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JOSEPH F. SMITH LIBRARY

Citation Help

What is AMA Style?

   The style recommended by the American Medical Association (AMA) is often used for scholarly writing about medicine or health-related topics, or about other subjects in the sciences.

  

 

 

Books

     Authors' Names

When citing authors in the list of references, give their complete last names but just the initials (without periods or spaces) of their first or middle names.

  • List all the authors up to the first 6, separated by commas without the word and.

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

  • For more than 6 authors, give only the first 3 authors followed by "et al." (meaning "and others").

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

 

Pattern for the Entire Book

AuthorALastName AA, AuthorBLastName BB, AuthorCLastName CC. Title of the Book. VolumeNumber. Location: Publisher; CopyrightYear.

  • For titles and subtitles, capitalize the first letter of each significant word. In general, do not capitalize articles such as the, prepositions of fewer then 4 letters such as to, coordinating conjunctions such as and or or, or the to in infinitives.

1 LaFollette MC. Stealing Into Print: Fraud, Plagiarism, and Misconduct in Scientific Publishing. Berkeley: University of California Press; 1992.

2 Widiger TA, Frances AJ, Pincus HA, Ross R, First MB, Davis WW. DSM-IV Sourcebook. Vol 2. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press; 1996.

  • Indicate any edition other than the first.

3 Sherlock S, Dooley J. Diseases of the Liver and Biliary System. 9th ed. Oxford, England: Blackwell Scientific Publications; 1993.

  • If the work has no author, substitute the name of the editor or translator followed by the abbreviation ed. or trans. Append any information about the series to which the book belongs.

4 Sutcliffe, AJ, ed. The New York Public Library Writer's Guide to Style and Usage. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers Inc; 1994.

5 Warner R, ed. Alternatives to the Hospital for Acute Psychiatric Treatment. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press, 1995. Clinical Practice Series; No. 32.

 

Pattern for One Part of the Book

AuthorALastName AA, AuthorBLastName BB. Title of the chapter. In: EditorALastName AA, EditorBLastName BB, eds. Title of the Book. Location: Publisher; CopyrightYear:StartPage-EndPage.

 

  • Capitalize only the first letter of the first word in chapter titles, as well as any proper names or abbreviations that normally appear capitalized such as DNA or EEG. Note that the AMA's standard abbreviations for states often differ from the postal codes for those states.

1 Cole BR. Cystinosis and cystinuria. In: Jacobson HR, Striker GE, Klahr S, eds. The Principles and Practice of Nephrology. Philadelphia, Pa: BC Decker Inc; 1991:396-403.

2 Bithell TC. Hereditary coagulation disorders. In: Lee GR, Bithell TC, Foerster J, Athens JW, Lukens JN, eds. Wintrobe's Clinical Hematology. Vol 2. 9th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Lea & Febiger; 1993:1422-1472.

 

Pattern for Electronic Books

AuthorALastName AA, AuthorBLastName BB. Title of the Book [typeOfWork]. Location: Publisher; CopyrightYear. AvailabilityStatement. Accessed MonthLastAccessed Day, Year.

 

 

  • For electronic books available in an online database, use the phrase "Available from:" followed by the name of the database.

1 Roemmelt AF. Haunted Children: Rethinking Medication of Common Psychological Disorders [e-book]. Albany, NY: SUNY Press; 1998. Available from: Netlibrary. Accessed June 4, 2001.

2 Li X, Crane NB. Electronic Styles: a Handbook for Citing Electronic Information [e-book]. Medford, NJ: Information Today; 1996. Available from: Netlibrary. Accessed August 27, 2004.

  • For electronic books available on a Web site, use the phrase "Available at:" followed by the URL of the site.

3 Freud S. A Young Girl's Diary [e-book]. New York, NY: Thomas Seltzer; 1923. Available at: http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/ modeng/modeng0.browse.html. Accessed July 27, 2005.

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