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IEEE Citation Generator

IEEE style is published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and is used primarily in engineering and computer science. This citation generator follows the official IEEE Editorial Style Manual.

Engineering

Generate IEEE citations in seconds

No account required. Paste a URL, DOI, or ISBN and get an accurate citation.

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What sources can you cite in IEEE format?

  • Journal articles
  • Conference papers
  • Books and book chapters
  • Technical reports
  • Standards documents
  • Patents
  • Websites and online sources
  • Theses and dissertations

How to create IEEE citations

Reference list citations

IEEE references follow a numbered format with specific element ordering. For journal articles: [#] Author Initial(s). Last Name, 'Article title,' Journal Name (abbreviated, italicized), vol. #, no. #, pp. #-#, Month Year. For conference papers: [#] Author Initial(s). Last Name, 'Paper title,' in Proc. Conf. Abbreviated Name, City, Country, Year, pp. #-#. For example: [3] A. Kumar, 'Learning from noisy data,' in Proc. Int. Conf. Machine Learning, Vienna, Austria, 2024, pp. 1523-1532. For books: [#] Author Initial(s). Last Name, Book Title (italicized), Edition. City, State/Country: Publisher, Year. Authors are listed with initials before last name (e.g., J. Smith). For 7+ authors, use the first author's name followed by 'et al.' Journal and conference names use standard IEEE abbreviations. Include DOIs when available, placed at the end of the reference.

In-text citations

IEEE uses numbered citations in square brackets [1] that correspond to entries in the reference list. Citations are numbered consecutively in order of first appearance in your text. For multiple citations, use [1], [2] or combine as [1]-[3] for consecutive numbers, or [1], [3], [5] for non-consecutive. When referring to specific parts, include page numbers: [1, p. 5] or [1, Ch. 2]. Reuse the same number for the same source throughout the paper. Brackets always sit inline with the sentence text, before terminal punctuation. The reference list is ordered numerically, not alphabetically.

IEEE Citation Examples

See how to format different source types in IEEE.

Website

Website Example

IEEE

IEEE Standards Association. "IEEE Citation Reference." IEEE.org. [Online]. Available: https://www.ieee.org/content/dam/ieee-org/ieee/web/org/pubs/citation-ref.pdf. [Accessed: Mar. 15, 2024].

Journal Article

Journal Article Example

IEEE

J. Smith and M. Doe, "Advanced engineering methods," IEEE Trans. Eng., vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 123-145, 2024.

Book

Book Example

IEEE

C. Brown, Engineering Fundamentals, 3rd ed. New York, NY, USA: Academic Press, 2023.

Quick IEEE Rules

Author Format

Initial(s). Last name. Use 'and' between authors. List all authors or use 'et al.' for 6+ authors.

Title Format

Sentence case for article titles. Journal names are abbreviated.

Date Format

Year in square brackets after journal name. Include month and year for conferences.

Journal/Source

Journal name abbreviated, volume number, issue number in parentheses, and page range.

In-text Citations

Use numbered citations in square brackets: [1] or [1]-[3]. Citations appear in order of appearance.

About this IEEE citation generator

This citation generator follows the IEEE Reference Guide published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the world's largest technical professional organization. IEEE style is the dominant citation format across electrical engineering, computer science, robotics, communications, and biomedical engineering, required by IEEE journals, conferences, and standards documents. The format uses bracketed numerical citations in the text matched to a numbered reference list at the end of the paper. When submitting to a specific IEEE publication, check the 'Information for Authors' page for minor variations (some journals require DOIs in a specific format or use slightly different abbreviations). For the comprehensive IEEE author guidelines, visit ieee.org/publications/style.

Common IEEE citation mistakes

  • Using full author names instead of initials (use J. Smith, not John Smith)
  • Not abbreviating journal names according to IEEE standards
  • Forgetting square brackets around citation numbers in text
  • Placing citations after punctuation instead of before
  • Not including [Online] and [Accessed: date] for web sources
  • Using alphabetical instead of numerical reference list ordering
  • Using 'et al.' with 6 or fewer authors (IEEE lists all authors for 1-6, then 'et al.' only for 7+)
  • Italicizing the 'vol.', 'no.', and 'pp.' labels (only titles and journal names are italicized)

IEEE Frequently Asked Questions

What is IEEE citation style?

IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) style is used primarily in engineering and computer science. It uses numbered citations in square brackets.

How do I cite a website in IEEE?

Include author/organization, page title in quotation marks, website name, [Online], Available: URL, and [Accessed: date].

How do I format in-text citations in IEEE?

Use numbered citations in square brackets: [1] for single citation, [1]-[3] for range. Citations are numbered in order of appearance.

Does IEEE require DOIs?

Yes, IEEE style recommends including DOIs for journal articles when available. Include after page numbers.

IEEE Citation Guides

Maintained by the AllCitations team. Our citation data is reviewed against the latest official style manuals.

Other Citation Styles

Last updated: April 2026 - IEEE formatting rules.