1. American Medical Association
Style

2. AMA Style
• Used in many medical publications
– Including Physical Therapy, the journal of the
American Physical Therapy Association
• Required for all submissions in Misericordia
DPT program

3. Within Text
• Cited works are numbered in order of initial
appearance in the text.
• Use arabic superscript numerals outside
periods and commas, and inside colons and
semicolons.
• Example: The sky is blue.1 The earth is round,2
but we won’t fall off.3

4. Within Text (continued)
• If a citation is repeated, use the number of the
original citation when it is repeated in the
text.

5. Reference List
• Cited references appear in the Reference List
in numerical order.
• Example:
1. Pheasant
2. Barker
3. Pascal

6. Reference List (contd)
• Authors’ names are inverted, and use only
initials for first and middle names. No periods
between initials.
• Example:
1. Barker SP
2. Pascal MR

7. Reference List (contd)
• In article titles only the first word and proper
nouns and abbreviations that are ordinarily
capitalized are capitalized.
• Example: Differences between the family-
centered “COPCA” program and traditional
infant physical therapy based on
neurodevelopmental treatment principles

8. Reference List (contd)
• Use accepted Index Medicus abbreviations of
journal names.
• To find journal name abbreviations, go to
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/jour
nals
• Enter the name of the journal in the search
box.

9. Enter journal
name here.

10. Finding Journal Abbreviations
• Click “Search” to obtain complete journal
listing, including abbreviation.
• A list of abbreviations for core clinical journals
list is found as an appendix to AMA Stat (.pdf
file)

11. Journal name
abbreviation

12. Reference List (contd)
• For journals use issue numbers in parentheses
after the volume number. If there is no issue
number specify month before the year.
• Example: Masley PM, Havrilko C-
L, Mahnensmith MR, et al. Physical therapist
practice in the acute care setting: a qualitative
study. Phys Ther. 2011;91(8):906-919.

13. Referencing Books & Chapters
• Entire Book:
– McKenzie BC. Medicine and the Internet:
Introducing Online Resources and Terminology.
2nd ed. New York, NY: Oxford University Press;
1997.
• Book Chapter:
– Guyton JL, Crockarell JR. Fractures of acetabulum
and pelvis. In: Canale ST, ed.Campbell's Operative
Orthopaedics. 10th ed. Philadelphia, PA:
Mosby, Inc; 2003:2939-2984.

14. Other References
• Refer to AMA Stat (.pdf file) or the AMA
Manual of Style for instructions as to citing
other types of references:
– Newspapers & magazines
– Monographs & proceedings
– Web pages & electronic resources
– Personal communication
• Check Physical Therapy or other journals that
use AMA style for further examples.