AMA Manual of Style (UW HSL Guide)

guide • Updated May 8, 2025

AMA Manual of Style
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Overview

This page summarizes the main layout rules from the official formatting guideline, including page size, margins, spacing, headings, fonts and reference list formatting.

You can read the cleaned original guideline below, or click the button above to let FreeFormat, an AI document formatter, automatically apply this template to your Word thesis or paper.

How to use FreeFormat with this guide

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Source: Official formatting guideline

Core Summary

  • Based on the 11th edition of the *AMA Manual of Style*; akin to NLM's *Citing Medicine* and ICMJE/Vancouver, commonly used in JAMA series and medical manuscripts.
  • Use **superscript Arabic numerals** in the text, numbered sequentially; repeated citations retain their original numbers. The reference list is arranged in numerical order, with the title "References," and must not be changed to alphabetical order.

In-text Citations

1. **Position and Format**: Superscripts should be placed directly next to the fact or citation; outside periods and commas, and inside colons/semicolons. For multiple sources, use combinations like "2,3-5,7" or "1,4-7,19,24".

2. **Author Mentions**: When mentioning authors in the text, only their last name should be written, with a number at the end of the sentence; for three or more authors, use the first author + "et al" or "and colleagues".

3. **Secondary References**: Mention the original author in the text and list the actual source you consulted in the references; if the original text is difficult to obtain, indicate "Cited by".

4. **Citation Scenario**: All direct quotations, unfamiliar information, paraphrases/abstracts, borrowed keywords, or references to author viewpoints must be cited.

Reference List

  • **Sorting and Formatting**: Numbered in order of citation; each number corresponds to only one record, and the second line is not indented. Journal names should use the abbreviation *PubMed* and be italicized, with capitalization rules of "capitalize important words, lowercase articles/prepositions".
  • **Journal Entry Template**: `Author AA, Author BB. Article title. Abbrev J Title. Year;Volume(Issue):Page-Page. doi:xx`. Example: `J Aging Soc Policy. 2011;23(4):354-371. doi:10.1080/...`
  • **Book/Chapter**: Book titles should be capitalized and italicized; chapter titles should only have the first word capitalized. Online resources should prioritize providing the DOI; if no DOI is available, then provide the URL.

Layout and Manuscript Details

  • **Overall Layout**: 2 line spacing, 1-inch margins, 12-point font (serif font recommended for body text, sans-serif font can be used for titles), 0.5-inch indentation, page numbers should be consecutively numbered from the top right corner starting from the title page.
  • **Abbreviations**: Avoid abbreviations as much as possible except for common units and a few conventions; the first occurrence should be the full name + abbreviation, and no period should be added within the abbreviation. State names should be written in full in the text, using a two-letter code only in the references.
  • **Numbers and Dates**: Use Arabic numerals except at the beginning of sentences, common fractions, ordinal numbers (first–ninth), and titles; if two numbers are adjacent in a sentence, the smaller one can be spelled. Dates should be written as "April 2, 2010"; tables can use 4/2/2010.
  • **Time and Measurements**: Use lowercase "AM/PM" for time, preferably in 12-hour format; measurements should follow SI units, with a space between numbers and units, such as "5 mg"; long numbers should not be enclosed in commas.

Practical Tips

  • If the AMA Manual does not specify a title page/section format, always follow the specific requirements of your tutor or journal.
  • First, search for the correct journal abbreviation in the NLM Catalog before adding it to the references; the output of generative citation tools must be manually checked.
  • For complete examples (such as online journals, reports, datasets, etc.), detailed templates can be found in the Print/Electronic tab of the UW Guide or in Chapter 3 of the AMA Manual.