What is the difference between AMA and Vancouver citation styles?

Both number sources in order of appearance and use MEDLINE journal abbreviations. AMA 11th edition is one manual: superscript citations, italic abbreviated journal titles, a 3-author et al. cutoff after 6 authors, a required issue number in JAMA Network journals, and no city in book references. Vancouver is the ICMJE/NLM family: the ICMJE text uses parentheses, NLM samples usually leave journal titles in roman type, the common manuscript cutoff is 6 authors then et al., and books still include a place of publication. Journals that say Vancouver often change the in-text mark.

Is AMA the same as Vancouver?

No. AMA is a Vancouver-family numbered style, not a synonym. You can convert most journal articles between them by changing italics, the author cutoff, page abbreviation, DOI spacing, and book place. You cannot assume a generator labeled Vancouver will satisfy JAMA, or that an AMA export will satisfy an ICMJE journal.

Does AMA use full journal names?

No. AMA 11 abbreviates and italicizes journal titles from the NLM Catalog. Older web charts that show Journal of the American Medical Association in an AMA reference are describing a different style or an error. One-word titles such as JAMA and Lancet are not shortened.

How many authors does AMA list before et al.?

List every author through 6 names. If there are more than 6, list the first 3 and then et al. Vancouver / ICMJE samples list the first 6 and then et al. That is the cleanest mechanical difference between the two reference lists.

Does Vancouver use superscripts or brackets?

The ICMJE Recommendations say to identify references with Arabic numerals in parentheses: (1). Many universities and journals still teach Vancouver with [1] or superscripts and call all three Vancouver. Match the target journal. AMA is not ambiguous: it wants superscripts outside periods and commas.

Is JAMA Vancouver or AMA?

AMA. JAMA Network journals tell authors to prepare manuscripts with the AMA Manual of Style, 11th edition, and to identify references with superscript arabic numerals. They also require the issue number after the volume. They accept the ICMJE ethics and reporting recommendations. The reference list itself is AMA, not generic Vancouver.

Why does JAMA's book sample still show New York, NY?

That McPhee line on the JAMA Network Open Instructions for Authors page is a leftover 10th-edition sample. AMA 11 dropped the city. JAMA's own citation of Iverson et al., AMA Manual of Style, 11th ed., Oxford University Press, 2020, has no city. Use the 11th-edition rule.

Should I write In press or Forthcoming?

ICMJE accepts either phrase for an accepted paper that is not yet published. NLM prefers Forthcoming because not every accepted paper will be printed. Follow the target journal's sample. Do not put a submitted-but-unaccepted manuscript in the reference list; ICMJE wants that as unpublished observations in the text, with permission.

Do I need to cite the dataset as well as the paper?

ICMJE (January 2026) says published articles should reference the unique, persistent identifiers of the data sets employed. NLM now prints dataset samples (RxNorm, Dryad) with [dataset] and Available from:. If you used a data repository, cite the repository record, not only the paper that first described it.

Which style should medical students learn first?

Learn the one your school or target journal names. If you have no instruction and you are writing for a US course that mentions JAMA, learn AMA. If you are writing a biomedical manuscript for an international journal, start with ICMJE + NLM and then apply that journal's samples. Learning one numbered system makes the other a punctuation job, not a new philosophy.

Do I need to buy the AMA Manual of Style?

Buy or borrow it if you publish often in JAMA Network journals or your program requires the book. For a single student paper, JAMA Network Open's Instructions for Authors plus a current university AMA 11 guide will cover most references. Vancouver's governing documents are free: ICMJE Recommendations (January 2026) and NLM Citing Medicine.

Do nursing and public health papers use AMA or Vancouver?

Often neither. Many nursing, education, and public-health programs assign APA 7. Numbered medical styles appear when the course is aimed at a clinical journal or a medical faculty. Confirm the syllabus before you superscript the first source.

AMA vs Vancouver Citation Styles (AMA 11 / ICMJE) [2026]

AMA vs Vancouver: Quick Answer

Use AMA when the assignment, thesis handbook, or journal names the AMA Manual of Style or a JAMA Network title (JAMA, JAMA Internal Medicine, JAMA Surgery, JAMA Network Open). Use Vancouver when the journal says ICMJE, Uniform Requirements, NLM, or Vancouver — the default for most international biomedical journals. If the Instructions for Authors name a style, that document wins. This page compares two numbered cousins. For clinical source types (trials, guidelines, Cochrane, preprints), see the medical citation guide. If the real choice is numbered medicine versus author–date social science, see Vancouver vs APA.

Same article, two official systems

AMA 11 in the sentence:

Solid-organ transplantation in selected patients with HIV infection has been reported.¹

ICMJE Vancouver in the sentence:

Solid-organ transplantation in selected patients with HIV infection has been reported (1).

AMA 11 journal-article template:

Author AA, Author BB. Title of article. Journal Abbrev. Year;volume(issue):pages. doi:10.xxxx/xxxxx

Vancouver journal-article template:

Author AA, Author BB. Title of article. Journal Abbrev. Year Mon DD;volume(issue):pages.

Authors before et al.:

AMA 11: list 1–6; if more than 6, first 3 + et al. Vancouver / NLM samples: first 6 + et al.

AMA 11th edition (2020)

One house style: AMA Manual of Style
In-text: superscript after punctuation¹
Journal titles: abbreviated and italic
More than 6 authors: first 3, then et al.
Books: publisher; year (no city)
DOI: doi:10.1001/jama.2021.0411

Vancouver (ICMJE / NLM)

A family, not one paid manual
ICMJE in-text: Arabic numerals in parentheses (1)
Journal titles: MEDLINE abbreviations, usually roman
More than 6 authors: first 6, then et al.
Books: Place: Publisher; year
DOI: doi: 10.1136/bmj.a2752

Current Editions: AMA 11 vs ICMJE / NLM

The comparison only holds if you are using the editions journals now expect. The current AMA Manual of Style is the 11th edition (2020), still the AMA edition in 2026. Vancouver is not a competing 11th-edition book. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors publishes free Recommendations (updated January 2026, including Section V on AI in publishing). Those recommendations send reference format to the National Library of Medicine: the Samples of Formatted References page (last reviewed 2 June 2026) and Citing Medicine, 2nd edition (2007; last content update 2 October 2015).

Authorities behind AMA and Vancouver citations
Element	AMA	Vancouver
Governing document	AMA Manual of Style, 11th ed. (2020)	ICMJE Recommendations (January 2026) + NLM Citing Medicine
Cost	Paid manual; JAMA Network journals summarize the rules in author instructions	Free online
Update pattern	New edition every several years	ICMJE text is revised as needed; NLM samples last reviewed 2 June 2026
Typical journals	JAMA Network and some US medical schools	Most ICMJE-following biomedical journals worldwide
Official starting points	AMA Manual of Style; JAMA Network Open Instructions for Authors	ICMJE manuscript preparation; NLM sample references

They Are Cousins, Not Opposites

The usual student mistake is to treat AMA vs Vancouver as a binary like APA vs MLA. Both systems number references in citation order, invert names, use initials without periods, write article titles in sentence case, and abbreviate journal titles from the same NLM Catalog / MEDLINE list. AMA is a Vancouver-family numbered style with its own house rules. Vancouver is the international policy layer plus the NLM bibliographic recipes that hundreds of journals then tweak.

That history matters. Editors from a group of medical journals met in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1978 and issued the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals. Those requirements became the ICMJE Recommendations. NLM adapted NISO bibliographic rules for MEDLINE. AMA kept a numbered medical style and published a full editorial manual covering references, usage, visuals, and ethics. When a professor says “use Vancouver,” they usually mean ICMJE/NLM. When they say “use AMA,” they mean the 11th-edition manual or JAMA's implementation of it.

How the official documents describe their own systems

JAMA Network Open Instructions for Authors

Number references in the order they appear in the text; do not alphabetize. In text, tables, and legends, identify references with superscript arabic numerals. When listing references, follow AMA style and abbreviate names of journals according to the journals list in PubMed. List all authors and/or editors up to 6; if more than 6, list the first 3 followed by "et al."

JAMA Network Open, on issue numbers

Note: Journal references should include the issue number in parentheses after the volume number.

ICMJE Recommendations

References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. Identify references in text, tables, and legends by Arabic numerals in parentheses.

ICMJE, on journal titles

The titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the style used for MEDLINE.

ICMJE, on format

References should follow the standards summarized in the NLM's Sample References webpage and detailed in the NLM's Citing Medicine, 2nd edition.

National Library of Medicine

The recommended style for references is based on the National Information Standards Organization NISO Z39.29-2005 (R2010) Bibliographic References as adapted by the National Library of Medicine for its databases.

Those sentences come from the JAMA Network Open author instructions, the ICMJE preparing-a-manuscript page (January 2026), and NLM's sample references (last reviewed 2 June 2026). They are the shortest accurate definition of the AMA vs Vancouver choice: one superscript house style with a three-author et al. cutoff and a required issue number, versus an international numbered policy that writes (1) in the ICMJE text and then lets journals choose parentheses, brackets, or superscripts.

What Is the Difference Between AMA and Vancouver?

The deepest difference is not “US versus international.” It is specificity. AMA is one manual. Vancouver is a shared backbone. Two Vancouver journals can disagree about superscripts, whether to italicize JAMA, how to truncate pages, and whether to print a DOI, and both can still be following ICMJE. Two AMA papers should not disagree about those things if both are following the 11th edition.

The differences that actually change a reference list
Feature	AMA 11	Vancouver (ICMJE / NLM default)
In-text mark	Superscript arabic numeral after punctuation¹	ICMJE: (1). Journals also use [1] or ¹
Reference order	Order of first appearance	Order of first appearance
Journal title	NLM abbreviation, italicized	MEDLINE abbreviation, usually not italic
Author cutoff	List 1–6; if more than 6, first 3 + et al.	ICMJE/NLM samples: first 6 + et al. (NLM databases now list all authors)
Issue number	JAMA requires volume(issue)	Required unless the journal omits it for continuous pagination
Page span	Inclusive pages, usually written in full (1772-1778)	Often abbreviated (284-7)
DOI	doi:10.1001/jama.2021.0411 (no space, no https://)	doi: 10.1136/bmj.a2752 (space after the colon in NLM samples)
Book place	Omitted in AMA 11	Included (St. Louis: Mosby; 2002)
Website	Accessed Month DD, YYYY. URL	[Internet]. Place: Publisher; date [cited YYYY Mon DD]. Available from: URL

If the prompt just says "Vancouver"

Open the target journal's Instructions for Authors before you format the first superscript. ICMJE names parentheses. Many medical schools teach brackets or superscripts and still call the result Vancouver. The reference list should follow NLM Citing Medicine unless the journal prints its own samples.

Vancouver citation generator →ICMJE manuscript page →

In-Text Citations Compared

Both styles give each source one number the first time it appears and reuse that number for every later mention. Neither list is alphabetical. A source cited only in a table or figure legend is numbered when that table or figure is first mentioned, not dumped at the end.

AMA in the sentence:

Solid-organ transplantation in selected patients with HIV infection has been reported.¹ Later reviews reused the same number.¹

ICMJE Vancouver in the sentence:

Solid-organ transplantation in selected patients with HIV infection has been reported (1). Later reviews reused the same number (1).

Common journal Vancouver variants:

Reported [1]. / Reported.¹

How the number sits in the sentence
Situation	AMA 11	ICMJE Vancouver
One source	after the period¹	(1) as the journal places it
Several sources	^1,3 or a range ^1-3	(1,3) or (1-3)
Author named in the sentence	Halpern et al reported...¹	Halpern et al (1) reported...
Tables and legends	Same superscript numerals	Same Arabic numerals in parentheses
Reuse later in the paper	Same number, not a new one	Same number, not a new one

University of Central Florida's JAMA guide, restating AMA Manual of Style §3.3, is the punctuation rule students miss:

Where the AMA superscript sits, and how JAMA tables combine a number with a footnote

UCF JAMA guide (AMA §3.3)

Superscript numbers are placed outside periods and commas, and inside colons and semicolons.

JAMA Network Open, table footnotes

When both a footnote letter and reference number follow data in a table, set the superscript reference number first followed by a comma and the superscript letter.

UCF JAMA guide, unpublished work

Unpublished works and personal communications should be cited parenthetically (and not on the reference list).

Do not put a space before the AMA superscript. Unpublished work and personal communications stay parenthetical in the sentence and do not enter the AMA reference list. ICMJE is stricter still about personal communications: quote them only when the information is essential and not available from a public source, and put the name and date in parentheses.

Journal Names: Both Styles Abbreviate

A widely copied AMA vs Vancouver chart says AMA prints full journal names and Vancouver abbreviates them. That chart is wrong. AMA 11 instructs writers to abbreviate and italicize journal titles from the NCBI NLM Catalog. ICMJE tells authors to use MEDLINE abbreviations. One-word titles such as Lancet or JAMA stay unabbreviated because there is nothing to shorten. If a journal is not in PubMed, AMA allows expanding the title rather than inventing an abbreviation.

NLM / MEDLINE abbreviations used by both styles
Full title (for recognition)	Abbreviation in the reference
The New England Journal of Medicine	N Engl J Med
JAMA	JAMA
The Lancet	Lancet
BMJ (formerly British Medical Journal)	BMJ
Annals of Internal Medicine	Ann Intern Med
Journal of Clinical Oncology	J Clin Oncol
Journal of Medical Internet Research	J Med Internet Res

Look the abbreviation up. Do not guess J. Am. Med. Assoc. or NEJM. Search the NLM Catalog and copy the MEDLINE / PubMed abbreviation. If the journal later changed its name, cite the title that was in use when the article was published: Arch Intern Med for a 2012 paper, JAMA Intern Med for a 2015 paper.

Author Names and the et al. Cutoff

Both styles invert names and drop periods in initials: Halpern SD, not Halpern, S. D. They separate authors with commas and do not write and before the last name. The cutoff is the difference students miss on multi-center trials.

How many names appear before et al.
Authors on the byline	AMA 11	Vancouver (ICMJE samples)
1–6	List every name	List every name
7 or more	First 3 names + et al.	First 6 names + et al.
Group author	Use the group name as published	Use the group name as published

NLM is careful about its own databases. The sample-references page still teaches the six-author cutoff for manuscripts and then notes that MEDLINE/PubMed now lists every author. Do not copy a PubMed display into a Vancouver paper and assume the et al. rule disappeared. Follow the journal. Follow the sample page when the journal is silent.

NLM's own many-author instruction

NLM Samples of Formatted References

List the first six authors, followed by et al. If there are more than six authors, list the first six authors, followed by et al. (Note: NLM now lists all authors.):

Journal Article Examples

These are real articles. The AMA lines follow JAMA Network / AMA 11 punctuation. The Vancouver lines follow NLM sample punctuation. Italics mark the AMA journal title.

Three authors (both styles list everyone)

AMA 11:

1. Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002;347(4):284-287.

Vancouver (NLM sample, with issue):

1. Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002 Jul 25;347(4):284-7.

Vancouver (NLM optional short form):

1. Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002;347:284-7.

NLM allows the short form when a journal paginates continuously through a volume. JAMA's author instructions still want the issue number. If you are writing for a JAMA Network journal, keep (4).

Six authors (both styles still list everyone)

AMA / JAMA Network Open Instructions for Authors sample:

2. Youngster I, Russell GH, Pindar C, Ziv-Baran T, Sauk J, Hohmann EL. Oral, capsulized, frozen fecal microbiota transplantation for relapsing Clostridium difficile infection. JAMA. 2014;312(17):1772-1778.

Same article, Vancouver / NLM punctuation:

More than six authors (the cutoff changes)

Messier and colleagues reported the Strength Training for Arthritis Trial (START) in JAMA in 2021 (doi:10.1001/jama.2021.0411). Eleven authors appear on the byline. AMA therefore prints three names. Vancouver prints six. NLM's own many-author sample is Rose et al., Brain Research (2002).

AMA 11 (first 3 + et al.):

3. Messier SP, Mihalko SL, Beavers DP, et al. Effect of high-intensity strength training on knee pain and knee joint compressive forces among adults with knee osteoarthritis: the START randomized clinical trial. JAMA. 2021;325(7):646-657. doi:10.1001/jama.2021.0411

Vancouver (first 6 + et al.):

3. Messier SP, Mihalko SL, Beavers DP, Nicklas BJ, DeVita P, Carr JJ, et al. Effect of high-intensity strength training on knee pain and knee joint compressive forces among adults with knee osteoarthritis: the START randomized clinical trial. JAMA. 2021;325(7):646-57. doi: 10.1001/jama.2021.0411.

NLM sample (Vancouver):

4. Rose ME, Huerbin MB, Melick J, Marion DW, Palmer AM, Schiding JK, et al. Regulation of interstitial excitatory amino acid concentrations after cortical contusion injury. Brain Res. 2002;935(1-2):40-6.

Same article, AMA 11:

4. Rose ME, Huerbin MB, Melick J, et al. Regulation of interstitial excitatory amino acid concentrations after cortical contusion injury. Brain Res. 2002;935(1-2):40-46.

Article with a DOI and an e-locator

Vancouver (NLM DOI sample):

5. Zhang M, Holman CD, Price SD, Sanfilippo FM, Preen DB, Bulsara MK. Comorbidity and repeat admission to hospital for adverse drug reactions in older adults: retrospective cohort study. BMJ. 2009 Jan 7;338:a2752. doi: 10.1136/bmj.a2752.

AMA 11:

Group author, and a published-online AMA sample

NLM sample 2 is a group author. JAMA Network Open's own instructions still print a published-online article without volume or pages. Copy the journal's sample when the article has no issue yet; once volume, issue, and pages exist, use those instead of the early-online form.

Vancouver (NLM organization-as-author sample):

Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group. Hypertension, insulin, and proinsulin in participants with impaired glucose tolerance. Hypertension. 2002;40(5):679-86.

AMA / JAMA Network Open published-online sample:

Murray CJL. Maximizing antiretroviral therapy in developing countries: the dual challenge of efficiency and quality [published online December 1, 2014]. JAMA. doi:10.1001/jama.2014.16376

AMA 11 (JAMA's own CONSORT 2025 reference):

Hopewell S, Chan A, Collins GS, et al. CONSORT 2025 statement: updated guideline for reporting randomized trials. JAMA. Published online April 14, 2025. doi:10.1001/jama.2025.4347

Book Citations

AMA 11 dropped the city of publication. University of Central Florida's JAMA book guide restates the 11th-edition reason: many publishers have more than one office, e-books hide a city, and the city is not required to retrieve the book. NLM Citing Medicine still wants a place. If your Vancouver template still prints St. Louis: Mosby, that is expected. If an AMA 10th-edition handout still prints the city, it is out of date.

Why AMA 11 dropped the city — and why JAMA's public sample list can still show one

UCF JAMA book guide (AMA 11)

The 11th edition of this manual no longer recommends including the publisher's location for several reasons: many publishers have more than 1 location and determining which location is appropriate to include can be challenging; location can be difficult to determine if looking at an online resource (eg, an e-book); and publisher location is not a necessary piece of information in retrieving the reference.

JAMA Network Open's public sample list still shows McPhee et al. with New York, NY. That is a leftover 10th-edition line, not the 11th-edition rule. JAMA's own bibliography on the same page cites the AMA Manual of Style without a city. Copy the 11th-edition rule, not the leftover sample.

AMA 11 (UCF JAMA book sample):

6. Gilbert SF. Developmental Biology. 8th ed. Sinauer Associates; 2006.

AMA 11 (JAMA's own AMA Manual citation, no city):

Iverson C, Christiansen S, Flanagin A, et al. AMA Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors. 11th ed. Oxford University Press; 2020.

JAMA leftover sample — do not copy the city into AMA 11:

McPhee SJ, Winker MA, Rabow MW, Pantilat SZ, Markowitz AJ, eds. Care at the Close of Life: Evidence and Experience. New York, NY: McGraw Hill Medical; 2011.

AMA 11 e-book (UCF JAMA book sample):

Auerbach PS. Wilderness Medicine. 6th ed. Mosby Elsevier; 2012. Accessed October 6, 2014. https://www.clinicalkey.com/#!/browse/book/3-s2.0-C2009039724X

Vancouver (NLM sample):

6. Murray PR, Rosenthal KS, Kobayashi GS, Pfaller MA. Medical microbiology. 4th ed. St. Louis: Mosby; 2002.

Vancouver chapter (NLM sample):

7. Meltzer PS, Kallioniemi A, Trent JM. Chromosome alterations in human solid tumors. In: Vogelstein B, Kinzler KW, editors. The genetic basis of human cancer. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002. p. 93-113.

AMA italicizes the book title and uses eds after editor names. Vancouver usually leaves the title in roman type, writes editors (not eds) in NLM samples, and prefixes chapter pages with p.

Websites and Internet Documents

This is where the two styles stop looking like cousins. AMA is close to other modern American manuals: organization, page title, dates, URL. Vancouver, following Citing Medicine, still flags internet documents with [Internet], a publisher place, a cited date, and Available from:.

AMA 11 website:

8. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Recommendations for the conduct, reporting, editing, and publication of scholarly work in medical journals. Accessed September 16, 2026. https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/

Vancouver homepage (NLM sample):

8. eatright.org [Internet]. Chicago: Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics; c2016 [cited 2016 Dec 27]. Available from: https://www.eatright.org/.

Vancouver part of a site (NLM sample):

9. American Medical Association [Internet]. Chicago: The Association; c1995-2016 [cited 2016 Dec 27]. Office of International Medicine; [about 2 screens]. Available from: https://www.ama-assn.org/about/office-international-medicine

AMA includes an accessed date for webpages and for journal articles that have a URL instead of a DOI. If a DOI exists, AMA prefers the DOI and drops the URL. NLM samples often keep month-day dates, PubMed IDs, and Available from: even when a DOI is present. For DOI mechanics across styles, see how to use DOIs and how to find a DOI.

Preprints, Personal Communications, Datasets, Retractions, and AI

Numbered medical styles now have to mark unpublished, withdrawn, and machine-generated material. NLM prefers Forthcoming rather than In press because not every accepted paper will be printed, and it labels internet preprints with [Preprint]. ICMJE (January 2026) requires a preprint label, a dataset identifier when data were used, a PubMed retraction check, and a ban on citing AI as the primary source. AMA treats unpublished work and personal communications as parenthetical text, not reference-list entries.

Official wording for the cases a generator usually gets wrong

Vancouver preprint (NLM sample):

Alvarez R. Near optimal neural network estimator for spectral x-ray photon counting data with pileup. arXiv:1702.01006v1 [Preprint]. 2017 [cited 2017 Feb 9]: [11 p.]. Available from: https://arxiv.org/abs/1702.01006

NLM, forthcoming versus in press

NLM prefers "Forthcoming" rather than "In press" because not all items will be printed.

Vancouver forthcoming (NLM sample):

Tian D, Araki H, Stahl E, Bergelson J, Kreitman M. Signature of balancing selection in Arabidopsis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. Forthcoming 2002.

Vancouver retracted article (NLM sample):

Feifel D, Moutier CY, Perry W. Safety and tolerability of a rapidly escalating dose-loading regimen for risperidone. J Clin Psychiatry. 2000;61(12):909-11. Retraction in: Feifel D, Moutier CY, Perry W. J Clin Psychiatry. 2002;63(2):169.

Vancouver dataset, simplified NLM format:

RxNorm [dataset]. April 4, 2016 Full Monthly Release. 2016 Apr 4 [cited 2016 Apr 18]. Available from: https://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/umls/rxnorm/docs/rxnormfiles.html

ICMJE, unpublished and personal communications

References to papers accepted but not yet published should be designated as "in press" or "forthcoming." Information from manuscripts submitted but not accepted should be cited in the text as "unpublished observations" with written permission from the source.

ICMJE, personal communications

Avoid citing a "personal communication" unless it provides essential information not available from a public source, in which case the name of the person and date of communication should be cited in parentheses in the text.

ICMJE, preprints

When preprints are cited, the citation should clearly indicate that the reference is a preprint.

ICMJE, datasets

Published articles should reference the unique, persistent identifiers of the data sets employed.

ICMJE, retractions

Authors are responsible for checking that none of the references cite retracted articles except in the context of referring to the retraction.

ICMJE, AI as a source

Referencing AI-generated material as the primary source is not acceptable.

For the full AI-citation rules across APA, MLA, Chicago, and ICMJE, see how to cite AI.

When to Use AMA vs Vancouver

Use AMA when

The journal is in the JAMA Network or the instructions cite the AMA Manual of Style, 11th edition.
A US medical school, residency program, or thesis office names AMA for student papers.
You need one consistent superscript system and do not want to reverse-engineer a journal's private Vancouver dialect.
The assignment says JAMA style. JAMA style is AMA, with the journal's extra rules (issue numbers, reporting guidelines, and those table footnote letters).

Use Vancouver when

The journal says it follows ICMJE Recommendations, Uniform Requirements, NLM, or Vancouver.
You are submitting to most non-JAMA biomedical titles, including many BMJ, Lancet, BMC, and society journals — after you read that journal's samples.
A non-US medical faculty handbook names Vancouver and points you to Citing Medicine.
You need a free official rule set. ICMJE and NLM do not require a purchased manual.

Do not choose from a stereotype

“American journals use AMA; everyone else uses Vancouver” is a slogan, not a method. The New England Journal of Medicine is a US journal whose references follow a numbered biomedical style that is closer to Vancouver/NLM than to AMA italics and the three-author cutoff. The Lancet and BMJ are international titles with their own numbered house styles on a Vancouver base. The medicine field page and nursing or public health directories show how often those styles sit next to APA in health professions. Nursing programs in particular may want APA, not a numbered style; see the nursing citation guide.

Journal House Styles You Will Actually Meet

Numbered medical styles in the wild
Publication	What authors are told	Closer to
JAMA Network	AMA 11; superscripts; PubMed abbreviations; 3 + et al. after 6 authors	AMA
ICMJE-listed journals	Numbered citations; MEDLINE abbreviations; NLM samples	Vancouver
NEJM	Numbered references; journal-specific examples in the author center	Vancouver family
BMJ / Lancet	Numbered references with publisher house rules	Vancouver family

Use the side-by-side rule pages when you need a compact field list rather than this narrative: Vancouver vs AMA, APA vs Vancouver, and APA vs AMA.

Common Mistakes

Writing full journal names in AMA. AMA abbreviates. The full name belongs in the sentence or the journal's masthead, not in the reference.
Inventing abbreviations. Brit Med J and NEJM are not NLM abbreviations. BMJ and N Engl J Med are.
Using the wrong et al. cutoff. Listing all 14 trial authors is not “more complete AMA.” Listing only three names in Vancouver is not “shorter Vancouver.”
Italicizing Vancouver journal titles because Zotero's AMA style did. Italics are an AMA signal. Most NLM samples are roman.
Copying New York, NY from JAMA's McPhee sample into an AMA 11 book. That city is a leftover. JAMA's own Iverson citation of the AMA Manual of Style has no city.
Dropping the city from a Vancouver book citation to “modernize” it. NLM still wants the place.
Treating PubMed's author list as the citation. PubMed may show every name. Your manuscript style may not.
Mixing in-text marks. Do not combine (1), [1], and ¹ in one paper. Pick the mark the journal prints.
Alphabetizing the numbered list. Both styles number by first appearance.
Citing a retracted paper as if it were current. ICMJE: check PubMed for retracted publication before you submit.
Citing a chatbot as the source. ICMJE: referencing AI-generated material as the primary source is not acceptable.
Picking AMA because the paper is “medical” and you already know superscripts. Check the syllabus. Plenty of nursing, public-health, and psychology-adjacent health courses still want APA.

Official Sources and Further Reading

When a blog, a slide deck, and a citation generator disagree, use these primary sources. The examples in this guide are taken from them, not invented.

AMA Manual of Style — current 11th edition (2020).
JAMA Instructions for Authors — the public AMA implementation most students can read without the book.
JAMA Network Open Instructions for Authors — superscript, et al., issue-number, table-footnote, Youngster, Murray, and leftover McPhee samples quoted above.
ICMJE: Preparing a Manuscript for Submission — parentheses, MEDLINE abbreviations, datasets, retractions, and the pointer to NLM (January 2026 text).
ICMJE journals following the recommendations — a directory, not a guarantee that every listed title uses identical punctuation.
NLM: Samples of Formatted References — the worked Vancouver examples (Halpern, Rose, Murray, Zhang, eatright.org, Alvarez, Tian, Feifel, RxNorm), last reviewed 2 June 2026.
NLM: Citing Medicine, 2nd edition — the full Vancouver-family rule book.
NLM Catalog: journals — official MEDLINE title abbreviations.
University of Central Florida, JAMA / AMA books — why AMA 11 dropped the city, plus the Gilbert and Auerbach samples.
University of Central Florida, citing sources within text — AMA §3.3 superscript placement and the parenthetical unpublished-work rule.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between AMA and Vancouver citation styles?: Both number sources in order of appearance and use MEDLINE journal abbreviations. AMA 11th edition is one manual: superscript citations, italic abbreviated journal titles, a 3-author et al. cutoff after 6 authors, a required issue number in JAMA Network journals, and no city in book references. Vancouver is the ICMJE/NLM family: the ICMJE text uses parentheses, NLM samples usually leave journal titles in roman type, the common manuscript cutoff is 6 authors then et al., and books still include a place of publication. Journals that say Vancouver often change the in-text mark.
Is AMA the same as Vancouver?: No. AMA is a Vancouver-family numbered style, not a synonym. You can convert most journal articles between them by changing italics, the author cutoff, page abbreviation, DOI spacing, and book place. You cannot assume a generator labeled Vancouver will satisfy JAMA, or that an AMA export will satisfy an ICMJE journal.
Does AMA use full journal names?: No. AMA 11 abbreviates and italicizes journal titles from the NLM Catalog. Older web charts that show Journal of the American Medical Association in an AMA reference are describing a different style or an error. One-word titles such as JAMA and Lancet are not shortened.
How many authors does AMA list before et al.?: List every author through 6 names. If there are more than 6, list the first 3 and then et al. Vancouver / ICMJE samples list the first 6 and then et al. That is the cleanest mechanical difference between the two reference lists.
Does Vancouver use superscripts or brackets?: The ICMJE Recommendations say to identify references with Arabic numerals in parentheses: (1). Many universities and journals still teach Vancouver with [1] or superscripts and call all three Vancouver. Match the target journal. AMA is not ambiguous: it wants superscripts outside periods and commas.
Is JAMA Vancouver or AMA?: AMA. JAMA Network journals tell authors to prepare manuscripts with the AMA Manual of Style, 11th edition, and to identify references with superscript arabic numerals. They also require the issue number after the volume. They accept the ICMJE ethics and reporting recommendations. The reference list itself is AMA, not generic Vancouver.
Why does JAMA's book sample still show New York, NY?: That McPhee line on the JAMA Network Open Instructions for Authors page is a leftover 10th-edition sample. AMA 11 dropped the city. JAMA's own citation of Iverson et al., AMA Manual of Style, 11th ed., Oxford University Press, 2020, has no city. Use the 11th-edition rule.
Should I write In press or Forthcoming?: ICMJE accepts either phrase for an accepted paper that is not yet published. NLM prefers Forthcoming because not every accepted paper will be printed. Follow the target journal's sample. Do not put a submitted-but-unaccepted manuscript in the reference list; ICMJE wants that as unpublished observations in the text, with permission.
Do I need to cite the dataset as well as the paper?: ICMJE (January 2026) says published articles should reference the unique, persistent identifiers of the data sets employed. NLM now prints dataset samples (RxNorm, Dryad) with [dataset] and Available from:. If you used a data repository, cite the repository record, not only the paper that first described it.
Which style should medical students learn first?: Learn the one your school or target journal names. If you have no instruction and you are writing for a US course that mentions JAMA, learn AMA. If you are writing a biomedical manuscript for an international journal, start with ICMJE + NLM and then apply that journal's samples. Learning one numbered system makes the other a punctuation job, not a new philosophy.
Do I need to buy the AMA Manual of Style?: Buy or borrow it if you publish often in JAMA Network journals or your program requires the book. For a single student paper, JAMA Network Open's Instructions for Authors plus a current university AMA 11 guide will cover most references. Vancouver's governing documents are free: ICMJE Recommendations (January 2026) and NLM Citing Medicine.
Do nursing and public health papers use AMA or Vancouver?: Often neither. Many nursing, education, and public-health programs assign APA 7. Numbered medical styles appear when the course is aimed at a clinical journal or a medical faculty. Confirm the syllabus before you superscript the first source.

Generate the citation, then check the cutoff

Create an AMA 11 or Vancouver citation, then compare it with the official samples above. Watch the superscript, the italics, the 3-versus-6 author cutoff, and whether a city crept into a book entry.

AMA citation generator →Vancouver citation generator →