AMA citation generator
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The ultimate guide to citing in AMA
AMA is a popular citation style. AMA stands for American Medical Association. The AMA Manual of Style is the official style guide defining the citation rules of AMA. It was first published in 1962 and specifies the writing and citation rules for use in the journals published by the American Medical Association. The AMA Manual of Style is written by the editors of JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) and the JAMA Network journals, and is most recently published by Oxford University Press in its 11th edition.
The AMA style is widely used, not just by authors and editors in medicine and related health fields, but also by hundreds of other scientific journals, in many textbooks, and in academia. Together with APA and CSE style, it is one of the most common citation styles.
If you are not sure which citation style to use in your paper, ask your instructor. There are many different citation styles and using the style your instructor or institution has established correctly can have a positive impact on your grade.
The AMA Manual of Style has more than 1000 pages and is very complex. We have created the BibGuru AMA citation generator to help you focus on the content of your work instead of worrying about how to get your reference list done correctly. We believe that students should not waste their time entering data manually or lose points on incorrect bibliographies.
The AMA Manual of Style (11th edition) is the basis of this guide. Our AMA citation guides can help you with more specific citation examples for many different source types.
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Why do I have to cite?
According to the AMA Manual of Style, references serve three primary purposes: documentation, acknowledgment, and directing the reader to additional resources.
- Acknowledgment: The broad scientific knowledge we have today is the accomplishment of many researchers over time. To put your own contribution in context, it is important to cite the work of the researchers who influenced you. They might provide key background information, support or dispute your thesis, or offer important definitions and data.
- Documentation: In addition to crediting the ideas of others that you used to build your own argument, you need to provide documentation for all facts and figures that were created by others and are not common knowledge. Common knowledge is knowledge that is known by everyone, or nearly everyone, and can basically concern any subject.
- Directing the reader to additional sources: By referencing works in your paper, you can direct readers to more detailed, or additional, sources about a specific topic.
How do I cite in AMA?
The AMA style uses superscript arabic numerals for in-text citations, e.g. 1. References are numbered in consecutive order. The superscript number is inserted into the document immediately after the part being cited. If more than one reference is cited at the same point, separate the numbers with commas, but without spaces in between. Insert the superscript number:
EXAMPLEImmediately next to the fact, idea, or quotation being cited
The study included 20 patients.1
EXAMPLEOutside periods and commas
While this was observed on multiple occasions,2,3,4 it cannot be said with certainty that it is true.
EXAMPLEInside colons and semi-colons
Study A pointed to no correlation5; study B reframed the whole concept.6
When you cite more than 2 references at a given place in your paper, use hyphens to join the first and last numbers of a closed series and use commas without spaces to separate other parts of a multi-part citation:
EXAMPLEMultiple references at a given place
As indicated previously,1,5-8,20,23
Reference list
Include a reference list (named “References”) with full citations at the end of your document. Your reference list must be in numerical order to reflect the order of your in-text citations. The general citation order in AMA for your reference list is:
- Author's last name,
- Author's first & middle initials.
- Title in sentence case. Journal Title in Title Case.
- Year; volume(Issue#): PP-PP.
An example of an AMA reference page made with BibGuru's AMA citation generator:
The AMA Manual of Style provides examples for a multitude of reference types, including government or agency reports, patents, all kinds of electronic references, and multimedia. BibGuru’s free AMA citation generator helps you create the fastest and most accurate AMA citations possible for all kinds of source types. Try it out here and get your citation with just a few clicks.
Additional formatting rules for specific elements in text and in the Reference list
Authors
When formatting the author element in the Reference list, the AMA Manual of Style provides the following guidelines:
- 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.”
- do not use and between names
Examples
| Number of Authors | Citation |
|---|---|
| 1 Author | Huber HC. |
| 2 Authors | Huber HC, Ryan G. |
| 6 Authors | Huber HC, Ryan G, Myer JL Jr, Jordan RT, James GT Sr, Kyle M. |
| >6 Authors | Huber HC, Ryan G, Myer JL Jr, et al. |
| Group | Michigan Center Study Group. |
When mentioned in the text, only surnames of authors are used. When referencing 2 authors, list both surnames. When referencing more than 2 authors, only list the first author’s surname followed by “et al,” “and coauthors”, or “and colleagues”.
EXAMPLEIn-text citation with one author
Huber5 reported on the survey.
EXAMPLEIn-text citation with more than 2 authors
Huber et al6 reported on the survey.
Titles
Titles of articles, books, and other material should always retain the spelling, abbreviations, and style for numbers used in the original. In journal articles and parts of books, capitalize only:
- the first letter of the first word
- proper names
- names of clinical trials or study groups
- abbreviations that are ordinarily capitalized (e.g. DNA)
When citing books, government bulletins, documents, and pamphlets, italicize their titles and capitalize the first letter of each major word.
Non-English language titles may be cited as they originally appeared, without translation.
EXAMPLEExample (German original language citation)
1. Hille-Rehfeld A. Körpereigenes Virostatikum mit archaischen Wurzeln: Molekularbiologie. Chem Unserer Zeit. 2021;55(4):222-223. doi:10.1002/ciuz.202110014
Citation format
Make sure to always include the last name and first and middle initial of the authors without punctuation. Use a comma to separate more than one author in a single bibliographic group (e.g. Silvera A, Albertalli B). Each reference is divided with periods into bibliographic groups. Each bibliographic group contains bibliographic elements, which may be separated using the following punctuation marks:
- Comma: if the items are closely related or sub-elements of a bibliographic element (e.g. authors' names)
- Semicolon: if the elements in the bibliographic group are different (e.g. between publisher's name and copyright year), before volume identification data, if there are multiple occurrences of logically related elements within a group
- Colon: after a connective phrase, before the publisher's name, between title and subtitle
While all the specific rules of the AMA citation style might sound very complicated, you don't need to worry about getting them wrong with BibGuru. Use our AMA citation generator above to create the fastest and most accurate AMA citations possible. If you want to know more about AMA citations check out our AMA citation guides to get detailed information on the various publication types.
Helpful Resources
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FAQs
🤹🏾♀️ Does AMA style require abbreviations for journal titles?
Yes, AMA style requires the use of the standard National Library of Medicine [NLM] abbreviations for all journal titles. All abbreviations for medical journals can be found in the NLM Catalog.
🏄🏼♂️ What version of AMA style should be used in 2022?
The 11th edition of the AMA Manual of style was released on March 2020. Therefore, this version is the most recent and updated version of AMA that can be used in 2022.
🍕 Where do I find AMA style reference examples?
In our AMA citation style guide you can find reference examples of books, journal articles to patents and websites.
🎳 Is AMA style easy to use for a paper?
Honestly, the references section of the AMA Manual of Style is very complex. However, AMA style is easy to adopt with the help of BibGuru. Our simple and intuitive interface allows you to create references fast, without having to worry about making mistakes.
⛵️ Who created the official guidelines of AMA style?
The JAMA network of editors are the creators of the official guidelines of AMA style. The About the Authors section of their website lists all names and descriptions of the manual's authors.