Reference Style Guidelines

     

DMP follow the style adopted by the American Medical Association (AMA),* (pp3979) which, in turn, is based on the style developed by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors in 1978 in Vancouver.  

Reference Management systems
Users of the EndNote® software should select the JAMA reference style when preparing references for any Dove Medical Press Journal. Please disable EndNote® before you submit your manuscript.

To disable EndNote® first save a copy of the document. Then in Word, use the EndNote® tab and click on "Convert Citations and Bibliography" and select "Convert to Plain text" This will remove the EndNote® encoding but leave the citations and bibliography.

Please note that authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of their references.  

Text citations: Cite references sequentially in text, tables, and legends by superscript Arabic numerals with no parentheses, eg, 1 or 3,4 or 1015. Numbers should be placed after punctuation marks, eg, .3,4  Do not use Microsoft Word’s footnote/endnotes function to build the reference list as this can introduce errors during the typesetting process.

Reference list: List items numerically (eg. 1, 2, 3, 4) in the order they are cited in the text, eg, 4. Kapur NK, Musunuru K. Clinical efficiency and safety of statins in managing cardiovascular risk. Vasc Health Risk Manag. 2008;4(2):341353. Some commonly used sample references follow.  

Journal articles

Standard journal article:
Kapur NK, Musunuru K. Clinical efficiency and safety of statins in managing cardiovascular risk. Vasc Health Risk Manag. 2008;4(2):341353.

Abbreviate names of journals according to the journals list in PubMed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=PubMed)

List all authors if six or less, otherwise list first three only, followed by "et al.":Brandén E, Gnarpe J, Hillerdal G, et al. Detection of Chlamydia pneumoniae on cytospin preparations from bronchiolar lavage in COPD patients and in lung tissue from advanced emphysema. Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis. 2007;2(4):643650.

Group as author:
Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group. Hypertension, insulin, and proinsulin in participants with impaired glucose tolerance. Hypertension. 2002;40(5):679686.

Both personal authors and an organization as author:
Munakata M, Honma H, Akasi M; for J-STOPMetS Study Group. Sexual dysfunction in 1,274 European men suffering from lower urinary tract symptoms. Vasc Health Risk Manag. 2007;4(2):415420.

Volume with no issue but a supplement:
Geraud G, Spierings EL, Keywood C. Tolerability and safety of frovatriptan with short- and long-term use for treatment of migraine and in comparison with sumatriptan. Headache. 2002;42 (Suppl 2):S93S99.

Issue with supplement:
Glauser TA. Integrating clinical trial data into clinical practice. Neurology. 2002;58(12 Suppl 7):S6S12.

Volume with part:
Abend SM, Kulish N. The psychoanalytic method from an epistemological viewpoint. Int J Psychoanal. 2002;83(Pt 2):491495.

Issue with part:
Ahrar K, Madoff DC, Gupta S, Wallace MJ, Price RE, Wright KC. Development of a large animal model for lung tumors. J Vasc Interv Radiol. 2002;13(9 Pt 1):923928.

Issue with no volume:
Banit DM, Kaufer H, Hartford JM. Intraoperative frozen section analysis in revision total joint arthroplasty. Clin Orthop. 2002;(401):230238.

No volume or issue:
Outreach: bringing HIV-positive individuals into care. HRSA Careaction. 2002 Jun:16.

Type of article indicated as needed:
Lofwall MR, Strain EC, Brooner RK, Kindbom KA, Bigelow GE. Characteristics of older methadone maintenance (MM) patients [abstract]. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2002;66 Suppl 1:S105.

Article published electronically ahead of the print:
Yu WM, Hawley TS, Hawley RG, Qu CK. Immortalization of yolk sac-derived precursor cells. Blood. Epub 2002 Jul 5.

Foreign language:
Virchow R. Aetiologie der neoplastischen Geschwulst/Pathogenie der neoplastischen Geschwulste [Etiology and pathology of cancerous tumors]. Die Krankhaften Geschwulste. Berlin: Verlag von August Hirschwald; 1865:57–101. German.

Books and other monographs

Personal author(s):
Murray PR, Rosenthal KS, Kobayashi GS, Pfaller MA. Medical Microbiology. 4th ed. St Louis: Mosby; 2002.

Editor(s), compiler(s) as author:
Gilstrap LC 3rd, Cunningham FG, VanDorsten JP, eds. Operative Obstetrics. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002.

Author(s) and editor(s):
Breedlove GK, Schorfheide AM. Adolescent Pregnancy. 2nd ed. Wieczorek RR, ed. White Plains (NY): March of Dimes Education Services; 2001.

Chapter in a book:
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; 2002:93113.

Conference proceedings (published):
Harnden P, Joffe JK, Jones WG, editors. Germ cell tumours V. Proceedings of the 5th Germ Cell Tumour Conference; 2001 Sep 13–15; Leeds, UK. New York: Springer; 2002.

Conference proceedings (unpublished):
Eisenberg J. Market forces and physician workforce reform: why they may not work. Poster presented at: Annual Meeting of the Association of American Medical Colleges; October 28; 1995; Washington, DC.

Patent:
Pagedas AC, inventor; Ancel Surgical R&D Inc., assignee. Flexible endoscopic grasping and cutting device and positioning tool assembly. United States patent US 20020103498. 2002 Aug 1.

Other published material

Newspaper article:
Tynan T. Medical improvements lower homicide rate: study sees drop in assault rate. The Washington Post. 2002 Aug 12;Sect. A:2 (col. 4).

Prescribing information:
Ampyra® (dalfampridine) extended release tablets [prescribing information]. New York: Acorda Therapeutics, Inc; 2010.

Package insert:
Coumadin® (warfarin sodium) [package insert]. Princeton, NJ: Bristol-Myers Squibb; 2010.

Dissertation:
Etsey AN. Effects of Regular Ingestion of Natural Cocoa on Testicular Histology in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rats [dissertation]. Accra: University of Ghana; 2009.

Clinical trial:
Pfizer. A study in patients with non-small cell lung cancer testing if erlotinib plus SU011248 (sunitinib) is better than erlotinib alone (SUN1058). Available from: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00265317. NLM identifier: NCT00265317. Accessed August 1, 2011.

Unpublished material

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

Electronic material

Journal article on the Internet:
Abood S. Quality improvement initiative in nursing homes: the ANA acts in an advisory role. Am J Nurs. 2002;102(6):23. Available from: https://journals.lww.com/ajnonline/pages/articleviewer.aspx?year=2002&issue=06000&article=00031&type=abstract. Accessed April 3, 2003.

Homepage/Website:
Cystic Fibrosis Mutation Database [homepage on the Internet]. Toronto: Cystic Fibrosis Centre at the Hospital for Sick Children; 2011. Available from: http://genet.sickkids.on.ca/app. Accessed August 19, 2011.

 


*Iverson C, Christiansen S, Flanagin A, et al. AMA Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors. 10th ed. New York, NY: Oxford University Press; 2007.

Updated 28 December 2022