AMA 10th edition citation format, reference requirements, and proper acknowledgment of prior and supporting work.
ISSN 3068-8558DOI 10.54111Open Access · CC BYUpdated April 2026
BCPHR follows the AMA Manual of Style, 10th edition. Every claim that is not your own original finding carries a citation, every citation points to a source you have read and verified, and everyone who contributed to the work without meeting authorship criteria is acknowledged by name with their permission.
Citation Format
AMA 10th Edition
References are numbered in the order they first appear in the text, cited with superscript arabic numerals, and listed in that same numerical order at the end of the manuscript. A source keeps its original number every time it is cited again.
In-text citation
Superscript numerals go outside commas and periods, inside colons and semicolons: as reported previously.3
Cite multiple sources with commas and no spaces, and use a hyphen for three or more consecutive: studies2,5,8-11
Do not use author-date (APA) style, footnote citations, or reference managers set to a different output style.
Reference list
List up to 6 authors. With 7 or more, list the first 3 followed by "et al."
Abbreviate journal titles according to the National Library of Medicine catalog (Index Medicus form), with no periods: Am J Public Health, not American Journal of Public Health.
Include the DOI whenever one exists. For online-only sources with no DOI, give the URL and the date accessed.
Number references consecutively. Do not alphabetize.
Examples
Journal article
Author AA, Author BB, Author CC, et al. Title of the article in sentence case. Abbrev J Title. 2025;92(4):210-218. doi:10.1000/example
BCPHR article
Author AA. Title of the article in sentence case. BCPHR. 2025;89. doi:10.54111/0001/EXAMPLE
Book
Author AA. Title of Book in Title Case. 3rd ed. Publisher Name; 2024.
Book chapter
Author AA. Title of the chapter. In: Editor BB, ed. Title of Book. Publisher Name; 2024:115-140.
Website
Organization Name. Title of the page. Published March 4, 2025. Accessed June 12, 2026. https://example.org/page
Government report
Agency Name. Title of the Report. Agency Name; 2025. Report No.: 2025-14. Accessed June 12, 2026. https://example.gov/report
Dataset
Author AA. Title of Dataset. Version 2. Repository Name; 2025. doi:10.1000/dataset
Preprint
Author AA, Author BB. Title of the preprint. Preprint. Posted online January 8, 2026. Server Name. doi:10.1000/preprint
Where the AMA manual and this page differ, the AMA manual governs. Reference-manager output should be checked against these examples before submission, since default styles rarely match AMA exactly.
Reference Requirements
What Every Reference Must Meet
Reference lists are checked at submission and again at acceptance. These requirements apply to every article type BCPHR publishes.
✓ Required
Read every source you citeCite from the original publication, not from an abstract, a summary, or another paper's description of it.
Cite the primary sourceWhere a finding originates in an earlier paper, cite that paper. If a secondary source is unavoidable, make the chain explicit in the text.
Verify every detailAuthor names, year, volume, page range, and DOI must match the published record.
Support every non-original claimStatistics, prevalence figures, definitions, and characterizations of prior work all carry citations.
Flag retracted workCheck retraction status before submitting. If a retracted paper must be discussed, cite it and state that it has been retracted.
Get permission for personal communicationsCite in text only, with the person's written consent: (A. Author, written communication, March 2026).
✕ Not permitted
AI-generated reference listsGenerative tools routinely produce references to papers that do not exist. Fabricated citations are treated as research misconduct.
Citing an AI tool as a sourceCite the underlying literature you verified, never the chatbot that surfaced it.
Padding and coercive citationCitations added to inflate a count, flatter a journal, or satisfy a reviewer without scholarly justification.
Excessive self-citationCite your own prior work only where it is genuinely relevant to the argument.
Uncredited reuse of textQuoted material needs quotation marks and a citation. Paraphrase still needs the citation.
Dead or placeholder references"In press" with no venue, broken URLs, or bracketed notes left in the reference list.
Screening. Every submission is screened for plagiarism, AI-generated content, and citation manipulation. Fabricated, manipulated, or systematically inaccurate references can result in desk rejection, or retraction if discovered after publication. See the Originality, AI Use, and Plagiarism policy.
Acknowledgment of Sources
Crediting Prior and Supporting Work
Citation credits the published record. Acknowledgment credits the people and institutions whose contributions do not meet authorship criteria but made the work possible.
Who belongs in the acknowledgments
Colleagues who advised on design, analysis, or interpretation without meeting ICMJE authorship criteria.
People who provided data, specimens, instruments, code, or access to a population or site.
Community partners, advisory boards, and community health workers who shaped the research question or supported recruitment.
Editorial, statistical, translation, and technical assistance, including anyone paid for writing support.
Participants and communities, where naming them is appropriate and consented to.
Anyone named in the acknowledgments must give permission first, because being named implies endorsement of the work.
Funding and support
Name every funder with the grant or award number, and state where the funder had no role in design, analysis, or the decision to publish.
Disclose in-kind support: donated materials, facilities, software licenses, and data access agreements.
Financial and non-financial interests belong in the Conflicts of Interest statement, not the acknowledgments.
Prior presentation and prior versions
State whether the work was previously presented at a conference or meeting, with the name, location, and date. Prior presentation is permitted.
Cite and link any preprint of the manuscript.
If the manuscript draws on a thesis, dissertation, or report, say so and cite it.
Reused figures, tables, and instruments
Written permission from the copyright holder is required for any figure, table, image, or instrument reproduced or adapted from another source, including your own previously published work.
Credit the source in the caption: Adapted from Author et al7 with permission.
For openly licensed material, name the license: Reproduced from Author et al7 under CC BY 4.0.
Before You Submit
Reference Checklist
Every in-text superscript has a matching numbered reference, and every reference is cited in the text.
References are numbered in order of first appearance, not alphabetized.
Journal names use NLM abbreviations without periods.
Author lists follow the 6-then-et-al rule.
DOIs are included wherever they exist, and every URL resolves.
Each source has been read in the original and checked for retraction.
Permissions are secured for reused figures, tables, instruments, and named acknowledgments.
Funding, prior presentation, and any preprint are stated.
Typesetting is not a copyedit of your references.BCPHR provides a basic copyedit, but authors are responsible for fully and closely checking their own reference list before submission. Errors that arrive with the manuscript reach the published article.
Authors retain rights to their work. All BCPHR manuscripts are freely available without charge. Users may read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to full texts without prior permission from the publisher or author, with attribution.
