Research Guides: College of Osteopathic Medicine (COM): Citation Help

Citing Your Research

The AMA (American Medical Association) Style is most commonly used to format writing in academic Medicine. Basic style rules and principles are outlined here and links to various guides are provided. The Library also provides a print copy of the AMA Manual of Style for use in the COM library space.

Basic Rules and Principles

In-text Citations
In-text citations are used when a source is referred to in the body of a paper. AMA uses a superscript number format.

Example:

91% of participants reported that they had eaten at least one meal prepared away from home in locations such as restaurants, fast-food places, grocery stores, cafeterias, or from vending machines during the past 7 days.1

Reference List

A list of sources cited is included at the end of a paper on a separate page. Title the page "References" (top, center). Arrange sources in numerical order.

The basic format for an article in an online journal with a doi:
Author(s).Title. Journal Name. Year;volume(issue No.):inclusive pages. URL. Published [date]. Updated [date]. doi:.
The basic format for an article in an online journal without a doi:
Author(s).Title. Journal Name. Year;volume(issue No.):inclusive pages. URL. Published [date]. Updated [date]. Accessed [date].
The basic format for a book:
Author(s) or editors. Book Title. Edition (if not first). Publisher; copyright year. URL (if electronic).
The basic format for a book chapter:
Author(s). Chapter title. Editor, eds. In: Author, Book Title. edition. Publisher; Year: pages. URL (if electronic).

Examples:

Garza KB, Ding M, Owensby JK, Zizza CA. Impulsivity and fast-food consumption: A cross-sectional study among working adults. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2016;116(1):61-68. doi:10.1016/j.jand.2015.05.003. Klaassen CD, Watkins JB III, eds. Casarett & Doull’s Essentials of Toxicology. 3rd ed. McGraw-Hill; 2015. https://accesspharmacy.mhmedical.com/book.aspx?bookid=1540. Bliss CM, Wolfe M. Chapter 34: Common clinical manifestations of gastrointestinal disease. In: Andreoli TE, Cecil RL, eds. Andreoli and Carpenter's Cecil Essentials of Medicine. 8th ed. Saunders/Elsevier; 2010:382-400.

Notes:

Invert authors' names [last name initials] with no comma between last name and initials, and no period between initials
Do not use "and" or "&" between authors' names
Abbreviate journal names (locate abbreviations at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/journals)
If no doi (digital object identifier) is available, use the URL that will take the reader most directly to the article and the date it was accessed.

AMA 11th ed Style Sheet

AMA Style (Purdue OWL)
Purdue University's renowned Online Writing Lab provides an introduction to basic AMA Style rules and includes examples.
AMA Style 11th Ed: Citing Your Sources (USC Libraries)
The University of Southern California's Norris Medical Library provides more detailed information regarding AMA Style rules.
AMA Style: Commonly Used Sources (UNC Health Sciences Library)
The University of North Carolina's Health Sciences Library provides AMA Style rules and examples for commonly used sources, including articles, websites, posters, government documents and more.

Please be aware that many of the web-based citation generators (e.g., EasyBib) do not format citations properly - use these tools with caution.

The citation tools linked here are highly reliable and are among the most commonly used for academic writing and citing. The University Library provides free access to EndNote Web and offers some support in using and troubleshooting this tool.

Free Tools	Pay Tools
EndNote Web	EndNote software
Zotero
Mendeley

For consistency, SHSU-COM syllabi should list course textbooks and resources in AMA Style.

The basic format for a textbook (if 6 or more authors list the first 3 followed by et al.):

Author AA, Author BB, Author CC. Title of book. Edition number (if beyond first). Publisher name; year of publication.

Editor AA, Editor BB, Editor CC, et al. eds. Title of book. Edition number (if beyond first). Publisher name; year of publication.

Example:

Klaassen CD, Watkins JB III, eds. Casarett & Doull’s Essentials of Toxicology. 3rd ed. McGraw-Hill; 2015.

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The basic format for an electronic journal article:

Author AA, Author BB, Author CC. Title of article. NLM Abbreviated Title of Journal. Year of publication;volume(issue):complete page numbers or e-locator. doi: (if not provided, omit and replace with an accessed date and a URL)

Example:

Towfighi A, Markovic D, Ovbiagele B. Utility of Framingham coronary disease risk score for predicting cardiac risk after stroke. Stroke. 2012;43(11):2942-2947. doi: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.112.668319

ICMJE Recommendations

The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) developed a set of recommendations (Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly work in Medical Journals) to review best practice and ethical standards in the conduct and reporting of research and other material published in medical journals, and to help authors, editors, and others involved in peer review and biomedical publishing create and distribute accurate, clear, reproducible, unbiased medical journal articles. The recommendations may also provide useful insights into the medical editing and publishing process for the media, patients and their families, and general readers.

The full text report is available at: https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/