Skip to content
CiteSwap

AMA to APSA converter

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

Paste references written in AMA and get them back in APSA, ready to copy into Word or Google Docs. The main changes: numbered in-text citations become author–date citations, titles switch to title case and the list is alphabetical by first author’s surname. 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 APSA: 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)

APSA

Suri, Tavneet, and William Jack. 2016. “The Long-Run Poverty and Gender Impacts of Mobile Money.” Science 354(6317): 1288–92. doi:10.1126/science.aah5309.

In-text: (Suri and Jack 2016, 1290)

Book

AMA

Achebe C. Things Fall Apart. Heinemann; 1958.

In-text: 1(p1290)

APSA

Achebe, Chinua. 1958. Things Fall Apart. London: Heinemann.

In-text: (Achebe 1958, 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)

APSA

World Health Organization. 2023. “Malaria.” https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria (October 1, 2026).

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

Key differences between AMA and APSA

9 of 12 rules differ; they are listed first.

RuleAMAAPSA
In-text citationssuperscript numbers, e.g. ¹, in the order sources are first citedauthor and year, with a page number after a comma, e.g. (Suri and Jack 2016, 1290)
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 WFirst author inverted with full names, the rest in normal order
Many authorsSeven or more authors: first three followed by “et al”Long author lists are shortened following Chicago’s rules
DateAfter the journal name: 2016;354(6317):1288-1292After the authors, followed by a full stop: 2016.
Title capitalisationSentence caseTitle case
Article titlesPlain text, sentence caseIn quotation marks, title case
Journal namesAbbreviated journal name (NLM abbreviations), in italicsFull journal name, volume and issue: 354(6317)
Page rangesFull page range with a hyphen, e.g. 1288-1292Shortened range after a colon and space, e.g. 354(6317): 1288–92
Reference list heading(same)ReferencesReferences
Italics(same)Journal and book titlesJournal and book titles
DOIs and links(same)DOI written as “doi:10.1126/…”DOI written as “doi:10.1126/…”

When to use APSA

APSA is used in political science and international relations, closely following Chicago author-date. It is published by the American Political Science Association; CiteSwap follows the APSA Style Manual (2018).

AMA is more common in medicine, health sciences, pharmacy, while APSA is usual in political science, international relations, public policy. If your department or journal names a style, always follow it.

AMA to APSA: frequently asked questions

How do I convert AMA citations to APSA?

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 APSA, 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 APSA?

AMA uses superscript numbers, e.g. ¹, in the order sources are first cited. APSA uses author and year, with a page number after a comma, e.g. (Suri and Jack 2016, 1290). For the same article and page: AMA gives 1(p1290), APSA gives (Suri and Jack 2016, 1290).

Does the order of my references change in APSA?

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

Do titles need different capitalisation in APSA?

Yes. APSA uses title case for article and book titles, so words like “Poverty” and “Gender” are capitalised. CiteSwap applies this automatically.

How are author names written in APSA?

APSA: First author inverted with full names, the rest in normal order. 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.

Is the AMA to APSA 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.