Q: I understand that the second printing of the AMA Manual of Style is now available and that many of the items in the list of Errata on the companion website (www.amamanualofstyle.com) are corrected therein. How can I tell if I have the first or the second printing? Does the second printing have a different ISBN?
A: Yes, the second printing was published in October 2007 and in it the majority of errata listed on the companion website are corrected. You can tell which printing you have by looking at the copyright page of the book (p iv). In the lower left corner of that page is a string of numbers, beginning, on the left, with 9. The number on the far right of that string will indicate the number of the printing. If the last number on the right is a 2, you have the second printing. The ISBN does not change with printings.
Q: Which is correct: “Qvar has similar systemic effects to those of fluticasone” or “Qvar has similar systemic effects as those of fluticasone”?
A: The correct idiomatic form is “similar…to” not “similar…as,” as with “identical…to” rather than “identical…as.” I suspect the use of “as” in this construction comes from a related idiom: “the same as.” You could also rephrase this to “Qvar and fluticasone have similar systemic effects.” or “Qvar has systemic effects similar to those of fluticasone.”
Q: Has the policy on SI units changed? If so, how?
A: Yes. These changes are addressed in detail in section 18.5.10. For laboratory values reported in JAMA Network Journals, factors for converting conventional units to SI units should be provided in the article. In text, the conversion factor should be given once, at first mention of the laboratory value, in parentheses following the conventional unit.
The blood glucose concentration of 126 mg/dL (to convert to millimoles per liter, multiply by 0.055) was used as a criterion for diagnosing diabetes.
For articles in which several laboratory values are reported in the text, the conversion factors may be provided in a paragraph at the end of the “Methods” section. In tables and figures, this information can be provided in the footnote or legend.
Q: Although the 10th edition recommends spelling out state names except in full addresses and the reference list (for location of publishers), I notice that you still show “DC” for District of Columbia. Is this an exception?
A: Yes.
Q: If a state’s full name is spelled out on first mention in running text, per the new style, what do you do when numerous cities in the same state are mentioned in an article? Should the state name be spelled out every time it is mentioned, every time a new city is mentioned, or should the 2-letter postal code be used after the first time the state name is spelled out in running text?
A: The answer will depend on the context. If the article is about cities in a particular state, you might not need to include the state name with the individual cities at all, as it will be clear what the state is, eg, “6 cities in Massachusetts.” If the state name is spelled out at the first mention of each new city, it shouldn’t need to be repeated, unless there are instances in the manuscript of a city that exists in more than 1 state (eg, Springfield, Massachusetts, and Springfield, Illinois).—Cheryl Iverson, MA