Medical Journal Citation Format: AMA and APA Examples

If you are preparing a manuscript, a thesis chapter or a clinical report, the reference list is often the part that reviewers check carefully. A medical journal article has more fields than a book, and the two styles authors are most often asked to use, AMA and APA, arrange those fields differently. This guide explains the medical journal citation format for both styles, with example references you can copy and adjust.

It covers formatting rules only. It does not judge the medical content of any study, and it does not help you decide which findings to cite. The goal is a reference list that matches the style you were given, so your reader can find each source.

Which citation format do medical journals use? The short answer

Many medical and clinical journals ask for AMA style, which uses numbered citations in the text. Many nursing, public health and allied health courses ask for APA 7, which uses author and year in the text. Use the style your journal or instructor names, and apply it the same way throughout the paper.

Your situation	What to do	Why
The journal publishes author guidelines	Follow them exactly and copy the layout of its sample references	Journals set their own rules, and they override general style guides
An assignment or course names AMA	Number your references in the order they first appear in the text	AMA numbers sources by order of appearance, not alphabetically
A course or program names APA 7	Use author and year in the text, and an alphabetical list with a hanging indent	APA 7 is an author-date system
No style is specified	Ask for the requirement, or pick one and state it on your cover page	Readers can check your list only if they know which rules you used
The article is online ahead of print	Cite it with its DOI and note that it is ahead of print	Readers can then find the version you actually read

Before you start

Confirm the edition. AMA 11th edition and APA 7th edition differ from older versions in author limits and punctuation. Older guides still circulate, so check which edition your journal or course uses.
Collect the full details from the article. Gather the authors, title, journal name, year, volume, issue, page range and DOI from the article's first page or its citation panel. Missing fields are the usual reason a reference has to be redone.
Decide how the list will be ordered. AMA lists are numbered in order of citation. APA lists are sorted alphabetically by the lead author's surname. Choose before you start numbering, so you do not have to renumber every in-text citation.
Check that the PDF text is selectable. If you cannot select the author names or the title, the file may be a scan. You can run OCR on a scanned PDF in the OmniDoc desktop client, or read the printed page and type the fields yourself.

Formatting a medical journal reference in AMA or APA, step by step

Gather the fields in the order each style needs. AMA follows the pattern authors, title, journal, year, volume(issue), pages, DOI. APA follows authors, year, title, journal with volume and issue, pages, DOI.
Format the authors. In AMA, write each surname followed by initials with no periods, such as Lee KM. In APA, write the surname, a comma, then initials with periods, such as Lee, K. M.
Write the article title in sentence case. Capitalize only the first word, proper nouns and words after a colon. Do not put the title in quotation marks or italics in either style.
Set the journal name. Use the abbreviation given in the journal's own citation guidance for AMA, and italicize it. In APA, write the full journal name in title case and italicize it, along with the volume number.
Add the year, volume, issue and pages. AMA writes this as Year;Volume(Issue):pages. APA writes it as (Year). Journal, Volume(Issue), pages. Use an en dash in APA page ranges.
Add the DOI at the end. AMA uses doi:10.xxxx/xxxxx. APA uses the full DOI link, which is the https address that ends in the DOI itself. Include a DOI only if the article has one.
Match the in-text citations to the list. In AMA, put a superscript number after the sentence that uses the source. In APA, write (Lee & Ortiz, 2021) for two authors, and (Lee et al., 2021) for three or more.
Lay out the list. AMA references are numbered consecutively in your list. APA references use a hanging indent, with the second and later lines indented. If you are working in Word or the UniDoc web editor, keep each reference as its own paragraph and set the hanging indent on the whole list.

Here are two example references. The names, title, journal and DOI are invented for illustration.

AMA example:

Lee KM, Ortiz R, Chen S. Sample intervention outcomes in adult patients. Clin Example Res. 2021;12(3):145-152. doi:10.0000/example.1234

APA 7 example:

Lee, K. M., Ortiz, R., & Chen, S. (2021). Sample intervention outcomes in adult patients. Clinical Example Research, 12(3), 145–152. The DOI follows as the full https link ending in 10.0000/example.1234.

Notice that the AMA journal abbreviation is italic and the APA volume number is italic. The APA issue number sits in parentheses and is not italic.

📊 At a glance

Both styles cover the same information, but they present it differently. This table compares the main differences you will meet in a medical paper.

Feature	AMA	APA 7
In-text citation	Superscript number	Author and year in parentheses
List order	Order of first citation in the text	Alphabetical by lead author
Author names	Surname and initials, no periods	Surname and initials with periods
Journal name	Abbreviated and italic	Full name in title case and italic

Check the result

Once your references are formatted, review the whole list against the style rules before you submit. Work through this checklist, starting with the references that have long author lists or several identifiers.

Check	How to see it	If it's wrong
Author format	Compare each name with the example for your style	Fix initials and punctuation; AMA has no periods, APA does
Journal abbreviation or full name	Compare with the journal's own guidance	Use the form your style requires, in italics
Volume, issue and pages	Match them to the article's first page or citation panel	Re-copy from the source; check for typos in the page range
DOI	Paste it into a browser address bar	If it fails, check for typos; if the article has no DOI, leave it out
In-text matches the list	Check that every source in the text appears in the list, and the reverse	Add missing entries or remove unused ones, then renumber AMA citations

If the journal's guidelines differ from this guide, follow the journal. If you are unsure about a field, cite the printed or official version of the article instead of guessing.

❓ FAQ

1. How do I cite a medical journal article with many authors in AMA?

AMA 11th edition lists up to six authors, then adds "et al." after the sixth name. Older AMA editions used a shorter limit, so check your edition before you format the list.

2. Does an AMA reference need a DOI?

Include the DOI when the article has one, and when your journal or instructor asks for it. If the article does not have a DOI, leave that part out rather than inventing one.

3. What if I read the article as a PDF?

Cite the journal article, not the file. The PDF is only where you read it, so do not include the file name or download location in the reference.

4. How does APA 7 handle very long author lists?

APA 7 lists up to 20 authors. With more than 20, list the first 19, add an ellipsis, then the final author's name, without an ampersand.

📝 Summary

Medical journal citation format depends on the style your journal or course requires, so confirm the edition and follow the author guidelines before you begin. Format the authors, title, journal, year, volume, issue, pages and DOI in the order your style needs, then check that every in-text citation matches your list.

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