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APA to AMA converter

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

Paste references written in APA and get them back in AMA, ready to copy into Word or Google Docs. The main changes: author–date in-text citations become numbered citations, the list is numbered in the order of first citation and author names are written as in AMA (surname and initials without full stops or spaces). 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.

APA vs AMA: the same sources side by side

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

Journal article

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)

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)

Book

APA

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

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

AMA

Achebe C. Things Fall Apart. Heinemann; 1958.

In-text: 1(p1290)

Web page

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)

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)

Key differences between APA and AMA

10 of 12 rules differ; they are listed first.

RuleAPAAMA
In-text citationsauthor and year in parentheses, e.g. (Suri & Jack, 2016), with a page number for quotationssuperscript numbers, e.g. ¹, in the order sources are first cited
List orderAlphabetical by first author’s surnameNumbered in the order of first citation
Author namesSurname and initials for every author, e.g. Suri, T., & Jack, W.Surname and initials without full stops or spaces, e.g. Suri T, Jack W
Many authorsList up to 20 authors; for 21 or more, give the first 19, an ellipsis, then the last authorSeven or more authors: first three followed by “et al”
DateStraight after the authors, in parentheses: (2016).After the journal name: 2016;354(6317):1288-1292
Article titlesPlain text, no quotation marks, sentence casePlain text, sentence case
ItalicsJournal name and volume number; book and report titlesJournal and book titles
Journal namesFull journal name in title caseAbbreviated journal name (NLM abbreviations), in italics
Page rangesFull page range, e.g. 1288–1292Full page range with a hyphen, e.g. 1288-1292
DOIs and linksDOI as a link: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309DOI written as “doi:10.1126/…”
Reference list heading(same)ReferencesReferences
Title capitalisation(same)Sentence caseSentence case

When to use AMA

AMA is used by medical journals such as JAMA and by many medicine, pharmacy and public-health programmes. It is published by the American Medical Association; CiteSwap follows the 11th edition (2020).

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

APA to AMA: frequently asked questions

How do I convert APA citations to AMA?

Paste your APA reference list into the box above (one reference per line, numbered, or separated by blank lines), check that “From” says APA or Auto-detect and “To” says AMA, 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 APA to AMA?

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

Does the order of my references change in AMA?

Yes. APA: alphabetical by first author’s surname. AMA: numbered in the order of first citation. CiteSwap keeps the order you pasted, so paste them in the order you first cite them.

How are author names written in AMA?

AMA: Surname and initials without full stops or spaces, e.g. Suri T, Jack W. APA: Surname and initials for every author, 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 AMA?

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

Is the APA to AMA 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.