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AMA to ASA converter

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

Paste references written in AMA and get them back in ASA, 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 ASA: 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)

ASA

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)

ASA

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)

ASA

World Health Organization. 2023. “Malaria.” https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria.

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

Key differences between AMA and ASA

9 of 12 rules differ; they are listed first.

RuleAMAASA
In-text citationssuperscript numbers, e.g. ¹, in the order sources are first citedauthor and year, with a page number after a colon, 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”All authors are listed in the reference list
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 with no space: 354(6317)
Page rangesFull page range with a hyphen, e.g. 1288-1292Shortened range after a colon with no 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 ASA

ASA is the house style of American sociology journals and many sociology departments. It is published by the American Sociological Association; CiteSwap follows the ASA Style Guide, 6th/7th edition.

AMA is more common in medicine, health sciences, pharmacy, while ASA is usual in sociology, social work, criminology. If your department or journal names a style, always follow it.

AMA to ASA: frequently asked questions

How do I convert AMA citations to ASA?

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 ASA, 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 ASA?

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

Does the order of my references change in ASA?

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

Do titles need different capitalisation in ASA?

Yes. ASA 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 ASA?

ASA: 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 ASA 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.