📚 APA to AMA Citation Converter
Convert APA 7th edition citations to AMA 11th edition format — journals, books, websites & more
| Citation Element | APA 7th Format | AMA 11th Format | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Author Names | Last, F. M. (commas & &) | Last FM (no periods, no comma) | AMA omits periods after initials |
| Publication Year | (Year). — after author block | Year; — after journal vol | AMA year placed after volume |
| Article Title | Sentence case, no italics | Sentence case, no italics | Same rule for both styles |
| Journal Name | Full name, italicized | Abbreviated, italicized | AMA uses NLM abbreviations |
| Volume & Issue | Vol(issue) | Vol(issue) or just Vol | AMA often omits issue number |
| Pages | pp. xxx-xxx | xxx-xxx (no pp.) | AMA drops the “pp.” prefix |
| DOI Format | https://doi.org/xxx | doi:xxx or full URL | AMA uses doi: prefix |
| In-text citation | (Author, Year) | Superscript number ¹ | Major structural difference |
| Multiple authors | List all up to 20, then et al. | List all up to 6, then et al. | AMA is more restrictive |
| Book edition | (3rd ed.) | 3rd ed. | AMA drops parentheses |
| Full Journal Name | NLM Abbreviation (AMA) | Field | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| New England Journal of Medicine | N Engl J Med | Medicine | Highest impact |
| Journal of the American Medical Association | JAMA | Medicine | Top general medicine |
| The Lancet | Lancet | Medicine | No abbreviation needed |
| British Medical Journal | BMJ | Medicine | No abbreviation needed |
| Annals of Internal Medicine | Ann Intern Med | Internal Medicine | High impact |
| Journal of Pediatrics | J Pediatr | Pediatrics | Top pediatric journal |
| American Journal of Public Health | Am J Public Health | Public Health | Top public health |
| Journal of Nursing Research | J Nurs Res | Nursing | Peer-reviewed |
| Scenario | APA 7th Format | AMA 11th Format |
|---|---|---|
| 1 author | Smith, J. A. | Smith JA. |
| 2 authors | Smith, J. A., & Jones, B. | Smith JA, Jones B. |
| 3 authors | Smith, J., Jones, B., & Lee, C. | Smith J, Jones B, Lee C. |
| 6 authors | List all 6 with & before last | List all 6, period after last |
| 7 authors | List all 7 | First 6, et al. |
| 21+ authors | First 19, ..., last author | First 6, et al. |
| Organization author | World Health Organization. | World Health Organization. |
| No author | Title in author position. | Title in author position. |
A citation converter is a program that converts references from one style to another. For instance, it fits to change quotes from APA Citation format to MLA or even adapt identifiers like PMIDs for use in spreadsheet-compatible lists. Such a program helps save a lot of time when one prepares articles with various citation styles.
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Many free citation generators are available online. Some automatically produce precise quotes for books, newspapers, pages and videos only searching the title or ID like URL or ISBN. Others allow to create quotes in styles like APA Citation, MLA, Chicago, Harvard and many more with the option to immediately export the whole bibliography.
How citation tools help
Some of those programs skip ads, do not require installation and do not require registration.
Extensions for browsers simplify the process even more. They can cite any page or text by means of one single tap. The extension takes care of teh hard part, automatically gathering the title, authors, date of publication and all other elements to form a perfect quote.
Some programs were created by writing experts and offer flexible citation creation according to the newest versions of APA Citation, MLA and the Chicago Style Guide. Others focus on special styles, for instance IEEE for technical articles. There are also generators that update themselves to track especially the 7th edition of APA Citation and of MLA.
One of them gives real-time preview demos and can handle several authors together with several quotes at once. Other tools cite sources in bulk, while it at the same time places in-text references directly in the document. Google Docs greatly improved its own built-in citation feature.
Even so, citation generators sometimes cause mistakes. Without knowing how citation works, you will hardly notice the mistakes that they make. Some of those tools still require that you enter manually every detail, including author initials and full titles, which can bee frustrating.
Citing difficult sources, like posts on social networks, follow their own rules. If the name of the person or group is not known, the quote starts with the title. If the post only carries an image or video without words, one describes it in the title instead.
The label for the format in the title can be something like a post on Twitter, a status update on Facebook, a photograph on Instagram or a comment on an online forum.
Programs like Zotero work as full reference managers, while ZoteroBib acts as a more basic generator for a single quote. Citationsy lets you cite a specific online answer by means of a copy of the direct link to it. Word itself has built-in options for quotes and bibliography in the references tab, where one chooses styles likeIEEE from a submenu.
Guides about citation with clear samples and steps to format articles, note lists, work lists and in-text references are available in addition to those programs. Tools with AMA Citation artificial intelligence even help to check the references searching for mistakes and errors.
