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AMA Citation Guide: How do I Cite?

This guide covers citation and formatting for AMA style.

Comprehensive AMA Guides

AMA Citation Guides 
This website is organized by source type and provides details about, and examples of, correct AMA citations.

Journal Articles

journal bibguru illustration

To cite an online journal article in a reference entry in AMA style 10th edition include the following elements:

  1. Author(s) of the article: Give the last name, and initials of up to six authors (e.g. Watson J). For more authors only the first three are listed, followed by et al.
  2. Title of the article: Do not italicize article titles. Capitalize the first letter of each major word.
  3. Journal title: Abbreviate all journal titles according to the PubMed listing and italicize.
  4. Year of publication: Give the year of publication.
  5. Volume number: Give the volume number preceded by Vol and end with a period (e.g. Vol 3.).
  6. Issue number: Give issue number in parentheses, if available.
  7. Page numbers: Give the initial page number, a hyphen, and the final page number, followed by a period.
  8. doi: Include the digital object identifier (DOI).

 

EXAMPLE: An online journal article with two authors

Langner M, Imbach R. The University of Freiburg: A Model for a Bilingual University. High Educ in Eur. 2000; 25(4):461–468. doi:10.1080/03797720120037796.

EXAMPLE: An online journal article without DOI, with two authors

Hofman CA, Rick TC. Ancient Biological Invasions and Island Ecosystems: Tracking Translocations of Wild Plants and Animals. J Archaeol Res. 2018; 26(1):65–115. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10814-017-9105-3. Accessed June 24, 2019.

Books

bibguru illustration book

To cite a book in a reference entry in AMA style 10th edition include the following elements:

  1. Author(s) of the book: Give the last name, and initials of up to six authors (e.g. Watson J). For more authors only the first three are listed, followed by et al.
  2. Title of the book: Italicize the title and capitalize the first letter of each major word.
  3. Edition number: Only include information about the edition if it is not the first.
  4. Place of publication: Give the name of the city in which the publishing entity was located at the time of publication.
  5. Publisher: Abbreviate the publisher's name.
  6. Year of publication: Give the year of publication.

 

EXAMPLE: A book with one author

Haley, A. Roots: The Saga of an American Family. New York, NY: Doubleday; 1976.

EXAMPLE: A book with three authors

Sumantran V, Fine C, Gonsalvez D. Faster, Smarter, Greener: The Future of the Car and Urban Mobility. Cambridge: MIT Press; 2017.

Websites

To cite websites in a reference entry in AMA style 10th edition include the following elements:

  1. Author(s) of website: If no author is given, start with the title of the website.
  2. Title of the item found in the website: Give the title as presented in the source.
  3. Title of the website: Give the title as presented in the source.
  4. URL: Give the URL including all its elements (https://www, .com).
  5. Date of publication: Give the month day, and year of publication.
  6. Date of update: Give the month day, and year of publication.
  7. Date of access: Give the month day, and year of retrieval preceded by the word 'accessed' (Accessed June 1, 2004.).

 

EXAMPLE: A website with one author

Brewster K. The Wayback Machine. Internet Archive.https://archive.org/web/. Published 2001. Accessed July 6, 2019.

EXAMPLE: A website without an author

Conversion Calculator. Calculator.net. https://www.calculator.net/conversion-calculator.html. Published 2008. Accessed May 23, 2016.