G, Rennie D, Meade MO, Cook DJ. Users’ Guides to the Medical Literature: A Manual for Evidence-

Based Clinical Practice. 3rd ed. McGraw-Hill Education; 2015. Accessed February 2, 2022.

https://jamaevidence.mhmedical.com/book.aspx?bookID=847

Chapter in an Online/E-Book

*Include page numbers or chapter number if available

Sudarsky L. Gait and balance disorders. In: Kasper DL, Fauci AS, Longo DL, Hauser SL, Jameson JL, Loscalzo J, eds.

Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine. 19th ed. McGraw-Hill; 2015:chap 32. Accessed February 10, 2016.

http://www.harrisonsim.com/index.php

Website

General Format:

Author(s). Title of the specific item cited (if none is given, use the name of the organization responsible for the site).

Name of the website. Published date. Updated date. Accessed date. URL

-Authors’ surnames and initials, if given (the names of all authors using the same author format as for articles

and books) or name of the group

-Title of the specific item cited (if none is given, use the name of the organization responsible for the site.)

Website with Author

Charlton G. Internal linking for SEO: examples and best practices. SearchEngineWatch. Accessed February 1,

2022. https://searchenginewatch.com/sew/how-to/2428041/internal-linking-for-seo-examples-and-best-

practices

Website without Author

Warfarin. Drug Information Online: Drugs.com. September 1, 2012. Updated January 23, 2020. Accessed

April 15, 2020. http://www.drugs.com/cons/warfarin.html

Government/Organization Reports

Government and organization reports are generally treated like electronic journal or book references, depending on

the type of report.

-Give the published date, updated date if provided. Give the accessed date and URL.

Government/Organization Report

Selik RM, Mokotoff ED, Branson B, Owen SM, Whitmore S, Hall HI. Revised Surveillance Case Definition for HIV

Infection- United States, 2014. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2014;1-11: Morbidity and Mortality

Weekly Report. Accessed January 5, 2019. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/rr/rr6303.pdf

United States Government Accountability Office. Covid-19: Federal Efforts Could be Strengthened by Timely and

Concerted Actions. Government Publication Office; 2020. Accessed January 5, 2021.

https://www.gao.gov/assets/710/709934.pdf

In-Text Citations and Reference List

In-Text Citations

Citations are to be included for any information quoted or paraphrased from a source.

All citations should be marked in consecutive numerical order by means of superscript Arabic numerals.

Place the number directly after the fact, idea, or quotation that is being cited.

When citing the same source more than once, give the number of the original reference.

Use superscript numerals outside periods and commas, inside colons and semicolons.

Use commas to separate multiple citation numbers in text, but use a hyphen if you are citing consecutive citation

numbers.

• As reported previously,

1,3-8,19

• The derived data were as follows

3-5

When referring to authors in the text, use last names only. If the reference has more than 2 authors, use the first

author’s surname followed by “et al”

• Smith

reported…

• Smith and Johnson

reported…

• Smith et al

reported…

Unpublished works and personal communications should be included the text in parentheses, but not in the reference

list.

• These findings have recently been corroborated (H. E. Marman, MD, unpublished data, January 2005).

• In a conversation with H. E. Marman, MD (August 2005).

Reference List

Once all in-text citations have been added to the paper and are properly numbered, all corresponding references should

be placed on a separate page at the end of the document.

• References heading is bold and left aligned at the top of the page.

• References are left aligned and numbered consecutively in the order they are first cited in the body of the

paper. Each reference number is followed by a period and a space.

References

1. Santangelo T, Graham S. A Comprehensive Meta-analysis of Handwriting Instruction. Educ Psychol Rev.

2016;28(2):225-265. doi:10.1007/s10648-015-9335-1

2. Selik RM, Mokotoff ED, Branson B, Owen SM, Whitmore S, Hall HI. Revised surveillance case definition for HIV

infection—United States, 2014. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report: Recommendations and Reports. 2014;63(3):1-

10.