AMA Style Citations
Purdue Online Writing Lab: AMA Style Guide
Purdue University's Online Writing Lab (OWL) provides writing resources and instructional materials for writing projects. The AMA Style Guide includes an introduction to the style, citation formatting for various sources, formatting for in-text citations and reference lists, and more.
The AMA citation style was developed by the American Medical Association for the purpose of writing medical research. Athletic Training majors use this citation style.
Always check with your professor to determine which citation style you should use before beginning your paper or project.
Before you start creating your citations, you will need to identify:
Rules for the Reference List
Within the text of a publication, individual references are presented in an abbreviated format that refers back to the list. These abbreviated references within the text are called in-text references.
General guidelines for in-text citations:
Example | Additional Notes | |
Sentence with Multiple Citations |
Chocolate has many potential health benefits such as improved blood flow,1 mood,2 and brain function.3 |
|
Sentence Citing Two Sources Together |
Two studies3,4 have shown that chocolate can lead to improved brain function. |
When citing 2 references at a given place in the manuscript, use a comma without a space to cite both references. |
Sentence Citing Three or More Sources Together |
Multiple studies5-7 have shown that chocolate can lead to optimism. |
When citing >3 references at a given place in the manuscript, use hyphens to join the first and last numbers of a closed series. |
Sentence Citing Reference with One Author |
According to Brennan,1 chocolate significantly improves blood flow. |
When citing a reference that only has one author, then list one author's name. |
Sentence Citing Reference with Two Authors |
According to Barbato and Guisto,2 chocolate significantly improves mood. |
When citing a reference that has two authors, then list both authors' names. |
Sentence Citing Reference with Three or More Authors |
According to Dupra et al,3 chocolate significantly improves brain function. |
When citing a reference that has three or more authors, then list the first author’s surname and et al. |
Source: "American Medical Association (AMA) Citation Style" from the Medical University of South Carolina
Author Information
One Author | Doe JF |
Two Authors | Doe JF, Roe JP III |
Six Authors | Joe JF, Roe JP III, Coe RT Jr, Loe JT Sr, Poe EA, van Voe AE |
Seven or More Authors | Joe JF, Roe JP III, Coe RT Jr, et al. |
One Author for a Group One Author and a Group |
Doe JF; Laser ROP Study Group |
More than Six Authors for a Group |
Joe JF, Roe JP III, Coe RT Jr, et al.; Laser ROP Study Group |
Group | Laser ROP Study Group |
Title and Subtitle Information
In titles of articles, books, parts of books, and other material, retain the spelling, abbreviations, and style for numbers used in the original.
Do not enclose article and book chapter titles in quotation marks. However, if a book, book chapter, or article title contains quotation marks in the original, retain them as double quotation marks (unless both double and single quotation marks are used).
In English-language titles:
Subtitles
Style for subtitles follows that for titles for spelling, abbreviations, numbers, capitalization, and use of italics, except that for journal articles the subtitle begins with a lowercase letter.
Non English Titles
Non-English titles may be given as they originally appeared, without translation.
If non–English-language titles are translated into English, indication of the original language should follow the title.
Example: Shimura M. Looking to the future: treatment for retinal vascular disease. Article in Japanese. Nippon Ganka Gakkai Zasshi. 2014;118(11):905-906.
If the non–English-language title and the translation are provided, both may be given. In the example below, the article was published in 3 languages, and all translations are provided.
Example: Becerra-Posada F, Hennis A, Lutter C. Prevention of childhood obesity through trilateral cooperation. Prevención de la obesidad infantil a través de una cooperación trilateral. Prévention de l’obésité infantile grâce à la coopération trilatérale. Rev Panam Salud Publica. 2016;40(2):76-77.
Basic Form, Author
Author AA. Title of Book. Edition number (only include if beyond first). Publisher name; year of publication.
Basic Form, Author
Editor AA, ed. Title of Book. Edition number (only include if beyond first). Publisher name; year of publication.
One Author
Dorland WAN. Dorland’s illustrated medical dictionary. 31st ed. Saunders Elsevier; 2007.
More than 6 Editors, Edition Included
Alldredge BK, Corelli RL, Ernst ME, et al., eds. Koda-Kimble and young’s applied therapeutics: the clinical use of drugs. 10th ed. Lippincott Williams and Wilkins; 2013.
Basic Form, Single Chapter in Edited Book
Author(s) of chapter. Title of Chapter. Editor(s) of chapter, eds. Title of Book. Edition number (only include if beyond first). Publisher name; year of publication.
Chapter has Two Authors, Book has Three Editors
Relling MV, Giacomini KM. Pharmacogenomics. In: Brunton LL, Chabner BA, Knollmann BC, eds. Goodman and gilman’s the pharmacological basis of therapeutics. 12th ed. McGraw-Hill; 2011: 145-168.
Basic Form for Print Journal Article
Author AA. Title of article. Abbreviated Title of Journal. Year of publication;volume(issue):complete page numbers.
Basic Form for Online Journal Article
Author AA. Title of article. Abbreviated Title of Journal. Year of publication;volume(issue):page numbers/article number. DOI.
Journal Article with 3 Authors
Huang W, Lee SL, Lu LX. Mechanistic approaches to predicting oral drug absorption. AAPS J. 2009;11(2):217-224. doi: 10.1208/s12248-009-9098-z
Journal Article with 10 Authors, No DOI
Harrison JJ, Wang J, Cervenko J, et al. Pilot study of a pharmaceutical care intervention in an outpatient lung transplant clinic. Clin Transplant. 2012;26(2):E149-157.
Basic Form
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.
Website with No Named Author, No Publication or Update Dates
Compound summary for CID 146571: Escitalopram Oxalate. PubChem Compound Database. Accessed April 16, 2016. https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/146571
Website with No Group Author, Publication Date Included
American Heart Association. Is vaping better than smoking? American Heart Association website. Updated October 18, 2018. Accessed April 15, 2020. https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-lifestyle/quitsmoking-tobacco/is-vaping-safer-than-smoking
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