AMA Manual of Style, 11th ed.

AMA citation generator

Create AMA 11th edition references free, with no sign-up. Fill in a journal article from its DOI, then check it against the rules and examples below.

  • Free, no account needed
  • Auto-fill from a DOI or ISBN
  • Copies with italics
Authors (in the order the source lists them; leave empty if there is none)

AMA 11 expects sentence case here. We never change your capitalisation on our own. The convert buttons cannot recognise names, so re-capitalise proper nouns afterwards.

The site the page belongs to, for example Mayo Clinic.

Date published or updated (leave empty if none is shown)
Date you accessed it

Reference list entry

Fill in the details above and your citation appears here as you type.

In-text citation

Fill in the details above and your citation appears here as you type.

AMA uses sentence case for article and page titles, title case for books, and NLM journal abbreviations (Br Med J). Type the abbreviated journal name. References are numbered in the order you cite them.

References (0)

Sources you add appear here in AMA 11 format, numbered in the order you add them. The list is kept in this browser only.

Check every citation against your source and your instructor’s guidelines before you submit.

The rules

How to cite in AMA style

AMA is a numbered style. Sources are numbered in the order you first cite them, and the reference list follows that same order.

In the text

  • Cite with superscript Arabic numerals, numbered in the order sources first appear.
  • Place the number outside periods and commas, and inside colons and semicolons.
  • Reuse a source’s original number every time you cite it again.
  • Separate several citations with commas and join ranges with a hyphen, with no spaces: 1,3-5
  • Add a page number in parentheses right after the number: 2(p14)

In the reference list

  • Title the list References and number it in citation order, not alphabetically.
  • Write authors as surname plus initials, with no periods: Hill AB. List up to six; for seven or more, list three, then “et al.”
  • Use sentence case for article titles, with no quotation marks. Italicize book titles in title case.
  • Abbreviate journal names as the NLM catalog does and italicize them: Br Med J.
  • Give the DOI as doi:10.xxxx with no period after it. Book references leave out the publisher’s city.

These rules follow the AMA Manual of Style, 11th edition (2020). If a journal’s instructions for authors differ, follow the journal.

Examples

AMA citation examples

The superscript in-text citation and the numbered reference entry for four common source types.

  • Journal article

    Doll and Hill, BMJ, 1950

    In-text
    Doll and Hill reported the association in 1950.1
    Reference
    1. Doll R, Hill AB. Smoking and carcinoma of the lung: preliminary report. Br Med J. 1950;2(4682):739-748. doi:10.1136/bmj.2.4682.739

  • Book

    Kuhn, 1962

    In-text
    Kuhn called these changes paradigm shifts.2(p52)
    Reference
    2. Kuhn TS. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. University of Chicago Press; 1962.

  • Website

    Placeholder example

    In-text
    The guide explains serving sizes.3
    Reference
    3. Doe J. How to read a nutrition label. Example Health. March 3, 2024. Accessed March 10, 2026. https://www.example.org/nutrition-label

  • YouTube video

    Placeholder example

    In-text
    The video shows the measurement step by step.4
    Reference
    4. Example Health Channel. How blood pressure is measured. YouTube. March 3, 2024. Accessed March 10, 2026. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID

The journal article and book are real sources; 52 is a sample page number. The website and video use placeholder names and example URLs to show the pattern.

Before you submit

Common AMA citation mistakes

Mistakes to check for

  • Putting the superscript number before a period or comma instead of after it.
  • Ordering references alphabetically instead of by first citation.
  • Adding periods or spaces to initials: Hill A. B. instead of Hill AB.
  • Writing article titles in title case or in quotation marks.
  • Spelling out journal names instead of using NLM abbreviations.
  • Listing every author when there are seven or more.
  • Adding the publisher’s city to a book reference, or “Published” before a web page’s date. Both were dropped in the 11th edition.

When to use AMA style

AMA style comes from the American Medical Association and is used by JAMA Network journals. Many medical, nursing and health science programs require it for papers, posters and capstones.

  • Medicine and biomedical research
  • Nursing and allied health
  • Pharmacy and public health
  • Health science journals that follow AMA
How it works

Create AMA citations in three steps

The generator at the top of this page is already set to AMA 11th edition. It is free and runs in your browser, with no account.

  1. Choose the source type

    Website, book, journal article or online video. The style is already set to AMA 11th edition.

  2. Add the details

    Enter a DOI to fill in a journal article, then replace the journal name with its NLM abbreviation and put the title in sentence case.

  3. Check and copy

    Check author initials and the journal abbreviation, then copy the reference with italics intact.

The generator formats websites, books, journal articles and online videos. Books can also be filled in from an ISBN; websites and videos are typed by hand. It has no field for an “Updated” date, so add that yourself. References are numbered in the order you add them, so add sources in the order you first cite them.

FAQ

AMA citation questions

Use a superscript number where you use the source, numbered in the order sources first appear. Place it outside periods and commas and inside colons and semicolons. Reuse the same number whenever you cite that source again.

Build your AMA reference list

Free, with no sign-up. Numbered AMA references with superscript citations.

Check your writing where you write it