Skip to Main Content

AMA Citations: In-Text Citations

Quick Links

Purdue Online Writing Lab: APA Style Guide

Purdue University's Online Writing Lab (OWL) provides writing resources and instructional materials for writing projects.  The AMA Style Guide includes an introduction to the style, citation formatting for various sources, formatting for in-text citations and reference lists, and more.

 

AMA Manual of Style 

 

Find a Journal Abbreviation 

To search and find the abbreviated journal title, search the Journal Title's Name or the ISSN.

Visit the NLM Catalog

In-Text Ciations

Within the text of a publication, individual references are presented in an abbreviated format that refers back to the list. These abbreviated references within the text are called in-text references.

General guidelines for in-text citations:

  • References should be numbered consecutively with superscript Arabic numerals in the order in which they are cited in the text.
  • If a reference is used multiple times in one document, use the same number throughout the document.
  • Reference numbers appear outside periods and commas and inside colons and semi-colons. 
  • If appropriate, you may use the author name(s) within the citing paragraph.
Example Additional Notes
Sentence with Multiple Citations Chocolate has many potential health benefits such as improved blood flow,1 mood,2 and brain function.3 
Sentence Citing Two Sources Together Two studies3,4 have shown that chocolate can lead to improved brain function. When citing 2 references at a given place in the manuscript, use a comma without a space to cite both references.
Sentence Citing Three or More Sources Together Multiple studies5-7 have shown that chocolate can lead to optimism. When citing 3 or more references at a given place in the manuscript, use hyphens to join the first and last numbers of a closed series.
Sentence Citing Reference with One Author According to Brennan,1 chocolate significantly improves blood flow. When citing a reference that only has one author, then list one author's name.
Sentence Citing Reference with Two Authors According to Barbato and Guisto,2 chocolate significantly improves mood. When citing a reference that has two authors, then list both authors' names.
Sentence Citing Reference with Three or More Authors According to Dupra et al,3 chocolate significantly improves brain function. When citing a reference that has three or more authors, then list the first author’s surname and et al.

Source: "American Medical Association (AMA) Citation Style" from the Medical University of South Carolina