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The reference list—sometimes the most tedious and boring part of a journal article. Yet, very important! Without a well-formatted and accurate reference list, it’s difficult for readers to verify the claims you make in your research paper or to further explore a topic that interests them. Today, we’re going to cover the basics of formatting the reference list as per the guidelines of the American Medical Association (AMA)’s Manual of Style. We’ll specifically focus on the three most widely used AMA style references: journal articles, books, and websites.
(If you’re unsure about formatting in-text citations in AMA style, this article is for you).
Reference Formatting in AMA Style: A Quick Summary
As you prepare your list of references, keep the following in mind:
- Number your references.
- Order them according to how they were cited in the main text, not alphabetically.
- You may or may not start the list on a new page (check the guidelines of your target journal or institution).
- Abbreviate journal names as per the National Library of Medicine database.
Did You Know? The 11th edition of the AMA style manual contains examples of how to cite social media, apps, podcasts, preprints, and package inserts!
Journal Article Reference in AMA Style
Quick View: Author last name Initials. Article title. Journal Name. Year;Volume(Issue):Page range. DOI or URL.
If you’re writing a research paper in the biomedical sciences, most of your entries in the reference list are likely to be journal articles. The main thing you’ve to keep in mind is to
- Abbreviate and italicize journal names,
- use “et al.” for works with 7 or more authors by listing the first 3 authors and then “et al.” (for works with 6 or fewer authors, list them all)
- Use DOIs as much as possible, because it makes the item easier to find online
- Use “Suppl” to indicate supplementary issues of a journal
- Don’t shorten page ranges
- Titles of articles are in sentence case, but capitalize the first word after a colon.
Example: Monkeyboy L, Donkeygirl K, Whatafriend A, et al. Vitamin C for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer: A randomized controlled trial. Int Cancer Res. 2019;12(Suppl 2):811–817. doi:10.1177/1524839909760322.
AMA Style Reference to a Book
Quick View: Author last name Initials. Book Title: Subtitle. Publisher; Year of publication.
A book is formatted largely along the lines of a journal article, as far as the author list is concerned. But the title and subtitle if any are italicized and presented in title case, i.e., all significant words capitalized. According to the latest edition of the AMA style manual, it’s no longer mandatory to include place of publication in the reference list.
Example: Shankarnarayanan P, Venkateshwar G, Sharma K, Jayaraman J, Kulkarni U, Dasgupta V. Cell and Molecular Biology: A Guide for Indian Students. Delhi University Press; 2015.
AMA Style Reference to a Website
Quick View: Author last name Initials. Page title. Website Name. Published Month Day, Year. Accessed Month Day, Year. URL.
Online-only sources are comparatively less stable, so AMA asks you to give not just the date of publication but also the date you accessed the source. In the actual URL, “http://” or “https://” isn’t mandatory, though no harm if you include it. I’d also advise verifying that the URL given works each time you revise your paper, including immediate before publication. Also, if no author is given, use the name of the organization that’s responsible for the website.
Example: American Diabetes Association. Gestational diabetes in the US. Published December 15, 2021. Accessed October 15, 2022. http://www.diabetes.org/gestational-diabetes.jsp.
