This guide collects IEEE reference format examples for the source types you cite most often. Each item includes a template and a sample citation. The examples follow the official IEEE Reference Guide. Names and titles in the samples are made up to show the layout.
IEEE In-Text Citation Rules
Cite with a number in square brackets inside the period: "as shown in [3]."
Number sources in the order you first cite them. Reuse the same number if you cite that source again.
Multiple sources: [2], [5]. A range of sources: [3]–[6].
The bracketed number can act as a noun: "In [4], the authors test a new receiver."
Specific pages or figures: [4, p. 12] or [7, Fig. 3].
General Formatting Rules for the Reference List
Put author initials before the last name: A. B. Author.
List up to six authors. For seven or more, write the first author followed by et al.
Put titles of articles, book chapters, and web pages in quotation marks using sentence case.
Put titles of journals, books, and conferences in italics. Use standard IEEE short forms for journals.
Use short month names (Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., Aug., Sept.) and add the DOI when one exists.
A. B. Author, C. D. Author, and E. F. Author, "Title of article," Abbrev. Title of Journal, vol. x, no. x, pp. xxx–xxx, Abbrev. Month Year, doi: xxx.
[1] L. Moreno and K. Okafor, "Low-power wake-up receivers for sensor nodes," IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. I, vol. 71, no. 4, pp. 1502–1514, Apr. 2024, doi: 10.1109/TCSI.2024.0000000.
Conference paper
A. B. Author, "Title of paper," in Proc. Abbrev. Name of Conf., City, State, Country, Year, pp. xx–xx, doi: xxx.
[2] S. Park, R. Iyer, and M. Novak, "Fast anomaly detection for smart meters," in Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. Commun. (ICC), Denver, CO, USA, 2024, pp. 3310–3315.
Book
A. B. Author, Title of Book, xth ed. City, State, Country: Publisher, Year.
[3] J. Halvorsen, Antenna Design for Wireless Systems, 2nd ed. Hoboken, NJ, USA: Wiley, 2021.
Chapter in an edited book
A. B. Author, "Title of chapter," in Title of Book, X. Editor, Ed. City, Country: Publisher, Year, ch. x, pp. xx–xx.
[4] T. Nakamura, "Edge caching rules," in Mobile Edge Computing, P. Rossi, Ed. Cham, Switzerland: Springer, 2022, ch. 5, pp. 89–117.
A. B. Author, "Title of thesis," M.S. thesis or Ph.D. diss., Dept., Univ., City, Country, Year.
[6] R. Haddad, "Deep learning for grid control," Ph.D. diss., Dept. Elect. Eng., Lakeview Univ., Madison, WI, USA, 2023.
Standard
Title of Standard, Standard Number, Year.
[7] IEEE Standard for Floating-Point Math, IEEE Std 754-2019, 2019.
Patent
A. B. Author, "Title of patent," Country Patent Number, Abbrev. Month Day, Year.
[8] K. Ito, "Smart beam array," U.S. Patent 11 234 567, Feb. 1, 2022.
Dataset
Author, "Title of dataset," Repo, Year, doi: xxx.
[9] M. Silva, "City traffic sensor data 2020–2023," Zenodo, 2024, doi: 10.5281/zenodo.0000000.
Software or code
Author, Title of Software. (Version x.x). Repo, Year. [Online]. Available: URL.
[10] A. Kumar, SigProcKit. (Version 2.1). GitHub, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://github.com/.
arXiv preprint
A. B. Author, "Title," Year, arXiv:xxxx.xxxxx.
[11] H. Li and D. Mensah, "Sparse models for spectrum sensing," 2025, arXiv:2501.00000.
Seven or more authors
[12] Y. Chen et al., "A 64-element phased array for 28-GHz links," IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 59, no. 2, pp. 410–423, Feb. 2024.
Using LaTeX? The IEEEtran BibTeX style formats citations for you. Still check journal short forms, protect acronyms with braces like {MIMO}, and include DOIs.
For the rest of the paper layout (headings, figures, equations), see our IEEE paper format guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I cite multiple sources at once in IEEE?
Put each number in its own square brackets, separated by commas: [2], [5], [9]. For a closed range, use an en dash: [3]–[6].
How many authors do I list in an IEEE reference?
List up to six authors. For seven or more, write the first author's name followed by et al.
Does IEEE use 'et al.' in the text?
Yes. In running text you can write "Lee et al. [4] showed that..." The bracketed number is what matters.
Is there an IEEE citation generator?
Tools like Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote, and BibTeX with IEEEtran generate IEEE citations. Always review the output for missing DOIs or broken journal short forms.
About this guide. Written and reviewed by the Publish My Research Paper team. We edit theses and journal papers across fields. Found an error? Email sales@publishmyresearchpaper.com.
