AMA Citation Style Guide: 11th Edition

The AMA Style Manual

The 11th edition of the AMA Style Manual is available as an eBook through WVU Libraries. For the most comprehensive instructions for the AMA citation style, check out the eBook using the link below. 

While the AMA Style Manual will be the most comprehensive resource for you, I have summarized the information below. 

AMA Style Quick Tips: 

• Use the author's surname followed by initials without periods or spaces. In listed references, 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.” Do not use "and" between names. 
• Abbreviate and italicize names of journals. Use initial capital letters. Abbreviate according to the listing in the PubMed Journals database. All journal titles in PubMed are already listed as they should be abbreviated. 
• In article titles, capitalize only the first letter of the first word, proper names, and abbreviations that are ordinarily capitalized. 
• If you are using a bibliographic manager such as Endnote Basic, the formatting style may also be listed as JAMA.

Journal Articles
When the DOI is provided, it is preferable to cite it rather than the URL. Note: The DOI is provided immediately after “doi:” with no spaces. No accessed date is required for the DOI, making it the last item in the reference.

Abbreviate and italicize names of journals. Use initial capital letters. Abbreviate according to the listing in the PubMed Journals database. All journal titles in PubMed are already listed as they should be abbreviated. 

Basic Format for articles accessed online:

Author(s). Title. Journal Name. Year;vol(issue No.):inclusive pages. DOI

Author(s). Title. Journal Name. Year;vol(issue No.):inclusive pages. Accessed [date]. URL.

Basic Format for articles in print:

Author(s). Title. Journal Name. Year;vol(issue No.):inclusive pages.

Examples:

Frank S, Jankovic J. Advances in the pharmacological management of Huntington's disease. Drugs. 2010;70(5):561-571. doi:10.2165/11534430-000000000-00000.  

Wheelis M. Investigating disease outbreaks under a protocol to the biological and toxin weapons convention. Emerg Infect Dis. 2000;6(6):595-600. Accessed October 26, 2010. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol6no6/wheelis.htm.

See Section 3.11 of the AMA Style Manual for more information on references to journal articles.

Print Book

Author(s). Book Title. Edition number (if it is the second edition or above). Publisher's name; copyright year.

Example:

Anderson KM. Enhancing Resilience in Survivors of Family Violence. Springer; 2010.

E-book

Author(s). Book Title. Edition number (if it is the second edition or above). Publisher's name; copyright year. Accessed [date]. URL.

Example:

Modell AH. Imagination and the Meaningful Brain. MIT Press; 2003. Accessed October 31, 2010. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/uic/docDetail.action?docID=10173553.

Part of a Book:

Author(s). Chapter title. In: Editor(s). Book Title. Edition number (if it is the second edition or above). Publisher's name; copyright year:inclusive pages.

Example:

Sisk JE. Cardiac catheterization. In: Krapp K, ed. The Gale Encyclopedia of Nursing & Allied Health. Gale Group; 2002:407-412. 

See Section 3.12 of the AMA Style Manual for more information on references to books.

Web Site:

Author(s) (or, if no author is available, the name of the organization responsible for the site). Title (or, if no title is available, the name of the organization responsible for the site). Name of the Web site. [Date published]. Updated [date]. Accessed [date]. URL.

Example:

U.S. National Library of Medicine. Back Pain. MedlinePlus. Accessed October 31, 2010. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/backpain.html.

See Section 3.15 of the AMA Style Manual for more information on electronic references.

• In the Reference List, references are listed numerically in the order they are cited in the text. Two references should not be combined under a single reference number.
• Use Arabic superscript numerals outside periods and commas, 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 spaces to separate other parts of a multiple citation. 

Example:

Finding treatments for breast cancer is a major goal for scientists.1,2 Some classes of drugs show more promise than others. Gradishar evaluated taxanes as a class.3 Other scientists have investigated individual drugs within this class, including Andre and Zielinski 2 and Joensuu and Gligorov. 4 Mita et al's investigation of cabazitaxel 5 seems to indicate a new role for this class of drugs.

Reference list:

1. Cancer Research Funding. National Cancer Institute.Updated June 6, 2011. Accessed November 3, 2012. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/NCI/research-funding

2. Andre F, Zielinski CC. Optimal strategies for the treatment of metastatic triple-negative breast cancer with currently approved agents. Ann Oncol. 2012;23(Suppl 2):vi46-vi51. doi:10.1093/annonc/mds195

3. Gradishar WJ. Taxanes for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer. Breast Cancer (Auckl.). 2012;6:159-171. doi:10.4137/BCBCR.S8205

4. Joensuu H, Gligorov J. Adjuvant treatments for triple-negative breast cancers. Ann Oncol. 2012;Suppl 6:vi40-45. doi:10.1093/annonc/mds194

5. Mita AC, Figlin R, Mita MM. Cabazitaxel: more than a new taxane for metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer? Clin Cancer Res. 2012;18(24):OF1-OF6. doi:10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-12-1584

Adapted from USC Norris Medical Library AMA:Citing Your Sources