IEEE Citation Style Guide

IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) is the standard citation style for electrical engineering, computer science, telecommunications, and related STEM disciplines. Like Vancouver, it uses numbered citations — but with square brackets instead of superscripts, and the reference list is numbered in citation order.

The Bracket Numbering System

Each source gets a bracketed number [1], [2], etc., assigned in the order it first appears in your text. The same number is reused every time you cite that source again. Your reference list at the end repeats those numbers in order.

// In your text:
Deep learning has transformed image recognition [1]. Convolutional neural networks [2] were originally proposed by LeCun et al. [3], and have since been applied to medical imaging [1], [4].

// Reference list:
[1] J. Smith, "Deep learning in medical imaging," IEEE Trans. Med. Imaging, vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 612–624, Mar. 2022.
[2] A. Patel and R. Kumar, "CNN architectures survey," in Proc. IEEE CVPR, 2021, pp. 1055–1064.
[3] Y. LeCun, L. Bottou, Y. Bengio, and P. Haffner, "Gradient-based learning applied to document recognition," Proc. IEEE, vol. 86, no. 11, pp. 2278–2324, Nov. 1998.

Key rule: IEEE uses [1], [2], [3]... — square brackets with no space before. Multiple citations in one place: [1], [2] or [1]–[3] for a range.

In-Text Citation Rules

Place the citation number inside square brackets, after the relevant text and before any punctuation: ...was demonstrated in [5].
Multiple consecutive sources: [1]–[3] (range) or [1], [3], [5] (non-consecutive)
Author name in text: Smith [5] proposed... (citation goes immediately after the name)
No year is given in the text — the number alone identifies the source

Reference List Formats

IEEE has specific formats for each source type. Author first initials come before surnames (reversed from APA/Harvard), titles are in double quotation marks for articles and chapters, and publication names are abbreviated.

Journal Article

Format

A. Author, B. Author, and C. Author, "Title of article," Abbrev. Journal Name, vol. X, no. X, pp. xx–xx, Mon. Year, doi: 10.xxxxx/xxxxx.

Example

J. A. Omondi and P. M. Kariuki, "Energy-efficient routing in wireless sensor networks," IEEE Trans. Wirel. Commun., vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 2234–2248, Apr. 2022, doi: 10.1109/TWC.2022.3140025.

Conference Paper

Format

A. Author and B. Author, "Title of paper," in Proc. Conference Name (ABBREV.), City, Country, Year, pp. xx–xx.

Example

M. Wang and Y. Zhang, "Adversarial robustness in federated learning," in Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. Mach. Learn. (ICML), Baltimore, MD, USA, 2023, pp. 4102–4110.

Book

Format

A. Author, Title of Book, Xth ed. City, State/Country: Publisher, Year.

Example

S. Haykin, Neural Networks and Learning Machines, 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA: Prentice Hall, 2009.

Technical Standard

Format

Title of Standard, Standard Number, Publisher, Year.

Example

IEEE Standard for Floating-Point Arithmetic, IEEE Std 754-2019, IEEE, 2019.

Website

Format

A. Author. "Title of page." Accessed: Month Day, Year. [Online]. Available: URL

Example

IEEE. "About IEEE." Accessed: Mar. 15, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://www.ieee.org/about

Key IEEE Formatting Rules

Author initials first

Write "J. A. Smith" not "Smith, J. A." — initials before surname, each initial followed by a period and space.

Article titles in quotes

Article, chapter, and paper titles go in "double quotation marks." Book and journal titles are in italics.

Month abbreviations

Use Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., May, Jun., Jul., Aug., Sep., Oct., Nov., Dec. — three letters with a period, except May which is never abbreviated.

Journal abbreviations

Abbreviate journal names: "IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications" → "IEEE Trans. Wirel. Commun." Use the IEEE journal abbreviation list.

5 Common IEEE Mistakes

✗
Surname before initials — IEEE puts initials first: "J. Smith" not "Smith, J." This is the opposite of APA and Harvard.
✗
Alphabetical reference list — Like Vancouver, IEEE lists references in citation order (order of appearance in your text), not alphabetically.
✗
No page numbers for conference papers — Conference papers must include the page range (pp. xx–xx). Many students omit this.
✗
Full journal names — IEEE requires abbreviated journal names. Check the official IEEE abbreviations list for the correct form.
✗
Missing doi for journal articles — Always include the DOI when available. Format: doi: 10.1109/xxxxx (not a hyperlink URL).

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