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AMS Guidelines for Preparing References
AMS Publications Journals BAMS Books and Monographs

The following are the formats for reference types that most frequently appear in AMS journals.
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Contents

  1. Order in which citations are listed in reference sections
  2. Journal article
  3. Book
  4. Book edition
  5. Chapter in a book
  6. Multivolume book
  7. Series
  8. Report/Note/Memo
  9. Conference Preprints/Proceedings/Extended Abstracts
  10. Conference Preprints/Proceedings/Extended Abstracts on CD-ROM
  11. Dissertation/Thesis
  12. Monograph
  13. Atlas
  14. Electronic document
  15. Software
  16. References with DOIs



1. Order in which citations are listed in reference sections

List references in alphabetical order by the lead author's last name.

Order multiple papers by the same author as follows:

  1. single author chronologically
  2. dual authors chronologically
  3. three or more authors chronologically
Examples:
Isemer, H. J., 1970:
_______, 1972:
_______, and L. Hasse, 1976:
_______, and _______, 1978:
_______, H. W. Poor, S. Hellerman, and M. DeMaria, 1970:
_______, R. L. Holle, and P. T. Gannon, 1976:
_______, J. W. Deardorff, F. O. Bryan, and T. V. Blanc, 1985:

Note: A 2-em dash replaces the name of the author or authors for successive works attributed to the same person or people.

2. Journal article

Author(s), publication year: Article title. Journal Name (abbreviated according to the abbreviations listed in the Chemical Abstracts Service Source Index, italic), volume number (bold), page range.

Examples:
Hubert, L. F., and L. F. Whitney Jr., 1971: Wind estimation from geostationary satellite pictures. Mon. Wea. Rev., 99, 665–672.
Emery, W. J., A. C. Thomas, M. J. Collins, W. R. Crawford, and D. L. Mackas, 1986: An objective method for computing advective surface velocities from sequential infrared satellite images. J. Geophys. Res., 91, 12 865–12 878.

3. Book

Author(s), publication year: Book Title (italic). Publisher, total pages.

Example:
Oke, T. R., 1979: Boundary Layer Climates. Wiley and Sons, 372 pp.

4. Book edition

Author(s), publication year: Title (italic). edition number. Publisher, total pages.

Example:
Chorin, A. J., and J. E. Marsden, 1993: A Mathematical Introduction to Fluid Dynamics. 3d ed. Springer-Verlag, 169 pp.

5. Chapter in a book

Author(s), publication year: Chapter title. Book Title (italic), Editor(s), Publisher, page range.

Example:
Kauranne, T., 1990: An introduction to parallel processing in meteorology. The Dawn of Massively Parallel Processing in Meteorology, G. R. Hoffman and D. K. Maretis, Eds., Springer-Verlag, 3–20.

6. Multivolume book

Citing one volume by title of complete work

Author(s), publication year: Title of Complete Work (italic). Volume number, Publisher, total pages.

Example:
Courant, R., and D. Hilbert, 1953: Methods of Mathematical Physics. Vol. 1, Wiley-Interscience, 560 pp.

Citing one volume by volume title

Author(s), publication year: Volume Title (italic). Volume number, Title of Complete Work (italic), Publisher, total pages.

Example:
Pettersson, S., 1956: Motion and Motion Systems. Vol. 2, Weather Analysis and Forecasting, McGraw-Hill, 428 pp.

7. Series

Author(s), publication year: Title (italic). Title of Series, volume number, Publisher, total pages.

Example:
Andrews, D. G., J. R. Holton, and C. B. Leovy, 1987: Middle Atmosphere Dynamics. International Geophysical Series, Vol. 40, Academic Press, 489 pp.

8. Report/Note/Memo

Author(s), publication year: Report/Note/Memo Title. Report/Note/Memo Name and number, total pages.

Optional information: publishing institution and city and state/country; NTIS number; address from which report/note/memo can be obtained. [Note: Please provide the complete mailing address. Include addressee, institution/company, city, state/country, and postal code.]

Examples:
Gannon, P. T., 1978: Influences of earth surface and cloud properties in the south Florida sea breeze. NOAA Tech. Rep. ERL402-NHELM2, 91 pp. [NTIS PB-297398.]
Anthes, R. A., E.-Y. Hsie, and Y.-H. Kuo, 1987: Description of the Penn State/NCAR Mesoscale Model Version 4 (MM4). NCAR Tech. Note NCAR/TN-282+STR, 66 pp.
Chen, T. C., 1979: On the kinetic energy of the divergent and nondivergent flow in the atmosphere. Tech. Memo to the National Science Foundation, Grant GA-161660, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, 143 pp.

Note: If the publishing institution is not well known in the meteorology community or is difficult to contact, the institution's complete mailing address is required.

Examples:
Wentz, F. J., 1990: West coast storm forecasting with SSM/I. Vol. I. Final Tech. Rep., Remote Sensing Systems, 42 pp. [Available from Remote Sensing Systems, 1101 College Ave., Suite 220, Santa Rosa, CA 95404.]
Goodridge, J. P., H. Rhodes, and E. G. Bingham, 1979: Windstorms in California. Tech. Rep., Division of Planning, Department of Water Resources, State of California, 34 pp. [Available from Division of Planning, Department of Water Resources, State of California, 1416 9th St., Sacramento, CA 95814.]

9. Conference Preprints/Proceedings/Extended Abstracts

Author(s), publication year: Article title. Preprints (roman), or Proceedings (abbreviated, italic),or Extended Abstract (italic), Conference Title (italic), city and state/province (if Canada)/country where the meeting was held, sponsor (complete name please), page range.

Examples:
Lhermitte, R., and M. Gilet, 1976: Acquisition and processing of tri-Doppler radar data. Preprints, 17th Conf. on Radar Meteorology, Seattle, WA, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 1–6.
Riley, J. J., R. W. Metcalfe, and M. A. Weisman, 1981: Direct numerical simulations of homogeneous turbulence in density-stratified fluids. Proc. AIP Conf. on Nonlinear Properties of Internal Waves, Houston, TX, American Institute of Physics, 79–112.
Fukuta, N., H. S. Chang, J. L. Sutherland, and D. A. Griffith, 1984: Comparative airborne tests of vapor-activated methaldehyde and silver iodide particles in supercooled stratus clouds. Extended Abstracts, Ninth Conf. on Weather Modification, Park City, UT, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 6–7.

Note: If the publishing institution is not well known in the meteorology community or is difficult to contact, the complete mailing address from which the conference preprints/proceedings/extended abstracts can be obtained is required.

Example:
Vali, G., 1970: Entry of freezing nuclei into precipitation. Proc. Symp. on Precipitation Scavenging, Richland, WA, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, 49–68. [Available from G. Vali, Department of Atmospheric Science, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071.]

10. Conference Preprints/Proceedings/Extended Abstracts on CD-ROM

Author(s), publication year: Article title. Preprints (roman), or Proc. (italic),or Extended Abstract (italic), Conference Title (italic), city and state/province (if Canada)/country where the meeting was held, sponsor (complete name please), CD-ROM, paper number.

Example:
Kuji, M., and T. Nakajima, 2002: Retrieval of cloud geometrical parameters using remote sensing data. Preprints, 11th Conf. on Cloud Physics, Ogden, UT, Amer. Meteor. Soc., CD-ROM, JP1.7.

Note: If the publishing institution is not well known in the meteorology community or is difficult to contact, the complete mailing address from which the conference preprints/proceedings/extended abstracts can be obtained is required. (See example in section 9.)

11. Dissertation/Thesis

Author(s), publication year: Dissertation/thesis title. dissertation/thesis, Thesis Department (needed only if M.S. thesis), University, total pages.

Optional information: NTIS number or address from which the dissertation/thesis is available. [Note: Please provide the complete mailing address. Include addressee, institution/company, city, state/country, and postal code.]

Examples:
Cheng, X., 1993: Linear and nonlinear aspects of Northern Hemisphere wintertime variability in the 500 mb height field. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Washington, 180 pp. [Available from University Microfilm, 305 N. Zeeb Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48106.]
Hirschberg, P., 1988: The saline flow into the Atlantic. M.S. thesis, Dept. of Oceanographic Studies, The Pennsylvania State University, 207 pp. [NTIS PH-358930-2.]

Note: If the institution that houses the dissertation or thesis is not well known in the meteorology community or is difficult to contact, the institution's complete mailing address is required.

Example:
Estournel, C., 1988: Etude de la phase nocturne de la couche limite atmospherique. These doctorat d'etat 1361, Université Paul Sabatier, 161 pp. [Available from Université Paul Sabatier, 118 route de Narbonne 31062, Toulouse, France.]

12. Monograph

Author(s), publication year: Article title. Monograph Title (italic), Monograph Name (abbreviated, italic), monograph number, Publisher, page range.

Example:
Braham, R. R., Jr., 1981: Urban precipitation processes. Metromex: A Review and Summary, Meteor. Monogr., No. 40, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 75–116.

13. Atlas

Author(s), publication year: Atlas Title (italic). Publisher, total pages.

Optional information: Map title, folio number(s), plate number(s), number of microfiche.

Examples:
Levitus, S., 1982: Climatological Atlas of the World Ocean. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 173 pp. and 17 microfiche.
Bumpus, D. F., and L. M. Lauzier, 1965: Surface circulation on the continental shelf off eastern North America between Newfoundland and Florida. Serial Atlas of the Marine Environment, American Geographical Society, Folio 7, Plate 8, 4 pp.

14. Electronic document

Author(s)/Authoring Organization, year cited (explicitly noted): Document name. [Address from which available online.]

Example:
NCSA, cited 1994: A beginner's guide to HTML. [Available online at http://www/ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer.html.]

15. Software

Author(s)/Authoring Group, year: Software Edition or Version. Company/Organization that holds the rights to the software.

Example:
Smith, J., 1991: FORTRAN H-extended Version 2.3. IBM.

16. References with DOIs

The order of elements in a reference that makes use of a digital object identifier (DOI) is as follows:

Author(s), publication year: Article title. Journal Name (abbreviated according to the abbreviations listed in the Chemical Abstracts Service Source Index, italic), volume number (bold), citation number, DOI code (set lower case, with no space between "doi:" and the code).

DOI resolver available online at http://dx.doi.org

Example:
Meixner, T., L. A. Bastidas, H. V. Gupta, and R. C. Bales, 2002: Multicriteria parameter estimation of models of stream chemical composition. Water Resour. Res., 38, 1027, doi:10.1029/2000WR000112.

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