LibGuides: AMA Help (10th Edition): In-Text Citations

In-Text Citations

Parenthetical citation in the text of references that meet the criteria for inclusion in a reference list should be restricted to circumstances in which reference lists would not be used, such as news articles or obituaries. Note that in the text: (1) the author(s) may not be named, (2) the title may not be given, (3) the name of the journal is abbreviated only when enclosed in parentheses, and (4) inclusive page numbers are given. Some resources, such as Web URLS, may be listed in the text when it is the Web site itself that is referred to rather than content on the site.

Example taken from the AMA Manual of Style (AMA, 2007, pg. 43)

References should be numbered consecutively with arabic numerals in the order in which they are cited in the text. Unnumbered references, in the form of a resource or reading list, are rarely used in JAMA and the Archives Journals. When they are used, these references appear alphabetically, by the first author's last name, in a list separate from the specifically cited reference list.

When citing a previously used source, reuse the same superscript number.

Each reference should be cited in the text, tables, or figures in consecutive numerical order by means of superscript arabic numerals. It is acceptable for a reference to be cited in a table or a figure legend and not in the text if it is in sequence with references cited in the text. For example, if Table 2 contains reference 13, which does not appear in the text, this is acceptable as long as the last reference cited (for the first time) before the first text citation of Table 2 is reference 12.

Use arabic superscript numerals outside periods and commas, inside colons and semicolons. When more than two 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 space to separate other parts of a multiple citation.

Avoid placing a superscript reference citation immediately after a number or an abbreviated unit of measure to avoid any confusion between the superscript reference citation and an exponent.

When a multiple citation involves sufficient superscript characters to create the appearance of a "hole" in the print copy (20-25 characters, including spaces and punctuation, depending on the column width and type size), use an asterisk in the text and give the citation in a footnote at the bottom of the page (Figure).

The following example is taken from the AMA Manual of Style (AMA, 2007, pg.43).