Official blog of the AMA Manual of Style
AMA Style Insider is the official blog of the AMA Manual of Style and features quizzes, interviews, and ruminations on style, usage, and punctuation. Brought to you by the JAMA Network.
Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonist Expansion and Abbreviation
Of all the things that culturally take the world by storm, rarely is it a drug class. However, glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) have done just that.
Homeless, Houseless, and Unhoused: What’s the Difference?
The terms homeless, houseless, and unhoused have recently been receiving considerable attention. What do the terms homeless, houseless, and unhoused mean, and how do they differ? A deeper dive into the meanings of these words reveals that, although similar, they carry important distinctions.
Moving Away From Limited English Proficiency—Alternative Terminology for Linguistically Diverse Patients
This post advocates for a more nuanced and affirmative understanding of multilingual patients and their needs.
Updated Figure Type Inclusion to Aid in Accessibility and Searchability
At the intersection of reporting completeness and avoiding wordiness stood the JAMA Network figure title. For years, the directive against naming the figure type in the figure title has been a core tenet of figure editing. All that changed in 2025.
Long Story Short, Keep Titles Brief
When titling scientific articles, context matters, clarity takes precedence over creativity, and concision is key.
One for All
If you’re eating candy, it’s “3 Musketeers.”
If you’re reading about the friends of d’Artagnan, it’s The Three Musketeers.
Can JAMA Network Authors Use Generative Artificial Intelligence to Create Content?
The short answer is yes, but with a caveat: transparency is key.
Odds and Ends
Earlier this year, several small updates were made to the AMA Manual of Style that clarified some lingering questions that had left some editors potentially perplexed (or perhaps possibly puzzled!).
Language to Discuss Suicide
Although often regularly used in the past, the term committed suicide may imply that the act of suicide is criminal or morally wrong.
New Abbreviations for Liver Diseases
The designation “nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)” is no longer accepted across JAMA and the JAMA Network journals, except to reflect the language used in data collection for a study (or search terms for a review).
Embracing the Prepositional Power of Because of and Due to
The recent acceptance of due to as a prepositional phrase by the AMA Manual of Style (Chapter 11.1, Correct and Preferred Usage of Common Words and Phrases) is a noteworthy development with substantial implications for professional writers and editors.
Do Changes Actually Create Change?
Part of the purpose of the AMA Style Insider is to report on changes made in the AMA Manual of Style that aim to improve not only the editing process but also advance ethics and equity in medical publishing.
The AMA Garden of Hyphens
If your professional life requires adherence to AMA style, you may have gotten lost in the weeds styling hyphenated compounds in titles.
New Mpox Name for Monkeypox Disease
The recent outbreak of monkeypox disease (caused by the monkeypox virus), like COVID-19 and other pathogens before it, raised concern about disease names, particularly those that could negatively affect particular nations, populations, or animals.
A Short Update on Long COVID
After infection with SARS-CoV-2, some people develop long-term effects. This condition has been termed post-COVID conditions (PCCs), post-COVID syndrome, postacute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC), and in common parlance, long COVID.
Pregnancy Language Update
The AMA Manual of Style will soon offer guidance on inclusive language when referring to people who are pregnant or people with the capacity for pregnancy.
Style vs Substance—Is There Room for Both?
There’s a scene in the film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl in which the heroine, Elizabeth, is taken captive by the infamous Captain Barbosa aboard his ship. In an attempt to negotiate her release, she invokes the Pirates Code, a set of rules to which she knows Barbosa is beholden.
Icons at the JAMA Network
What comes to mind when you think of the word "icon"? A tennis superstar, a ubiquitous consumer brand logo, a nation's official symbol?
Hawaiian Diacritics
The islands of Hawaiʻi and its people have a culture rich in history, traditions, and the Native Hawaiian language.