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JAMA Referencing Style:  Articles

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

Journal Articles: General Rules

 

Journals are a particular type of periodical. The same rules can be used for magazine and newspaper articles.

Author Names

  • List names in the order they appear on the publication
  • Initials follow the surname of authors, no spaces or full-stops appear between initials, for example, Smith CK
  • Capitalise surnames and enter spaces as they appear on the publication. For example, Van Den Hoffer or van der Hoffer
  • Where there are 6 or fewer authors, list all author names.
  • Where there are 7 or more authors, list the first 3 authors followed by “et al.”
  • Place a comma and space between each personal name when there are more than one author.
  • Place a semicolon (not a comma) and space before a corporate author when there are more than one author.
  • Do not use “and” or “&” to separate the last two authors.
  • Omit "The" preceding an organizational name / corporate author.
  • A country code may be added after national bodies if needed for clarification, eg. National Academy of Sciences (US).
  • If the article does not have an author, just omit this element, and start the reference with the article title. 

Article Titles

  • Capitalise only the first word of the article title (and words that normally begin with a capital letter).
  • Subtitle begins with a lowercase letter. A colon and space separate title and subtitle, even if a period was used in the original.
  • 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.
  • Do not italicize, underline or use quotation marks for article titles.

Journal Title

  • Abbreviate and italicize journal titles. Use initial capital letters, for example, Am J Hosp Med is for American Journal of Hospital Medicine.
  • No punctuation is used within abbreviations; a full-stop appears at the end of the journal title, eg. Am J Hosp Med.

Year of Publication

  • Include the year of publication after the journal title.
  • End date information with a semicolon unless there is no volume or issue, then end with a colon, followed by page range.
  • When the publication date is unknown, use [date unknown].

Volume Number

  • Volume number follows the year and is followed by issue and page range, eg. 2015;95(1):110-111.
  • Omit "volume", "vol.", and similar wording preceding the number
  • If no volume number is found, just simply omit the volume no, eg, 2014;(168):1-25.

Issue Number

  • The issue number, enclosed in parentheses, follows the volume number and precedes the page range, eg. 99(4):258-260.
  • If issue no is a supplement or a part, cite it as so, eg, 2021;94(suppl 4):10-25, or 2015;138(pt 9):2468-2470.
  • If no issue number is found, just omit this element, eg, 2015;95:110-111. 

Page Numbers or e-Locator

  • Include the page range (beginning and ending page numbers) of the entire article eg. 269-273.
  • Do not omit digits from inclusive page numbers, eg, use 269-273, not 269-73.
  • If page number is not available, use an e-locator such as an article no in the place of page numbers.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • If a DOI is available, include it at the end of the reference, no need to include URL or accessed date. 

  • DOIs are cited in the format of doi:10.xxxxxxx, e.g. doi:10.1086/679716

  • Do not include a full-stop at the end of the DOI.

  • Check the What are DOIs? site for more information on DOIs.

Journal articles with 1-6 author/s

 

 

Reference list entry: format and example

 

Citation No. 1-6 Author's Last Name Initials. Article title: subtitle. Abbreviated Journal Title. Year;volume(issue):page range. doi:10.xxxxxxxx

 

1.  Musch DC, Janz NK, Leinberger RL, Niziol LM, Gillespie BW. Discussing driving concerns with older patients, II: vision care providers' approaches to assessment. JAMA Ophthalmol. 2013;131(2):213-218. doi:10.1001/2013.jamaophthalmol.106
2.  Obama B. United States health care reform: progress to date and next steps. JAMA. 2016;316(5):525-532. doi:10.1001/jama.2016.9797
3.  Szuhany KL, Simon NM. Anxiety disorders: a review. JAMA. 2022;328(24):2431-2445. doi:10.1001/jama.2022.22744
4.  Jackson LG. Prenatal diagnosis: Down syndrome or more? Hum Mutat. 2017;38(7):749. doi:10.1002/humu.23242
5.  Fatmawati, Dewantara JA. Social resilience of indigenous community on the border: belief and confidence in anticipating the spread of COVID‐19 through the Besamsam custom in the Dayak community. J Community Appl Soc Psychol. 2022;32(6):1216-1233. doi:10.1002/casp.2611
 

Journal articles with 7 or more authors

 

 

Reference list entry: format and example

 

Citation No. 1-3 Author's Last Name Initials. Article title: subtitle. Abbreviated Journal Title. Year;volume(issue):page range. doi:10.xxxxxxxx

 

1.  Cao Y, Steffey S, He J, et al. Medical image retrieval: a multimodal approach. Cancer Inform. 2014;13(suppl 3):125-36. doi:10.4137/cin.S14053
2.  Livingston G, Huntley J, Sommerlad A, et al. Dementia prevention, intervention, and care: 2020 report of the Lancet Commission. The Lancet. 2020;396(10248):413-446. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30367-6
3.  Sunderam S, Kissin DM, Crawford SB, et al. Assisted reproductive technology surveillance — United States, 2012. MMWR Surveill Summ. 2015;64(suppl 6):1-29. 
4.  Champigneulle B, Merceron S, Lemiale V, et al. What is the outcome of cancer patients admitted to the ICU after cardiac arrest? results from a multicenter study. Resuscitation. 2015;92(7):38-44. doi:10.1016/j.resuscitation.2015.04.011
5.   Allison MA, Hurley LP, Markowitz L, et al. Primary care physicians' perspectives about HPV vaccine. Pediatrics. 2016;137(2):e20152488. doi:10.1542/peds.2015-2488

6.   Akuhata-Huntington Z, Foster S, Gillon A, et al. COVID-19 and Indigenous resilience. Higher Education Research and Development. 2020;39(7):1377-1383. doi:10.1080/07294360.2020.1823327
 

Journal articles with corporate authors

 

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

  • Omit "The" preceding an organizational name
  • Cite the corporate author in descending hierarchical order, separated by commas, for example, University of Newcastle, School of Medicine
  • Separate corporate authors by a semicolon instead of a comma
  • A country code may be added after national bodies if needed for clarification, for example, National Academy of Sciences (US).

 

Reference list entry: format and example

 

Citation No. Corporate Author. Article title: subtitle. Abbreviated Journal Title. Year;volume(issue):page range. doi:10.xxxxxxxx

 

1.  Global Burden of Disease Cancer Collaboration. The global burden of cancer 2013. JAMA Oncol. 2015;1(4):505-27. doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2015.0735

2.  Guggenheim JA, Williams C; UK Biobank Eye and Vision Consortium. Role of educational exposure in the association between myopia and birth order. JAMA Ophthalmol. 2015;133(12):1408-14. doi:10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2015.3556
 

 

 

Journal articles with no author listed

 

  • For journal articles published without an author's name, skip the author element and begin the entry with the article title.
  • Do not list the author as "Anonymous" unless this word is in the article's byline,

 

Reference list entry: format and example

 

Citation No. Article title: subtitle. Abbreviated Journal Title. Year;volume(issue):page range. doi:10.xxxxxxxx

1.  Incorrect percentages in the abstract. JAMA Oncol. 2017;3(12):1742. doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2017.4368

2.  Anonymous. Care can't get better until complaints are heard. BMJ. 2012;345:e4511. doi:10.1136/bmj.e4511
 

Journal articles - 'Forthcoming', 'In press', online first

 

Many journal publishers provide access to articles before they have been assigned a volume, issue or page number, referring to them as "Forthcoming", "preprint", "In Press", "Advance Publication", "Epub ahead of print", or "Online First" articles.

It is important to re-check references prior to submitting assessment tasks in case a 'forthcoming' article has been assigned a volume, issue and page numbers. If this is the case, ensure you re-format the citation following the guidelines on the appropriate tab on this page for the number of authors the article has.

 

Referencing 'forthcoming' articles:

 

If an article has been accepted for publication by a journal but has not yet appeared, a description with date stands in place of the year, volume, issue, and the page numbers. Any article not yet accepted should be treated as an unpublished manuscript.

 

Reference list entry: format and example

 

Citation No. Author's Last Name Initials. Article title: subtitle. Abbreviated Journal Title. Description with Date. doi:10.xxxxxxxx.

1.  Tamburini S, Shen N, Wu HC, Clemente JC. The microbiome in early life: implications for health outcomes. Nat Med. Published online July 7, 2016. doi:10.1038/nm.4142
2.  Tamburini S, Shen N, Wu HC, Clemente JC. The microbiome in early life: implications for health outcomes. Nat Med. 2016;22(7):713-22. doi:10.1038/nm.4142


Where possible always refer to the final versions of your sources (see example citation 2 above).

Free web journal articles without a DOI

 

To reference a free online journal article which does not have a DOI: 

  • Add the access date and the URL to the end of the reference
  • Do not include a full-stop at the end of the URL.

See the general rules for journal articles for more details. 

 

Reference list entry: format and example

 

Citation No. Author Surname Initials. Article title: subtitle. Abbreviated Journal Title. Year;volume(issue):page range. Accessed Month Day, Year. URL

 

1.    Zadro JR, Shirley D, Ferreira M, et al. Is vitamin D supplementation effective for low back pain? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Pain Physician. 2018;21(2):121-145. Accessed January 9, 2023. https://www.painphysicianjournal.com/current/pdf?article=NTEwMw%3D%3D&journal=110

 

Magazine articles

 

Magazine articles are cited in the same way as journal articles. However, for magazines not published with volume and issue numbers, use the full date in the format of Month day, year.

Newspaper and newsletter articles

 

Newspaper articles are cited in the same way as journal articles except that:

  • Newspapers may not publish in volumes and issues, but in Sections and Columns.
  • Newspapers use full date in the format of month day, year.
  • Newspaper titles are not abbreviated.
  • For free online newspapers add accessed date and URL.

See the tabs above and the general rules for journal articles for more details. 

 

Reference list entry: format and example

 

Citation No. Author's Last Names, Initials. Article title: subtitle. Newspaper Title. Month Day, Year;Volumn(issue):Page range. Accessed Month Day, Year. URL

 

1.    Clun R. Floods cost economy $5 billion last year. Sydney Morning Herald. January 12, 2023:3. Accessed January 13, 2023. https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/floods-cost-economy-5-billion-last-year-20230112-p5cc1t.html

2.    Young E. The hidden disability sunflower is popping up across the globe. Here's what it means and what to do if you see it. ABC News. August 4, 2023. Accessed August 4, 2023. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-04/hidden-disability-sunflower-lanyard-explained/102631220?

Subjects: Referencing