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APSA to AMA converter

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

Paste references written in APSA 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, titles switch to sentence case and the list is numbered in the order of first citation. 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.

APSA 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

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)

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

APSA

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

In-text: (Achebe 1958, 1290)

AMA

Achebe C. Things Fall Apart. Heinemann; 1958.

In-text: 1(p1290)

Web page

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)

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 APSA and AMA

9 of 12 rules differ; they are listed first.

RuleAPSAAMA
In-text citationsauthor and year, with a page number after a comma, e.g. (Suri and Jack 2016, 1290)superscript 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 namesFirst author inverted with full names, the rest in normal orderSurname and initials without full stops or spaces, e.g. Suri T, Jack W
Many authorsLong author lists are shortened following Chicago’s rulesSeven or more authors: first three followed by “et al”
DateAfter the authors, followed by a full stop: 2016.After the journal name: 2016;354(6317):1288-1292
Title capitalisationTitle caseSentence case
Article titlesIn quotation marks, title casePlain text, sentence case
Journal namesFull journal name, volume and issue: 354(6317)Abbreviated journal name (NLM abbreviations), in italics
Page rangesShortened range after a colon and space, e.g. 354(6317): 1288–92Full page range with a hyphen, e.g. 1288-1292
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 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).

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

APSA to AMA: frequently asked questions

How do I convert APSA citations to AMA?

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

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

Does the order of my references change in AMA?

Yes. APSA: 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.

Do titles need different capitalisation in AMA?

Yes. AMA uses sentence case, capitalising only the first word, the first word after a colon and proper nouns. CiteSwap keeps titles as the publisher’s record has them, so check that capitals on ordinary words are lowered, because catalogues often store titles in title case.

How are author names written in AMA?

AMA: Surname and initials without full stops or spaces, e.g. Suri T, Jack W. APSA: First author inverted with full names, the rest in normal order. 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 APSA 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.