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Books

How to construct references for books
Author Title Source Date
Author(s) Title of book.

Publisher;

Year.

Editor, ed.   -or-

Editors, eds.

Title of book.

 Publisher;   -or-

Vol no. Nth ed. Publisher;

Year.

**Volume number is only needed if there is more than one volume. Additionally, the Edition number is only needed if it is not the first edition of the book. 

Examples:

  1. Drake RL, Vogl W, Mitchell AWM, Gray H. Gray's Anatomy for Students. 4th ed. Elsevier; 2020.
  2. Cameron P, Little M, Mitra B, Deasy C, eds. Textbook of Adult Emergency Medicine. 5th ed. Elsevier; 2020.

AMA Manual, Section 3.12.2

Chapter in an Edited Book

How to construct references for chapters from edited books
Chapter Author Chapter Title  Source Date and Page Numbers
Author(s). Title of Chapter

In: Editor, ed, Title of book. Publisher;   -or-

In: Editors, eds. Title of book. Nth ed. Publisher;

Year:page range.

Examples:

  1. Haybron DM. Philosophy and the science of subjective well-being. In: Eid M, Larsen RJ, eds. The Science of Subjective Well-being. Guilford Press; 2008:17-43.
  2. Rudolph KD, Flynn M. Depression in adolescents. In: Gottlib IH, Hammen CL, eds. Handbook of Depression. 3rd ed. Guilford Press; 2014:391-409.

AMA Manual, Section 3.12.10

Articles in Scholarly Journals

How to construct references for scholarly articles
Author Title Journal Abbreviation Issue Specifics
Author(s). Title of article.

Journal Title Abbreviation.

Year;volume(Issue):page range.

Examples:

  1. Chiang HC, Huang V, Cornelius LA. Cancer and itch. Semin Cutan Med Surg. 2011;30(2):107-112.
  2. Nejad AG, Kheradmand A. Five rare psychiatric syndromes co-occurring together. Neurosciences. 2009;14(1):91-3.
  3. Voigt C, Grasse P, Rex K, Hetz S, Speakman J. Bat breath reveals metabolic substrate use in free-ranging vampires. J Comp Physiol B. 2008;178(1):9-16.

AMA Manual, Section 3.11

Theses and Dissertations

How to construct references for theses and dissertations
Author Title Type Source
Author(s).

Title of thesis or dissertation.

Dissertation.  -or-

Master's thesis.

University or Institution; Year.

*If a thesis has been published, it should be written in the format of a book. 

Example:

  1. Maiti N. Association Between Bullying Behaviors, Health Characteristics, and Injuries Among Adolescents in the United States. Dissertation. Palo Alto University; 2010.

AMA Manual, Section 3.13.4

Newspaper Articles

How to construct references for newspaper articles
Author Title Source Date and Pages
Author(s).

Article Title.

Newspaper name.

Month day, year:page range.

Examples:

  1. Tourne R. Townsville Hospital in poor health: hospital troubles persist. Townsville Bulletin. February 26, 2011:5.

  2. Packham B. Australian-made vaccine available 'within months'. The Australian. September 7, 2020:5.

AMA Manual, Section 3.13.1

Encyclopedia Entries

How to construct references for Pharmacopoeia (encyclopedia and dictionary entries)
Entry Author Title Source Date
Author(s). Title of entry.

In: Editor, ed. Title of book. Vol no. Nth ed. Publisher;   -or-

In: Editors, eds. Title of book. Vol no. Nth ed. Publisher; 

Year:page range.

Name of Group  Title of entry. In: Title of book. Vol no. Nth ed. Publisher; 

Year:page range.

*If no author is available, start with the entry title. Only include edition and volume information within the citation if it is available. 

Examples:

  1. Ceylon cinnamon bark oil. In: British Pharmacopoeia 2013. Vol 5. The Stationery Office; 2012:3659-3660.
  2. Carbamazepine tablets. In: The Pharmocopeia of the United States of America. Vol 2. 31st  ed. The United States Pharmocopeial Convention; 2007:1631.

Government Reports

How to construct references for government, technical, or research reports
Author Title Source Date 

Author(s)   -or-

Government Agency

Title of report.

Name of Issuing Bureau, Agency, or Department;

Year:page range. Publication Number. 

Examples:

  1. U.S. Department of Labor. Child Care: A Workforce Issue. Government Printing Office; 1998.
  2. National Institute of Public Health. Importance of Blood Donation: Requirements and Restrictions. Published in Spanish. National Institute of Public Health of Mexico; 2015.

AMA Manual, Section 3.13.2

Creating a Reference List Page

In AMA style your bibliography should be called Reference List.

Within your Reference List, your references should be listed in numerical order (two references should not be combined under a single reference number) as opposed to alphabetically. The numerical order is based on the order in which the sources were first cited in the document.

Do not begin the reference list on a new page, but place it at the end of your document, after a space or a line. It follows any article information or acknowledgments. Put the word "References" in all caps, and in line with the left-hand margin. Format the numbers as per normal numbering style, single spaced.

Author Formats in Reference List

The authors follow the pattern of Last Name Initials (e.g. Brown JA) and are separated by a comma.

If there are more than six authors, only list the first three names, then shorten with et al. (e.g. Smith AA, Jones BA, Bloggs JC, et al.).

If there are six authors/editors or less, include the names of all authors/editors.

If there are more than six authors/editors, include the first three names, then shorten with et al.

  1. Hallal AH, Amortegui JD, Jeroukhimov IM, et al. Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography accurately detects common bile duct stones in resolving gallstone pancreatitis. J Am Coll Surg. 2005;200(6):869-75.

Mentioning the authors by name in text

In narrative citations in text, you mention the author's names as part of the sentence. Place the reference number next to the author's names. For example:

Research conducted by Smith7 showed a correlation between...

When you have only two authors, you will always mention both authors in the sentence:

Research conducted by Smith and Green7 showed a correlation between...

If you have three or more authors, give the first author and et al (note that for AMA you do not put a full stop after al in et al):

Research conducted by Smith et al7 showed a correlation between...


No Author

In certain instances, an article may not have an author. Start the reference with the title, in these cases. In other instances, the author may remain anonymous. However, the word “Anonymous” should not be used in a reference unless that word was published in the article’s byline. Note: There is no need to repeat the word “Anonymous” to represent a first name and a surname.

  1. Incorrect percentages in the abstract. JAMA Oncol. 2017;3(12):1742. doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2017.4368

  2. Anonymous. Care can’t get better until complaints are heard. BMJ. 2012;345:e4511. doi:10.1136/bmj.e4511


Corporate Author

If a group or corporation is acting as the author of a work, and there are no individually listed authors, use the name of the group as your author.

  1. World Health Organization. WHO Guideline on Use of Ferritin Concentrations to Assess Iron Status in Individuals and Populations. World Health Organization; 2020.