AMA Manual of Style - Stacy L. Christiansen, Cheryl Iverson 2020

Running Head, Running Foot in Print/PDF
Manuscript Preparation for Submission and Publication

For publication, print or PDF pages customarily carry the bibliographic information for the article (journal name or abbreviation, year of publication, volume number, issue number, inclusive page numbers, and DOI, as well as the date published online, if applicable). Successive pages may also include a shortened version of the article title, called a running title or a short title (see 2.4.2, Title of the Article). When this information appears at the top of the page, it is called a running head; when it appears at the bottom of the page, it is called a running foot. In the JAMA Network journals, the following information is published on the first page of the article. Successive pages carry an abbreviated version:

Bibliographic Information on First Page:

JAMA Neurol. 2014;71(8):961-970. doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2014.803

Published online June 2, 2014.

Running Foot on Successive Pages:

JAMA Neurology August 2014 Volume 71, Number 8

Note: On the journal’s website, this bibliographic information often appears at the top of the article.

In the JAMA Network journals, the shortened version of the article title, as well as the type of article, appears in the running head of major scientific articles (eg, reports of research) in print and PDF pages. These short titles may also be used on homepages, tables of contents, or social media posts. In the JAMA Network journals, the editorial department or article type (eg, Opinion, Original Investigation, Research, Clinical Review & Education, Letters) may also be included in the running head or foot.

For some smaller types of articles, or if multiple shorter articles by different authors are compiled into a section or a department, the running head includes the article type or department but omits shortened titles:

The running heads and feet are typically added during the editing and production process, and authors are not usually required to submit such information (see 21.0, Editing, Proofreading, Tagging, and Display).

2.4.1 Name of the Publication.

Use the accepted abbreviation of the journal name (see 13.10, Names of Journals) and the following forms, as applicable to the journal involved.

Note that journals differ in the amount of information included in running heads and running feet and that the style for abbreviations may differ slightly from that used elsewhere in the publication.

2.4.2 Short Title of the Article.

The shortened version of the title (ie, short title, running head) should be kept brief but should emphasize the main point of the article, not just repeat the first few words of the title. Different journals have different limits (eg, approximately 70 to 100 characters and spaces in the JAMA Network journals). No punctuation follows the running foot or head.

Careful use of abbreviations may help meet space limitations.