Style Error: Semi colon appears in Date field with AMA style

bta2001

I noticed when citing a federal statute with the AMA style that a semi colon precedes the date. Since the title of the statute is followed by a period, the reference appears as "title. ; date" which although I am no expert (and I don't have the AMA manual of style), strikes me as an error.

Thanks

adamsmith

I'll have a look - I'm pretty sure no one ever considered citing statutes in AMA - is that common?

adamsmith

I don't know if this is worth the trouble, but if anyone can tell me how statutes are supposed to look and what fields that corresponds to in Zotero I'd be happy to do this.

fbennett

Chicago incorporates Bluebook by reference, and I imagine that AMA would do the same. Legal support is pretty shaky at the moment, and tidying things up will require adjustments to the data layer, to CSL, and to styles. Statutes are the most difficult problem of all -- the form of reference depends on the jurisdiction, and on whether it's a code, a compendium, an amending or original act of the legislature, a ministerial order -- so it will be awhile before we'll be able to give firm advice on what goes where.

For what it's worth, in the Bluebook rewrite, I'm naming macros with a "bb-" prefix and separating legal stuff by item type, so that the legal_case, legislation and bill stuff (plus other law-related item types which, I hope, can be approved) can be pasted into existing styles to provide working support for legal references.

adamsmith

yeah - I'm gonna decide that that's not worth it for AMA until someone comes along and really wants it.