How to Cite a Website in AMA Format

How to Cite a Website in AMA Format

This guide explains how to cite a website in AMA format and how AMA citation works for other common source types. AMA (American Medical Association) style is widely used in medicine, health sciences, and related fields. This article offers clear rules, formatted examples, and practical tips you can apply immediately.

Who uses AMA?

AMA is the preferred style for many biomedical journals, clinical reports, and academic courses in health professions. If you're submitting to a medical journal, writing a clinical paper, or preparing course work in the health sciences, you'll likely use AMA.

For quick citation generation, try Rephrasely’s free citation generator at https://rephrasely.com/citation.

General Rules

AMA uses superscript Arabic numerals in-text and a numbered reference list at the end of the document. References are listed in the order they appear (not alphabetically).

Author names are presented as last name followed by initials with no periods or commas between initials (e.g., Smith AB). Use up to six authors; if there are more than six, list the first three followed by "et al."

Titles are in sentence case. Journal titles are abbreviated according to the National Library of Medicine (NLM) when available. Include DOI when present formatted as doi:10.xxxx. For online sources, include the URL and the accessed date.

How to Cite by Source Type

Below are step-by-step, code-style examples for the most common source types: books, journal articles, websites, book chapters, conference presentations, and datasets. Use these as templates you can copy and modify.

1. Book (print)

Template:

Author AB, Author CD. Book Title: Subtitle. Edition. Publisher; Year.

Example:

Smith JH, Lee RK. Clinical Pharmacology Essentials. 2nd ed. HealthPress; 2019.

2. Journal Article

Template:

Author AB, Author CD. Article title. Abbrev J Name. Year;Volume(Issue):pages. doi:10.xxxx/xxxxx

Example:

Garcia M, Patel S. Novel treatment approaches to hypertension. J Clin Hypertens. 2021;23(4):345-352. doi:10.1000/jch.2021.12345

3. Website (webpage)

Step-by-step rules:

• Author(s) if available — use organization name if no personal author.
• Page title (sentence case).
• Website name (if different from author/organization).
• Published date or last updated date if available.
• URL and Accessed date (Month Day, Year).

Template:

Author AB or Organization. Page title. Website Name. Published Month Day, Year. Updated Month Day, Year. Accessed Month Day, Year. https://www.example.com/page

Example with author:

Jones RW. Vaccination guidance for adults. HealthInfo. Published May 12, 2020. Accessed January 5, 2023. https://www.healthinfo.org/vaccination-adults

Example with organization as author and no date:

American Heart Association. Understanding cholesterol. American Heart Association. Accessed February 8, 2024. https://www.heart.org/cholesterol

Tip: If no publication or update date is available, always include the accessed date.

4. Chapter in an Edited Book

Template:

Chapter Author AB. Chapter title. In: Editor EF, Editor GH, eds. Book Title. Edition. Publisher; Year:pages.

Example:

Nguyen P. Diabetes management in older adults. In: Brown LJ, White M, eds. Geriatric Medicine Handbook. 3rd ed. MedPub; 2018:78-92.

5. Conference Paper or Presentation

Template (presented at style):

Author AB. Title of presentation. Presented at: Conference Name; Month Day, Year; Location.

Example:

Lopez A. Innovations in telemedicine. Presented at: Global Telehealth Conference; October 5, 2022; Boston, MA.

6. Dataset

Template:

Author AB. Title of dataset [data set]. Publisher or Repository; Year. Accessed Month Day, Year. https://doi.org/xx.xxxx or URL

Example:

National Health Survey. National Health Survey 2019 [data set]. National Data Repository; 2019. Accessed March 2, 2021. https://datarepository.gov/nhs2019

Actionable tip: Use Rephrasely's citation generator at https://rephrasely.com/citation to auto-format these sources and export them in AMA style.

In-Text Citations

AMA uses superscript Arabic numerals for in-text citations, numbered consecutively in the order sources are first cited. Use the same number if you cite the source again.

Place the superscript citation number at the end of the clause or sentence. In AMA, the superscript is placed outside commas and periods. When citing within parentheses, place the superscript inside the parentheses.

Examples:

The new treatment reduces symptoms in most patients.^1

A meta-analysis confirmed these results (see Table 2).^2

If you need to cite multiple sources at once, separate numbers with commas or use a hyphen for a range:

Several studies support this finding.1,3,5-8

Actionable advice: Keep a running numbered list as you write. Assign numbers based on first appearance and update them only if you change order to keep the reference list consistent.

Reference List

The reference list appears at the end of your document, numbered in the order references are cited. Use a hanging indent for each entry and single-space within entries with a blank line between entries for readability.

Formatting rules summary:

• Number each reference sequentially (1, 2, 3...).
• Author names: last name + initials (no periods between initials).
• Title case: sentence case for article and chapter titles; journal names abbreviated per NLM.
• Include DOI formatted as doi:10.xxxx when available.
• For webpages include "Accessed Month Day, Year."

Example reference list (first three entries):

1. Smith JH, Lee RK. Clinical Pharmacology Essentials. 2nd ed. HealthPress; 2019.
2. Garcia M, Patel S. Novel treatment approaches to hypertension. J Clin Hypertens. 2021;23(4):345-352. doi:10.1000/jch.2021.12345
3. Jones RW. Vaccination guidance for adults. HealthInfo. Published May 12, 2020. Accessed January 5, 2023. https://www.healthinfo.org/vaccination-adults

Actionable checklist before submission:

• Verify author names and initials match the original source.
• Confirm journal abbreviations via NLM Catalog.
• Check DOIs and URLs for accuracy and live links.
• Ensure access dates are included for online-only content.

Common Mistakes

Here are 3–4 frequent errors and how to avoid them.

1. Incorrect order of references

Mistake: Reordering the reference list alphabetically or failing to renumber after rearranging text. Fix: Always number references by first appearance in the manuscript and update numbers when you insert new citations.

2. Missing access dates for web content

Mistake: Omitting the accessed date for webpages without a publication date. Fix: Always include "Accessed Month Day, Year" when no publication or update date is available.

3. Improper author formatting

Mistake: Using full author first names or adding punctuation between initials. Fix: Use last name followed by initials only (e.g., Smith AB), no periods between initials.

4. Incorrect DOI or URL format

Mistake: Writing incomplete DOIs or broken URLs. Fix: Copy DOIs directly from the article landing page and format as "doi:10.xxxx". Test all links before submission.

Tip: Use Rephrasely tools to streamline quality checks — the plagiarism checker (/plagiarism-checker) verifies originality, the AI detector (/ai-detector) ensures detectable AI content matches journal policy, and the Composer (/composer) can help generate and restructure citations-ready passages.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I cite a webpage with no author in AMA?

If no author is available, start the reference with the title of the page, followed by the website name, URL, and accessed date. Example: Understanding cholesterol. American Heart Association. Accessed February 8, 2024. https://www.heart.org/cholesterol

Should I include DOIs for journal articles in AMA?

Yes. Include the DOI when available and format it as doi:10.xxxx/xxxxx. If no DOI is available but the article is online, include the URL and the accessed date if required by the journal.

Can Rephrasely help with generating AMA citations automatically?

Yes — use Rephrasely’s free citation generator at https://rephrasely.com/citation to format sources in AMA. You can also use Rephrasely’s other tools like the paraphraser, AI writer (Composer), translator, plagiarism checker (/plagiarism-checker), and AI detector (/ai-detector) to polish and verify your manuscript before submission.