See AMA 3.6 (Citation) for general information on citing figures in text.
See AMA 3.15.3 (Website) for creating a website reference.
See AMA 4.2 (Figures) for a description of figures and how they are used.
See AMA 4.2.5 (Photographs and clinical images) for examples of photo and clinical image citation.
See AMA 4.2.7 (Titles, legends, and labels) for a description of components of a properly formatted figure.
AMA refers to images and other visual representations of information (graphs, maps, illustrations) as "figures." Because the Manual of Style is written for scholars seeking to publish in a scientific journal, it assumes that figures are original work. For student work, reusing figures from other sources is acceptable but there are a few things to keep in mind.
Written permission should be obtained before reproducing any copyrighted material. Fortunately, you can get around that! Use a public domain repository of images like Flickr or wikimedia commons. Here are some other options. These materials are made freely available for certain types of use (including educational) under something called a “creative commons license” or another arrangement. Look for the logo.
Then incorporate it into your work. Above your figure, write "Figure 3." or whatever number in bold and then add a descriptive title (AMA 4.2.7 for examples). Below the image, write a legend (also known as a caption) to provide further descriptive detail. Add a superscript citation number to the end of your legend.
In the reference section, use the website reference format (AMA 3.15.3) to refer back to the public domain repository used. Here is an example:
4. Prof.mohanty. Dr.Umasankar Mohanty demonstrating manual therapy techniques. Wikimedia Commons. Accessed March 18, 2021. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dr.Umasankar_Mohanty_Demonstrating_Manual_Therapy_Techniques.jpg
If you have questions, please reach out directly to Reference Librarian Eric Toole.
