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AMA citation generator
Format an AMA reference and its superscript in-text citation from the details you enter.
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AMA style comes from the AMA Manual of Style and is the standard citation format in medicine, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Sources are numbered in the order you cite them and marked in the text with superscript numbers. Enter the details of your source and this free AMA citation generator formats the reference, shows the in-text citation and lists anything that is still missing.
What AMA format citation is and who uses it
The AMA Manual of Style is written by the editors of the JAMA Network journals and is now in its 11th edition. Medical journals, health sciences programs and many nursing and pharmacy courses require it. It is a numbered style: the reference list is ordered by first citation, not alphabetically. Author names are written as surname plus initials with no periods (Rivera JA). Article titles are in sentence case without quotation marks, while journal and book titles are in italics. Journal names are abbreviated the way the National Library of Medicine catalog lists them.
AMA reference patterns with worked examples
Journal article: Author AA, Author BB. Title of article. Abbreviated Journal Name. Year;volume(issue):pages. doi:xxx Example: Rivera JA, Chen ML. Sleep patterns in an example cohort. J Example Stud. 2021;12(3):45-67. doi:10.0000/example.2021.001 Book: Author AA. Title of Book. Edition. Publisher; Year. Example: Rivera JA. Example Clinical Methods. 2nd ed. Example Press; 2019. Book chapter: Chen ML. Taking a patient history. In: Rivera JA, ed. Example Clinical Methods. 2nd ed. Example Press; 2019:45-67. Website: Example Health Agency. Hand washing basics. Example Health Agency. Published March 3, 2021. Accessed May 2, 2025. https://www.example.com/handwashing
How to use this AMA reference generator
Pick the source type and fill in the fields you can: authors, title, journal or publisher or website, the year, and any volume, issue, pages, DOI, URL and access date. Only the title is required. The tool formats the details you enter. It does not look sources up, open links or search a database. When the AMA pattern needs something you did not give, the entry shows a bracketed placeholder such as [year] and the Missing details list tells you what to add. It keeps the journal name as you typed it, so enter the abbreviated name if you know it. For other course requirements, see the CSE Citation Generator for natural sciences or the IEEE Citation Generator for engineering.
Common AMA citation mistakes
Putting periods after initials, or a comma between the surname and the initials. Writing and or an ampersand before the last author. Placing quotation marks around the article title, or capitalizing every word of it. Adding the publisher's city to a book reference: an AMA 11th edition citation leaves it out. Ending the entry with a period after the DOI or URL. Ordering the reference list alphabetically instead of by first citation. Placing the superscript number before a period or comma: it goes after them, but before a colon or semicolon.
Questions
How do I cite in text in AMA format?
Use a superscript number that matches the source's place in the reference list. It goes after periods and commas and before colons and semicolons. Reuse the same number each time you cite that source, and write several sources as 1,3 or as a range such as 2-4.
When do I use et al. in an AMA reference?
List all authors when there are six or fewer. When there are seven or more, list the first three followed by et al.
How do I cite a website in AMA style?
Give the author or organization, the title of the page, the name of the website, the published or updated date if the page shows one, the date you accessed it, and the URL. There is no period after the URL.
How is a DOI written in AMA format?
As doi: followed directly by the number, placed at the end of the reference with no period after it. Include it whenever the article has one.
Does the tool look up my article?
No. It has no database or link lookup. It formats the details you enter and lists what is missing, so copy the details from the source and check the result against the AMA Manual of Style or your instructor's guide.