Clear, real-world examples of AMA reference page example formats

Instead of starting with theory, let’s jump straight into patterns you can copy. These are examples of examples of AMA reference page example formats you’ll meet all the time in nursing, medicine, public health, and other health sciences.

Here’s how a few core sources typically look on an AMA reference page:

Journal article (print or online with DOI)
Smith JA, Lee R, Patel K. Impact of telehealth follow-up on hospital readmissions in heart failure patients. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2024;83(5):612-620. doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2024.01.012

Book with one author
Kumar P. Clinical Pharmacology Made Practical. 4th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill; 2023.

Chapter in an edited book
Brown LM. Nutrition in older adults. In: Harris P, ed. Geriatric Primary Care. 3rd ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2022:145-178.

Website with organization as author
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. COVID-19: Long-term effects. CDC. Updated March 15, 2025. Accessed April 2, 2025. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/long-term-effects.html

These small samples are the kind of examples of AMA reference page example entries that can sit next to you while you work. In the rest of this guide, we’ll unpack more of these real examples and explain the logic behind each one.

Core AMA rules you’ll see in all the best examples

When you look at several examples of AMA reference page example entries side by side, a few patterns jump out:

• Authors are written as LastName Initials with no commas between initials (Smith JA, not Smith, J. A.). Up to six authors are listed; if there are more than six, list the first three followed by et al.
• Titles of articles or chapters use sentence case: only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized.
• Journal names are usually abbreviated using the National Library of Medicine format (for example, N Engl J Med instead of New England Journal of Medicine).
• Book and journal titles are italicized.
• No hanging “Retrieved from” phrases; AMA prefers a clean URL with Accessed date for online sources without DOIs.

Once you recognize these patterns, you can scan your own references and quickly spot what looks “off” by comparing them to the best examples of AMA reference page example formats you’ve seen.

Real examples of AMA reference page example entries for journal articles

Journal articles are the backbone of most medical papers, so let’s look at several real examples of AMA reference page example entries you can adapt.

Standard research article with DOI
Nguyen T, Johnson M, Alvarez G, et al. Sleep duration and incident hypertension in young adults: A 10-year cohort study. Hypertension. 2024;81(2):210-218. doi:10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.123.20045

Notice the rhythm:

• Authors with initials only
• Article title in sentence case
• Journal name abbreviated and italicized
• Year;volume(issue):pages
• DOI at the end, no period after the DOI

Online-only article with e-location ID
Ramos D, Chen L. Digital mental health interventions for adolescents: A systematic review. JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6(9):e2330154. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.30154

Instead of page numbers, some newer journals use an e-location ID (e.g., e2330154). In the best examples, that ID appears where page numbers would normally go.

Article with more than six authors
Garcia P, Thomas R, Lee S, Patel N, Jackson T, O’Connor B, et al. Early physical therapy and functional outcomes after stroke. Stroke. 2023;54(7):1984-1992. doi:10.1161/STROKEAHA.122.040123

Here you can see how AMA handles long author lists: first three authors, then et al. If you’re ever unsure about abbreviated journal titles, you can check the National Library of Medicine Catalog at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog.

These are the kinds of examples of examples of AMA reference page example journal entries that you can reuse by simply swapping in your own authors, titles, and DOIs.

Examples of AMA reference page example entries for books and chapters

Books still matter in medicine—especially for foundational topics and exam prep. Let’s look at examples of AMA reference page example formats for different book situations.

Whole book, one author
Miller A. Evidence-Based Nursing Practice. 2nd ed. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier; 2022.

Key details in this pattern:

• Book title in italics, title case
• Edition number (if not the first)
• City, state abbreviation, publisher; year

Whole book, multiple authors
Hernandez R, Wong J, Patel S. Population Health and Primary Care. Boston, MA: Wolters Kluwer; 2023.

Edited book
Davis K, Thompson L, eds. Global Perspectives in Public Health. New York, NY: Springer; 2024.

The eds. tells the reader these people edited the book rather than wrote every chapter.

Chapter in an edited book
Singh R. Diabetes management in low-resource settings. In: Davis K, Thompson L, eds. Global Perspectives in Public Health. New York, NY: Springer; 2024:201-223.

This is one of the best examples to copy when you’re citing a specific chapter: author and chapter title first, then the word In: followed by the editors, book title, publisher information, and chapter page range.

Web and guideline sources: modern examples of AMA reference page example entries

Between 2024 and 2025, AMA-style reference lists have seen more and more examples of AMA reference page example entries for web-based content—guidelines, online fact sheets, and interactive tools.

Organization as author (web page)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Physical activity guidelines for Americans: Resources for health professionals. CDC. Updated October 10, 2024. Accessed January 5, 2025. https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/resources/index.htm

This format works well for many government and institutional pages. Note the pattern: organization name, page title, site name, updated date, accessed date, and URL. You can see similar patterns on sites like CDC and NIH.

Online clinical guideline (PDF or webpage)
American Diabetes Association. Standards of medical care in diabetes—2025. ADA. Published December 2024. Accessed February 3, 2025. https://diabetes.org/standards-of-care

Here, Published is used instead of Updated because guidelines often have a clear publication year.

Health information page (patient-friendly site)
Mayo Clinic Staff. High blood pressure (hypertension). Mayo Clinic. Updated August 18, 2024. Accessed March 20, 2025. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-pressure

This is a practical example of how to handle well-known health information sites like Mayo Clinic or WebMD. The pattern works across many similar pages.

Citing data, reports, and gray literature: more real examples

Not everything you cite will be a polished journal article. Sometimes you need government reports, datasets, or white papers. Here are real examples of AMA reference page example entries for those.

Government report
US Department of Health and Human Services. Healthy People 2030: Health promotion and disease prevention objectives. US Department of Health and Human Services; 2023. Accessed January 12, 2025. https://health.gov/healthypeople

Dataset (online)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) 2023 survey data. CDC; 2024. Accessed April 10, 2025. https://www.cdc.gov/brfss/annual_data/annual_2023.html

White paper or policy brief (organization author)
World Health Organization. Strengthening primary health care through digital innovation. World Health Organization; 2024. Accessed February 28, 2025. https://www.who.int/publications/digital-primary-care-2024

These examples of AMA reference page example entries show how you can adapt the same backbone—author/organization, title, publisher, year, access date, URL—to a wide range of non-journal sources.

Formatting your AMA reference page so it looks publication-ready

Having good patterns is half the battle. The other half is making the page look organized and consistent. When you look at the best examples of AMA reference page example layouts in real journals, you’ll notice a few shared habits:

• Title the page “References” and place it on a new page at the end of your paper.
• Number each reference in the order it appears in the text (1, 2, 3, …). The numbers in the text match the numbers on the reference page.
• Use regular paragraph spacing with a hanging indent (the first line is flush left, subsequent lines are indented). Your word processor can handle this automatically.
• Stay consistent with abbreviations, punctuation, and capitalization by comparing your entries to reliable examples.

If you want to see how professional journals style their AMA references, browse recent articles from JAMA or New England Journal of Medicine via PubMed at https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. These articles are living examples of AMA reference page example formatting in practice.

2024–2025 trends that affect AMA references

The AMA Manual of Style (11th edition) is still the standard, but practice in 2024–2025 shows a few trends you’ll see in modern examples of AMA reference page example entries:

• More DOIs, fewer bare URLs. If a journal article has a DOI, use it. That’s increasingly non‑negotiable in top journals.
• Stable links for guidelines and reports. Organizations like CDC, NIH, and WHO are providing permanent links or landing pages for guidelines; use those instead of temporary PDF links when possible.
• Preprints and early online articles. Many researchers now cite preprints or “ahead of print” articles. Always check the journal’s instructions for authors, and be sure to label preprints clearly if your instructor or publisher allows them.
• Data and code citations. Some journals now encourage citing datasets and code repositories. AMA can handle these by treating them similarly to reports or web resources, following patterns like the examples above.

When in doubt, look for recent articles in your target journal and treat them as the best real examples of how to handle newer source types.

Quick mental checklist when building your AMA reference page

As you pull everything together, keep a simple mental checklist anchored in the examples of examples of AMA reference page example formats we’ve walked through:

• Does every in‑text citation number have a matching entry on the reference page?
• Do your authors follow the LastName Initials pattern, with up to six authors or three plus et al?
• Are journal titles abbreviated and italicized, with article titles in sentence case?
• Do online sources without DOIs include an updated or published date, an accessed date, and a clean URL?
• Does the overall page visually resemble the best examples you’ve seen in real journals or on style guides from universities?

If you can answer “yes” to those questions, you’re very close to a reference page that would look at home in a professional medical publication.

FAQ: Short answers and more examples

How do I find reliable examples of AMA reference page example entries?
Look at recent articles from AMA‑style journals on PubMed or check university writing centers that post AMA guides, such as many .edu sites. These sources give you real examples that reflect current practice.

Can you show another example of an AMA citation for a journal article?
Here’s one more pattern you can copy:

Lopez J, Martin E. Impact of climate change on heat-related emergency department visits in US cities. Environ Health Perspect. 2023;131(11):117002. doi:10.1289/EHP12045

Are URLs always required in AMA references?
No. For journal articles with DOIs, you usually do not include a URL. For web pages, guidelines, and online reports without DOIs, URLs and access dates are expected in good modern examples.

What are some examples of common mistakes on an AMA reference page?
Common problems include putting article titles in title case instead of sentence case, forgetting DOIs, listing all authors when there are more than six, and mixing different punctuation styles. Comparing your work to solid examples of AMA reference page example entries is the easiest way to catch these issues.

Is it okay to use citation generators for AMA style?
You can, but treat them as a starting point, not the final word. Always compare generated citations to trusted examples from the AMA Manual of Style or reputable university guides. Generators often mis-handle capitalization, author limits, or journal abbreviations.

If you keep a small personal collection of the best, real examples of AMA reference page example formats that match the kinds of sources you use most, building future reference pages will feel much faster and far less frustrating.