How to Cite Sources in Your Research Paper

American Medical Association (AMA) Manual is primarily used to cite references in the medical research field and other health sciences.

Information below based on AMA Manual of Style, 11th ed., 2020.

General Rules

Reference List

• References are listed numerically in the order they are cited in the text. 
• Use the author's surname followed by initials without periods or spaces. The names of all authors should be given unless there are more than 6, in which case the names of the first 3 authors are used, followed by “et al.” Do not use and between names.
  • Examples:
    • Fewer than six authors: Frey T, Young RK.
    • Six or more authors: Christiansen S, Iverson C, Flanagin A, et al.
• References to material not yet accepted for publication or to personal communications (oral, written, and electronic) are not included in the reference list and, instead, should be included parenthetically in the text.
• Abbreviate and italicize names of journals. Use initial capital letters. Abbreviate according to the listing in the PubMed Journals database. 
  • Example: Emerging Infectious Diseases is abbreviated Emerg Infect Dis
• In article titles, capitalize only the first letter of the first word, proper names, and abbreviations that are ordinarily capitalized in the reference.
  • Example: Investigating disease outbreaks under a protocol to the biological and toxin weapons convention.
• When citing electronic material, in addition to the basic information included as with print references, you must also, include the URL (link) to the item as well as the date you accessed it. If the material has a DOI, its use is preferred over a URL and no access date is needed.
  • Examples:
    • Accessed October 31, 2010. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol6no6/wheelis.htm.
    • doi: 10.1186/s12913-023-09852-3.

In-text Citations

• Use Arabic superscript numerals outside periods and commas, inside colons and semicolons. When more than 2 references are cited at a given place in the manuscript, use hyphens to join the first and last numbers of a closed series; use commas without spaces to separate other parts of a multiple citation.
  • Examples:
    • As previously,^1,3–8,19
    • The derived data were as follows^3,4:

If you don't see an example for your type of reference, consult the manual itself.