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AMA to APA converter

Paste AMA references, get APA. Free, no sign-up.

Paste references written in AMA and get them back in APA, ready to copy into Word or Google Docs. The main changes: numbered in-text citations become author–date citations, the list is alphabetical by first author’s surname and author names are written as in APA (surname and initials for every author). CiteSwap looks each reference up in the open Crossref catalogue, so authors, years and page numbers come from the publisher’s record rather than being rewritten by hand.

AMA vs APA: the same sources side by side

Each example below was formatted by CiteSwap’s engine, exactly as the converter outputs it.

Journal article

AMA

Suri T, Jack W. The long-run poverty and gender impacts of mobile money. Science. 2016;354(6317):1288-1292. doi:10.1126/science.aah5309

In-text: 1(p1290)

APA

Suri, T., & Jack, W. (2016). The long-run poverty and gender impacts of mobile money. Science, 354(6317), 1288–1292. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309

In-text: (Suri & Jack, 2016, p. 1290)

Book

AMA

Achebe C. Things Fall Apart. Heinemann; 1958.

In-text: 1(p1290)

APA

Achebe, C. (1958). Things fall apart. Heinemann.

In-text: (Achebe, 1958, p. 1290)

Web page

AMA

World Health Organization. Malaria. December 4, 2023. Accessed October 1, 2026. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria

In-text: 1(p1290)

APA

World Health Organization. (2023, December 4). Malaria. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria

In-text: (World Health Organization, 2023, p. 1290)

Key differences between AMA and APA

10 of 12 rules differ; they are listed first.

RuleAMAAPA
In-text citationssuperscript numbers, e.g. ¹, in the order sources are first citedauthor and year in parentheses, e.g. (Suri & Jack, 2016), with a page number for quotations
List orderNumbered in the order of first citationAlphabetical by first author’s surname
Author namesSurname and initials without full stops or spaces, e.g. Suri T, Jack WSurname and initials for every author, e.g. Suri, T., & Jack, W.
Many authorsSeven or more authors: first three followed by “et al”List up to 20 authors; for 21 or more, give the first 19, an ellipsis, then the last author
DateAfter the journal name: 2016;354(6317):1288-1292Straight after the authors, in parentheses: (2016).
Article titlesPlain text, sentence casePlain text, no quotation marks, sentence case
ItalicsJournal and book titlesJournal name and volume number; book and report titles
Journal namesAbbreviated journal name (NLM abbreviations), in italicsFull journal name in title case
Page rangesFull page range with a hyphen, e.g. 1288-1292Full page range, e.g. 1288–1292
DOIs and linksDOI written as “doi:10.1126/…”DOI as a link: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309
Reference list heading(same)ReferencesReferences
Title capitalisation(same)Sentence caseSentence case

When to use APA

APA is the default in psychology, education, nursing, business and most social sciences, and many universities use it as their house style for coursework and dissertations. It is published by the American Psychological Association; CiteSwap follows the 7th edition (2020).

AMA is more common in medicine, health sciences, pharmacy, while APA is usual in psychology, education, nursing. If your department or journal names a style, always follow it.

AMA to APA: frequently asked questions

How do I convert AMA citations to APA?

Paste your AMA reference list into the box above (one reference per line, numbered, or separated by blank lines), check that “From” says AMA or Auto-detect and “To” says APA, then press Convert. You can also paste DOIs, BibTeX or RIS. Copy the result or download it for Word.

How do in-text citations change from AMA to APA?

AMA uses superscript numbers, e.g. ¹, in the order sources are first cited. APA uses author and year in parentheses, e.g. (Suri & Jack, 2016), with a page number for quotations. For the same article and page: AMA gives 1(p1290), APA gives (Suri & Jack, 2016, p. 1290).

Does the order of my references change in APA?

Yes. AMA: numbered in the order of first citation. APA: alphabetical by first author’s surname. CiteSwap sorts the converted list for you.

How are author names written in APA?

APA: Surname and initials for every author, e.g. Suri, T., & Jack, W. AMA: Surname and initials without full stops or spaces, e.g. Suri T, Jack W. When a reference is matched in Crossref, CiteSwap uses full first names from the publisher’s record, so it can produce either form.

How are DOIs and URLs written in APA?

APA: DOI as a link: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309. AMA: DOI written as “doi:10.1126/…”. The converter rewrites DOIs in APA format for you.

Is the AMA to APA converter accurate?

Each reference is matched against the Crossref catalogue (over 150 million records) and only accepted automatically when the title, year and first author agree. Anything uncertain is marked “Needs review” so you can pick the right match, and references that aren’t in the catalogue, like websites or local journals, are parsed from your text and marked so you can check them.