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AMA Citation Style: Home

This guide provides a brief overview of using the AMA format and using ZoteroBib to generate a bibliography.

AMA Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors

Using the AMA Citation Style

General Rules for AMA Citation Style

  • Items are listed numerically in the Reference List in the order they are cited in the text.
  • Include up to 6 authors in a reference.
    • If there are more than 6 authors, list the first 3 authors, followed by et al.

In Text Citations 
(See p. 64 3.6 in AMA Manual of Style 11th ed)
In text citations are formatted very differently as compared to the APA style; numbers are used within the text instead of author, year.

  • Cited works within the manuscript are numbered in order of appearance; they appear in the Reference List in numerical order.
  • Use arabic superscript numerals outside periods and commas, and inside colons and semi-colons. For example:
    • As reported previously, 1, 3-5
    • The results were as follows 6 :

Journal Title Abbreviations
(See p. 71-72 3.11.2 in AMA Manual of Style 11th ed)

For reference lists, abbreviate the journal name according to the listing in the National Library of Medicine (NLM) Catalog. Enter the title of the journal in the search box.

For example, the official NLM Title Abbreviation for the  Journal of Diagnostic Medical Sonography: JDMS is J Diagn Med Sonogr

AMA Citation Examples

Book

(See p. 82 3.12.2 in AMA Manual of Style 11th ed)
Author A, Author B, Author C. Title of Work. Edition number (do not indicate first edition). Publisher; date.

Examples

  • Reference to a book, two or more authors
    Doubilet PM, Benson CB, Benacerraf BR. Atlas of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology: A Multimedia Reference. 3rd ed. Wolters Kluwer; 2019.
  • Reference to a book, two editors
    Curry RA, Tempkin BB, eds. Sonography: Introduction to Normal Structure and Function. 4th ed. Elsevier; 2016.

Book chapter

(See p. 83 3.12.4 in AMA Manual of Style 11th ed)
Capitalize chapter title as for a journal article title and include page number range for chapter.

Example

Woletz, P. The use of ultrasound in the first trimester. In: Stephenson, SR, Dmitrieva, J, eds. Diagnostic Medical Sonography: Obstetrics and Gynecology.  4th ed. Wolters Kluwers Health; 2018:333-351.

Web site

(See p. 98 3.15.3 in AMA Manual of Style 11th ed)

Example

Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography. What is sonography. Accessed September 10, 2021. https://www.sdms.org/

Official organization report published on a webpage

(See p. 99-100 3.15.5 in AMA Manual of Style 11th ed)

Example

Murphey, S. Work related musculoskeletal disorders in sonography. https://www.sdms.org/docs/default-source/Resources/work-related-musculoskeletal-disorders-in-sonography-white-paper.pdf?status=Temp&sfvrsn=0.6360950879497884. Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography. White Paper Series. Published 2018. Accessed January 14, 2019.

Online journal article with more than six authors; article has a DOI

(See p. 73-74 3.11.4 in AMA Manual of Style 11th ed)

Example

Sommerich, CM, Evans, KD, Lavender, SA, et al. Collaborating with sonographers and vascular technologists to develop ergonomics interventions to address work-related musculoskeletal disorders. J Diagn Med Sonogr. 2018;35(1):23–37. doi:10.1177/8756479318810710

Online journal article with 2 authors; article has a DOI

Example

Whitson MR, Mayo PH. Ultrasonography in the emergency department. Crit Care. 2016;20(1):227. doi:10.1186/s13054-016-1399-x