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AMA Paper Format: How to Format a Journal Article Per the AMA Manual of Style

Learn to format your paper as per the AMA Manual of Style

 Is formatting a journal article tough? Some scientists say so, others think securing grants is much harder! Jokes aside, researchers have a lot of questions about manuscript formatting, especially when they’ve to follow a full-length style guide like that of the American Medical Association (AMA). That’s why we’ve put together some handy answers to the questions we get asked the most about AMA paper format.

What is AMA paper format? What’s the general format for AMA style?

AMA style is a common requirement among journals in the field of medicine. The 11th edition of the AMA Manual of Style is a comprehensive guide for publishing research in the biomedical sciences. It’s published by Oxford University Press and is continuously updated (at https://academic.oup.com/amamanualofstyle/pages/about/updates-to-the-manual) according to the latest policy guidelines. For example, Chapter 14, which deals with nomenclature (organisms, pathogens, blood groups, etc.) has been expanded to cover AI tools.

Now, AMA’s formatting requirements in terms of page layout are quite simple and flexible. There are no rigid rules around font, font size, etc. You ought to check out your target journal’s Instructions for Authors section or sample papers for those.

How to format citations in AMA style?

Citations to sources in the text are indicated with a superscript number, placed at the exact location in the text. You don’t need to put the citation number always at the end of the sentence.

Example:

Pitrocellititis has several symptoms overlapping with those of phostobellititis.3

Here’s a more detailed guide to AMA in-text citations.

How to format the reference list in AMA style?

The reference list is numbered and it follows the same order in which citations appear in the text. Not alphabetical order. Each item must appear only once.

Example:

Dupont L, Chandrakant K, Takashima A, et al. Using flying kangaroos to detect cancer in red-tailed hippopotamus eaters. Int Cancer Res. 2005;10(Suppl 1):134–155. doi:10.1177/1524875909760306.

Keep the following in mind:

  1. Abbreviate journal names according to the NLM database
  2. Italicize journal names and book titles
  3. Use DOIs wherever possible.

For more details, check out our handy guide to formatting your reference list in AMA style.

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