Formatting Friday: Intro to American Medical Association formatting

Many clients of ours are working on scholarly articles for health or medical journals, and sometimes these journals specify that they require AMA style. The AMA Manual of Style, now in its 10^th Edition (with updates found here), is the style guide of the American Medical Association, or AMA. First published in 1962 and written by the editors of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), the current editorial staff of the Manual includes JAMA editors and editors from the JAMA Archives, although external peer review is used in every section of the Manual. It covers all of the writing and citation styles used by all of the journals that the AMA publishes, and newer editions also include information about statistics, as well as legal and ethical considerations and issues. The latest edition also takes into account global advancements in the field, as well as the impact of the Internet, social media, and the way writing and publishing has changed with the advent of online dissemination of information.

The Manual guidelines are also used in a lot of textbooks, for classwork, and in many other scientific and public health journals, which is why it’s a good citation style to know, especially if you’re in the health field or any of the allied health fields. Even the journals that don’t use straight AMA formatting often use it as a jumping-off point, or use a modified version of AMA.

As with other citation styles like APA, AMA prioritizes clarity of writing and simplicity of ideas, and assumes that the reader has a baseline of education. Especially in the sciences, it’s important to communicate information clearly and directly, and AMA style helps to facilitate that.

The AMA Manual website is a wonderful resource that contains updates to the manual, blog articles discussing new ideas in the field and FAQs, and links to their social media accounts – there are even quizzes to test your knowledge about AMA!

If you’re working on an article or paper that uses AMA style and you’re having difficulty, or just want someone to go over it and ensure it’s formatted properly, contact us today! We have specialists on our formatting team that work in AMA and can help you take your work to the next level by offering professional guidance and support.