AMA Manual of Style - Stacy L. Christiansen, Cheryl Iverson 2020
Cities, States, Counties, Territories, Possessions, Provinces, Countries
Abbreviations
At first mention, the name of a state, territory, possession, province, or country should be spelled out when it follows the name of a city. The JAMA Network journals do not add “United States” after the name of a US city and state. Journals differ in their preferences.
Chicago, Illinois |
Reykjavik, Iceland |
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates |
London, England |
Johannesburg, South Africa |
Brasilia, Brazil |
Names of cities, states, counties, territories, possessions, provinces, and countries should be spelled out in full when they stand alone.
Names of states need not be repeated if listing more than one city name from that state.
The authors studied comparable groups of children in Chicago, Springfield, Rockford, and Peoria, all in Illinois.
Abbreviations such as “US” and “UK” may be used as modifiers (when they directly precede the word they modify) or as nouns and do not require expansion as long as the context is clear.
Use 2-letter abbreviations for US state and Canadian province names in addresses (with zip/postal codes) but not in the text. The US state and Canadian province names may also be abbreviated to save space in tables and figures.
The JAMA Network
330 N Wabash Ave
Chicago, IL 60611-5885
University of British Columbia
2329 West Mall
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
US state, territory, possession |
US Postal Service abbreviation |
Alabama |
AL |
Alaska |
AK |
American Samoa |
AS |
Arizona |
AZ |
Arkansas |
AR |
California |
CA |
Canal Zone |
CZ |
Colorado |
CO |
Connecticut |
CT |
Delaware |
DE |
District of Columbia |
DC |
Federated States of Micronesia |
FM |
Florida |
FL |
Georgia |
GA |
Guam |
GU |
Hawaii |
HI |
Idaho |
ID |
Illinois |
IL |
Indiana |
IN |
Iowa |
IA |
Kansas |
KS |
Kentucky |
KY |
Louisiana |
LA |
Maine |
ME |
Marshall Islands |
MH |
Maryland |
MD |
Massachusetts |
MA |
Michigan |
MI |
Minnesota |
MN |
Mississippi |
MS |
Missouri |
MO |
Montana |
MT |
Nebraska |
NE |
Nevada |
NV |
New Hampshire |
NH |
New Jersey |
NJ |
New Mexico |
NM |
New York |
NY |
North Carolina |
NC |
North Dakota |
ND |
Northern Mariana Islands |
MP |
Ohio |
OH |
Oklahoma |
OK |
Oregon |
OR |
Palau |
PW |
Pennsylvania |
PA |
Puerto Rico |
PR |
Rhode Island |
RI |
South Carolina |
SC |
South Dakota |
SD |
Tennessee |
TN |
Texas |
TX |
Utah |
UT |
Vermont |
VT |
Virginia |
VA |
Virgin Islands |
VI |
Washington |
WA |
West Virginia |
WV |
Wisconsin |
WI |
Wyoming |
WY |
Canadian and Australian city names may be followed by the spelled-out province name in the text (eg, London, Ontario, Canada; Sydney, New South Wales, Australia) but are abbreviated in full postal addresses.
Canadian province, territory |
Canadian Postal Service abbreviation |
Alberta |
AB |
British Columbia |
BC |
Manitoba |
MB |
New Brunswick |
NB |
Newfoundland and Labrador |
NL |
Northwest Territories |
NT |
Nova Scotia |
NS |
Nunavut |
NU |
Ontario |
ON |
Prince Edward Island |
PE |
Quebec |
QC |
Saskatchewan |
SK |
Yukon |
YT |
At first mention in the text, the full name of the appropriate state or country should follow the name of a city whenever clarification of location is thought to be important for the reader, as in the following examples:
Katrina made its second landfall on August 29, 2005, as a category 3 hurricane with sustained winds of 200 km/h near Buras-Triumph, Louisiana.
The 21st International AIDS Conference was held in July 2016 in Durban, South Africa.
The province name may also be added for less well-known cities:
San Miguel, Hidalgo, Mexico
If the city, state, or country is clear from the context, as in the following examples, do not include it.
Studies were performed at the University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor [unnecessary to add “Michigan”].
A cross-sectional survey assessing bicycle safety helmets was conducted in 3 Dutch primary schools in Breda, Maastricht, and Terneuzen [unnecessary to add “the Netherlands”].
Do not provide the state or country name in cases in which the entity is well known or such designation is irrelevant (eg, Chicago Blackhawks, Philadelphia chromosome, Glasgow sign, Uppsala virus, Lyme disease, New York Times).
Do not provide the location of an institution if it is clear that the location is not important (eg, “Using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria for AIDS . . . ” or “Following the World Health Organization guidelines . . . ”).
What does it matter that she was born in Boston or that after her parents had instilled in her the guiding principles of life, Harvard University had its turn?
In addition to the city name, provide the state name or country name in the author affiliation footnote and correspondence address.
Affiliation Footnote:
Division of Gastroenterology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota (McGill).
Author Correspondence Address:
Charles B. McGill, MD, Division of Gastroenterology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905 (mcgill@mayo.edu).
Special Case: “New York” may refer to either the city or the state. In the former case, the state name must be added:
New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York
New York University, New York, New York
When giving the location of an institution or organization whose formal name includes a city, do not insert the state or country within the name:
Correct: |
University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine |
Correct: |
Stanford University School of Medicine in California |
Also correct: |
Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California |
Not: |
Stanford University School of Medicine (California) |
And not: |
Stanford (California) University School of Medicine |
And not: |
Stanford University School of Medicine, California |
The style used in the latter correct examples may be applied in signature bylines:
Correct: |
Wilma Smith, MD Stanford University School of Medicine Stanford, California |
Not: |
Wilma Smith, MD Stanford (California) University School of Medicine |
The following are examples of address style for many countries throughout the world (see 2.10.7, Corresponding Author Contact Information, and 13.4, Local Addresses).
Vivek Goal, MD, Department of Health Administration, McMurrich Bldg, 12 Queen’s Park Cres W, Toronto, ON M5S 1A8, Canada.
Didier Blaise, MD, Unité de Transplantation et de Thérapie Cellulare, Institut Paoli-Calmettes, 232 Bd Ste Marguerite, 13273 Marseille CEDEX 09, France.
Mark P. Hehir, MD, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland Unit, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Rotunda Hospital, Parnell Square, Dublin 1, Ireland.
Andrzej Szczeklik, PhD, Allergy and Immunology Clinic, Department of Medicine, Jagellonian University School of Medicine, ul Skawinska 8, 31-0666 Krakow, Poland.
Alain F. Broccard, MD, Division des Soins Intensifs, Département de Médecine, BH10-92, University Hospital (Centre hospitalier universitaire vaudois), CH-1011 Lausanne, Switzerland.
Aram S. A. van Brussel, MD, PhD, Internal Medicine, Gelre Hospital Apeldoorn, Albert Schweiterlaan 31, Apeldoorn, Utrecht 7334 DZ, the Netherlands.
Konstantinos I. Gourgoloulianis, MD, Pulmonary Department, Medical School, University of Thessaly, 22 Papakyriazi, Larissa 41222, Greece.
Ruben Terg, Unidad de Hepatologia, Hospital de Gastroenterologia Bonorino Udaondo, Escuela de Medicina, Universidad del Salvador, Avenida Caseros, 2061 (1264) Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Ditlev Fossen, MBBS, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, County Hospital of Oestfold (Sykenhuset Ostfold), 1603 Fredrikstad, Norway.
Hajime Fujimoto, MD, Third Department of Internal Medicine, Respiratory Division, Mie University School of Medicine, Edobashi 2-174, Tsu City, Mie 514-8507, Japan.
Kwang Hyun Kim, MD, Department of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, Seoul National University, College of Medicine, 28 Tongon-Dong, Chongno-Gu, Seoul 110-744, Korea.
Colin L. Masters, MD, Department of Pathology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia.
Thomas Schwarz, MB, Division of Vascular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital of Dresden Medical School, Fetscherstrasse 74, 01307 Dresden, Germany.
Antonio Torres, MD, PhD, Servei de Pneumologia, Hospital Clinic, C/Villarroel 170, 08036 Barcelona, Spain.
Lixing Lao, PhD, MB, School of Chinese Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, 10 Sassoon Rd, Pokfulam, Hong Kong.
David M. Fergusson, MStat, Christchurch Health and Development Study, Christchurch School of Medicine, 2 Riccarton Ave, Christchurch Central, Christchurch 8011, New Zealand.
Anand Job, MSc, Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, Unit 1, Christian Medical College, Vellore 632 004, India.
Andrew Farmer, DM, Nuffield Laboratory of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6AW, England.
Yasemin Giles, MD, Istanbul Tip Fakültesi, Genel Cerrahi ABD, Capa, Topkapi, Istanbul, Turkey 34390.
Shurong Zheng, MD, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing 100034, China.
Alfred Cuschieri, MD, Department of Surgery and Molecular Oncology, Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 9SY, Scotland.
José Luis Soto-Hernandez, MD, Department of Infectious Diseases, Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugia Manuel Valasco Suarez, Insurgentes Sur 3877, La Fama, Tlalpan CP 14269, Mexico.
J. Skordis, MBBS, Department of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, England.
Gar-Yang Chau, MD, MPH, Division of General Surgery, Department of Surgery, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, 201 Shih-Pai Rd, Section 2, Taipei, Taiwan 11217.
Luciana Tricai Cavalini, MD, PhD, Department of Health Information Technology, Rio de Janeiro State University, Av Prof Manoel de Abreu 444, Rio de Janeiro 20550-170, Brazil.
Guilia Ciccarese, MD, Department of Dermatology, IRCC Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria San Martino—IST, DISSAL, Largo Rosanna Benzi 10, Genoa, 16132 Italy.
Matthieu LeGrand, MD, PhD, Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care and Burn Unit, St Louis Hospital, Université Paris Diderot—Paris 7, rue Claude Vellefaux, 75010 Paris, France.
Anne-Marie Schjerning Olsen, MD, PhD, Department of Cardiology—Post 635, Copenhagen University Hospital, Gentofte, Niels Andersens Vej 65, 2900 Hellerup, Denmark.
Catterina Ferreccio, MD, MPH, Department of Public Health/Faculty of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Marcoleta 434, Santiago, Chile.