AMA Cite - Journal Article
Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002;347(4):284-287. doi:10.1056/NEJMsb020632
Use NLM journal abbreviations.
FAQFree AMA Citation Generator
Create AMA-style references from DOI, PMID, ISBN, title, URL, or manual entry
Import Sources
Or build a reference manually
AMA Citation Format Example (11th Edition)
Use these examples to check the output before submitting a paper or manuscript.
AMA Cite - Book
Harrison TR. Principles of Internal Medicine. 21st ed. McGraw Hill; 2022.
Include edition when it is not the first edition.
AMA Cite - Website
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. RSV infection. CDC. Updated March 15, 2024. Accessed May 10, 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/rsv/.
Include update date and access date when available.
AMA Cite - Book Chapter
Meltzer PS, Kallioniemi A, Trent JM. Chromosome alterations in human solid tumors. In: Vogelstein B, Kinzler KW, eds. The Genetic Basis of Human Cancer. 2nd ed. McGraw-Hill; 2002:93-113.
Chapter authors and book editors are separate.
AMA Cite - Government Report
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National diabetes statistics report. CDC. 2023. https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/data/statistics-report/. Accessed June 1, 2026.
Use the responsible agency as the author.
AMA Cite - Preprint
Bhatt DL, Mehta C. Adaptive designs for clinical trials. bioRxiv. 2020. doi:10.1101/2020.01.01.123456 [Preprint]
AMA 11th edition marks preprints at the end.
AMA Cite - Thesis
Guo J. Trust-based Service Management of Internet of Things Systems and Its Applications. [Doctoral dissertation]. Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech; 2018.
Include thesis type, institution location, institution name, and year.
AMA Cite - Database Entry
Post TW. Treatment of hypertension in adults. UpToDate. Wolters Kluwer. Updated May 20, 2024. Accessed June 1, 2026. https://www.uptodate.com/.
Use the topic title, database name, publisher, update date, access date, and URL when available.
AMA vs APA vs MLA
FeatureAMAAPAMLA
Author listing≤6 list all; 7+ list first 3 + et al≤20 authors listed in full; 21+ use first 19 + … + last3+ authors: first author + et al
Journal titlesNLM abbreviationsFull journal titleFull journal title
DOI formatdoi:10.xxxx/xxxxxhttps://doi.org/10.xxxxDOI or URL
Reference orderOrder cited in textAlphabeticalAlphabetical
Primary fieldMedicine and life sciencesSocial sciencesHumanities
Why AMA citations are different
AMA style is built for medical literature, where discoverability and precision matter. The biggest differences are journal abbreviations, numbered references, compact author lists, and DOI formatting.
- NLM journal abbreviations improve PubMed consistency.
- Reference numbers follow the order sources appear in text.
- DOI values use the compact doi: prefix.
FAQ
An AMA citation generator is an online tool that formats sources according to the American Medical Association Manual of Style. Instead of memorizing author rules, journal abbreviations, DOI syntax, and reference order, you enter source details and get a formatted AMA citation to review and copy.
AMA citation format is a referencing style used in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, public health, and related life sciences fields. It is commonly used for medical school papers, clinical research, journal manuscripts, systematic reviews, and other health sciences coursework.
AMA uses superscript numbers for in-text citations and lists references in the order they first appear. APA uses author-year citations and an alphabetical reference list. MLA uses author-page citations and an alphabetical Works Cited list.
AMA also relies on NLM journal abbreviations, so a journal such as New England Journal of Medicine is written as N Engl J Med.
Yes. The AMA citation generator is free to use, with no account, subscription, or credit card required.
Yes. Paste a DOI or PMID for journal articles, an ISBN for books, or an article title or URL when you do not know the DOI. The tool looks up available metadata and fills the matching form.
Auto-filled data is editable before you copy or add the citation to your list, so you can correct missing or unusual fields.
AMA references use doi: followed by the DOI string, such as doi:10.1056/NEJMsb020632. The final citation should not wrap the DOI in a https://doi.org/ URL.
This tool normalizes DOI input when formatting the citation.
AMA format lists up to 6 authors by name. If a source has 7 or more authors, list the first 3 authors followed by et al.
Author names use last name followed by initials, with no periods between initials and no comma between the last name and initials. For example, John A. Smith becomes Smith JA.
Yes. AMA style uses official NLM journal abbreviations for medical journal titles. For example, Journal of the American Medical Association becomes JAMA and British Medical Journal becomes BMJ.
This tool suggests NLM-style abbreviations when a match is available and flags unmatched journal names so you can verify them manually.
AMA in-text citations use superscript Arabic numerals placed near the cited statement. Sources are numbered in the order they first appear in the document.
Each superscript number corresponds to a numbered reference entry at the end of the paper. AMA reference lists are ordered by appearance, not alphabetically.