How to Cite a Journal Article in American Medical Association (AMA)

How to cite a journal article in AMA step by step

1. List authors NLM-style. Give each author as surname then initials with no periods, and separate names with commas, listing up to six before using et al.
2. Title in sentence case. Capitalize only the first word and proper nouns in the article title, and do not italicize it.
3. Abbreviate the journal. Use the official NLM abbreviation for the journal name and italicize it, for example JAMA or N Engl J Med.
4. Add year, volume, issue. Follow the journal with the year, then the volume, then the issue in parentheses.
5. Give the page range. Add the inclusive page numbers after a colon, using condensed form such as 45-52.
6. Close with the DOI. End with the DOI as a full doi.org link, since AMA treats it as the most stable identifier for an article.

Common journal article citation variations

How do I cite a journal article with more than six authors in AMA?

List the first three authors followed by et al. AMA shortens any author list longer than six down to the first three names.

How do I cite a journal article DOI in AMA?

Place the DOI at the end of the reference as a full doi.org URL. AMA prefers the DOI over a plain journal URL because it is permanent.

How do I cite an online-ahead-of-print article in AMA?

Add a note such as published online ahead of print with the posting date, then the DOI, since no volume or issue exists yet.

How do I abbreviate the journal name in AMA?

Use the abbreviation listed in the NLM Catalog, not your own shortening. The generator applies the standard abbreviation when you enter the full journal name.