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JAMA Referencing Style:  Books & ebooks

UON Library guide to JAMA Referencing Style for UON staff and students

Books & eBooks - General Rules

 

  • Brochure, pamphlet, exhibition catalog, corporate report, and other freestanding publication is often published as a book and is cited as such.

Author Names

  • If there is no author, move secondary authors such as editors to the author position if available.
  • For an edited book, place the editor's names in the author position followed by the label of ed/s.
  • If the book has no author, editor or translator, omit this element and start the reference with the book title.

Book Titles

  • Italicise and capitalise the book titles headline style.
  • Use a colon to separate a title from a subtitle, unless a question mark or a dash is already present.
  • End a title with a period unless a question mark or exclamation point already ends it.
  • Add volume number when there is more than 1 volume.

Edition

  • The edition other than the first is cited and placed after the title. The standard first edition is not cited. 
  • Terms of the edition are abbreviated, for example, 2nd ed (second edition), Rev ed (Revised edition) or 4th Australian ed.
  • Remove any superscript from editions when typing - all letters should be on the same line (e.g., 2nd ed not 2nd ed).

Volume Number

  • Include volume volume numbers if the work cited has more than 1 volume.
  • Use arabic numerals for volume numbers even if the publisher used roman numerals.

Place of Publication is no longer required

Publisher

  • The publisher’s name may be given either in full or in an abbreviated form, but be consistent, see AMA Manual 13.7 Commercial Firms).
  • Omit an initial "The" from a publisher’s name and add country code if needed, for example, National Cancer Institute (US)
  • If there are multiple publishers, use a "/" to separate the publishers, for example, Lund Humphries/Ashgate Publishing.
  • When the publisher can not be found, use "Publisher unknown" in the place of publisher.

Year of Publication/Copyright

  • For books, only the full year is included in the reference.
  • When the publication or copyright date is unknown (no date), use "date unknown" in the place of year.

DOI or URL for eBooks

  • For books consulted on the web, include the DOI if available, without a period after the DOI.
  • If DOI is not available, include the access date and URL at the end of the citation.

 

Books with 1 - 6 authors

 

  • Where there are 6 or fewer authors, list all author names in the reference
  • For multimedia books, add the book medium after the title (and edition if available), for example, CD ROM, audiobook, etc. 
  • See the general rules for books for more details. 

 

Reference list entry: format and example

 

Citation No. 1-6 Author's Last Name Initials. Book Title: Subtitle. Edition. Publisher; Year of publication. DOI or URL if applicable

 

1.    Gammage B. Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aborigines Made Australia. Allen & Unwin; 2012.
2.    Loscalzo J, Fauci AS, Kasper DL, Hauser SL, Longo DL, Jameson JL. Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine. 21st ed. Vol 2. McGraw Hill; 2022.
3.    Hunter E. Aboriginal Health and History: Power and Prejudice in Remote Australia. Cambridge University Press; 1993. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511518188
4.    Alberts B, Johnson A, Lewis J, Raff M, Roberts K, P W. Molecular Biology of the Cell. 5th ed. CD ROM. Garland Science; 2008.

5.   Skloot R. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Audiobook. Random House Audio; 2010.

Books with 7+ authors

 

  • Where there are 7 or more authors, list the first 3 authors followed by “et al.”
  • See the general rules for books for more details. 

 

Reference list entry: format and example

 

Citation No. 1-3 Author's Last Name Initials, et al. Book Title: Subtitle. Edition. Publisher; Year of publication. DOI or URL if applicable

 

1.    Berman A, Frandsen G, Snyder S, et al. Kozier & Erb's Fundamentals of Nursing: Concepts, Process and Practice. 5th Australian ed. Pearson Australia; 2021.

Books with corporate authors

 

'Corporate authors' are groups, societies or organisations who have written publications. This includes universities, research groups, museums, government departments, professional associations, and so on.

  • Omit "The" preceding a corporate author name.
  • Use a semi-colon (;) to separate different corporate authors if there are more than one.
  • When a book is published by an organisation that is also its author, the publisher may be cited as "The Organisation" or in full name.

See the general rules for books for more details.

 

Reference list entry: format and example

 

Citation No. Corporate Author. Book Title: Subtitle. Edition. Publisher; Year of publication. DOI or Accessed date. URL if applicable

 

1.    Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation. The Australian Immunisation Handbook. 11th ed. Australian Government Dept of Health and Ageing; 2018 -. Updated May 18, 2022. Accessed February 14, 2023. https://immunisationhandbook.health.gov.au/

2.   American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 5th ed. American Psychiatric Association; 2013.

Edited books

 

Edited books usually contain chapters written by different authors. In most cases you would actually want to reference the individual chapters you use from the edited book, not the whole edited book itself. See the Book chapters page for more information.

The following is the general format of a reference to an edited book. The editor is listed in place of an author, followed by the descriptive label ed for editor or eds for editors if there are more editors.

See the general rules for books for more details.

 

Reference list entry: format and example

 

Citation No.  Editor's Last Name Initials, ed/s. Book Title: Subtitle. Edition. Publisher; Year of publication. DOI if available

 

1.    Boulton J, ed. Aboriginal Children, History and Health: Beyond Social Determinants. Taylor & Francis Group; 2016. doi:10.4324/9781315666501.
2.    Borrows J, Chartrand LN, Fitzgerald OE, Schwartz R, eds. Braiding Legal Orders: Implementing the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Centre for International Governance Innovation; 2019.

3.    Saleh HM, Hassan AI, eds. Environmental Impact and Remediation of Heavy Metals. IntechOpen; 2022. doi:10.5772/intechopen.97895.
 

Books with no author or editor listed

 

Some books may not have an author or editor listed. If the author or editor is unknown, begin the reference with the title of the book. Do not use anonymous unless this word is used in the book's byline.

See the general rules for books for more details.

 

Reference list entry: format and example

 

Citation No.  Book Title: Subtitle. Edition. Publisher; Year of publication. DOI if available 

 

1.   Handbook of Geriatric Drug Therapy. Springhouse; 2000.

2.   HIV/AIDs Resources: A Nationwide Directory. 10th ed. Guides for Living; 2004. 

Books with no listed date of publication or copyright

 

If neither a date of publication nor a date of copyright can be found, use date unknown in the place of year.

See the general rules for books or more details.

 

Reference list entry: format and example

 

Citation No. Author's Last Name Initials. Book Title: Subtitle. Edition. Publisher; date unknown.

 

1.   Southey, R. The Life of Nelson. Blackie; date unknown.

 

Translated texts

 

Translated texts are republished works that have been translated from another original language. They can include ancient texts and modern works. 

A translated work is normally cited under the name of the author or editor, and list the translator as a secondary author. When there is no author or editor available, the work can be cited under the translator.

See the general rules for books for more details.

 

Reference list entry examples

 

1.   Richer PM. Artistic Anatomy. Hale RB, trans-ed. Watson-Guptill; 1971.

2.   Celli L, ed. The Elbow: Traumatic Lesions. Warr A, trans. Springer-Verlag; 1991. 

3.   Flaws B, trans. The Classic of Difficulties: A Translation of the Nan Jing. 3rd ed. Blue Poppy Press; 2004.

4.   Plato. The Laws. Taylor EA, trans-ed. JM Dent & Sons Ltd; 1934:104-​105.

 

Reference works

 

Be sure to check with your lecturer if these kinds of resources are suitable for use in your assignments.

Reference books can be cited in the same way as citing books and edited books. 

For information on how to reference entries or chapters from reference works such as:

  • Dictionaries
  • Encyclopaedias
  • Thesaurii
  • Indexes, etc

see the Book chapters page.

Subjects: Referencing