Skip to Main Content
UVM Libraries Research Guides banner

AMA Citation

Journal Article Quick Guides

Online Article

 

AMA print article

 

Print Article

AMA online article

 

Author

Type the name of the author in inverted (last name first) format without periods. Do not use "and" between names; use a comma to separate more than one name, and place a period at the end.

  • Doe, JF.
  • Doe JF, Roe JP.

If the article has one to six authors, list all of the authors in the order that they appear in the article.

  • Doe JF, Roe JP III, Coe RT Jr, Loe JT Sr, Poe EA, van Voe AE.

If the article has six or more authors, list the first three and then add "et al." at the end.

  • Doe JF, Roe JP III, Coe RT Jr, et al.

 

SEE ALSO: Section 3.7 of the AMA Manual of Style for more information about authors.

Title

Capitalize the first letter of the first word and any other proper names (e.g. United States) as well as any abbreviations that are normally capitalized (e.g. DNA). Place a period at the end of the title. Do not capitalize the first letter of the first word of the sub-title.

  • Klein R, Klein BEK, Moss SE, et al. The relation of retinal vessel caliber to the incidence and progression of diabetic retinopathy, XIX: the Wisconsin Epidemiologic Study of Diabetic Retinopathy. Arch Ophthalmol. 2004;122(1):76-83.

Do not use quotation marks (unless they are part of the original title) and do not put the title into italics.

Journal Name

Use the abbreviated form of the journal title as it appears in the PubMed Journals database. You can find this by searching for the journal title and checking the "NLM Title Abbreviation" field for the correct abbreviation. Include the city if one is listed.

  • Am J Nurs.
  • J Commun Disord.
  • J Phys Ther Sci.

Use italics and end with a period.

Year, Issue Information, Page Range, and DOI

Year - Enter the year followed by a semicolon (;).

Volume/Issue - Enter the volume and issue number. Put parentheses around the issue number and end with a colon (:).

Page Range - Enter the start and end page numbers separated by a hyphen. Place a period at the end.

There are no spaces between any of these elements.

  • Rainier S, Thomas D, Tokarz D, et al. Myofibrillogenesis regulator 1 gene mutations cause paroxysmal dystonic choreoathetosis. Arch Neurol. 2004;61(7):1025-1029.

If the article is only available online and there are no page numbers, look for some other type of identifier, such as an e-page number or an article number, and enter that in place of the pages.

  • Smeeth L, Iliffe S. Community screening for visual impairment in the elderly. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2002;(2):CD001054. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD1001054

Final Element - If there is a DOI available for the article, type "doi:" and then the number. Do not put "doi" into all caps. Do not place a period at the end.

  • Kitajima TS, Kawashima SA, Watanabe Y. The conserved kinetochore protein shugoshin protects centromeric cohesion during meiosis. Nature. 2004;427(6974):510-517. doi:10.1038/nature02312

If there is no DOI available, enter the URL for the article and place a period at the end. Then type "Accessed" and the full date when you viewed the article. Place a period at the end after the date.

  • Duchin JS. Can preparedness for biological terrorism save us from pertussis? Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2004;158(2):106-107. http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/158/2/106. Accessed June 1, 2004.