IEEE Citation and Reference Guide

How Does IEEE Referencing Work?

• In-text citation: a number assigned according to first appearance in the manuscript.
• Reference list: a numbered bibliography arranged in the same order.

The reference list is not alphabetical.

In-Text Citations

IEEE citations are shown in square brackets.

Example: AI-based decision-support systems are increasingly used in healthcare [1].

Example: The method proposed in [2] improved classification accuracy.

Repeated Citation of the Same Source

Do not assign a new number to a previously cited source. If a work first appears as [4], it remains [4] throughout the manuscript.

Citing Multiple Sources

Separate references: [2], [5], [8]

Consecutive references: [3]–[6]

Reference Numbering

Numbers are based on first appearance, not on author name or publication year. The first new source is [1], the next [2], and so on.

Reference List Order

List references numerically in citation order. In-text numbers and reference-list entries must match exactly.

Author Names

IEEE generally places initials before the surname: A. Yılmaz, B. Demir, and C. Kaya. Rules for shortening long author lists may vary by publication.

Journal Article

Format: [No.] A. A. Author and B. B. Author, “Article title,” Journal Title, vol. x, no. x, pp. xx–xx, year.

Example:
[1] A. Yılmaz and B. Demir, “Machine learning approaches in healthcare prediction,” Journal of Intelligent Systems, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 120–132, 2025.

DOI

Where available, the DOI may be added at the end of the entry, for example: doi: 10.0000/example.

Conference Papers and Proceedings

Format: [No.] A. A. Author, “Paper title,” in Conference Name, City, Country, year, pp. xx–xx.

If the paper appears in formal proceedings, include proceedings information, page range, and DOI where relevant.

Books and Book Chapters

Book: [No.] A. A. Author, Book Title, edition. City, Country: Publisher, year.

Book chapter: [No.] A. A. Chapter Author, “Chapter title,” in Book Title, B. B. Editor, Ed. City, Country: Publisher, year, pp. xx–xx.

Theses and Dissertations

Include author, title, thesis/dissertation type, department, university, city, country, and year.

Websites and Online Reports

Web references may include author/organisation, page title, site name, URL, and access date where appropriate.

Online reports may also include place, publisher, report number, and an [Online] designation.

Standards, Patents, and Technical Reports

Standard: give the standard title, number, issuing organisation, and year.

Patent: include inventor, patent title, country, patent number, and date.

Technical report: include author/organisation, report title, report number, institution, location, and year.

Data Sets, Software, GitHub, and Code Repositories

Data sets: include creator, title, repository, version, year, and DOI/URL where relevant.

Software: cite according to the developer's recommended form when the software is itself an important research object.

Code repositories: where scientifically relevant, include creator, repository name, release/version, year, and persistent link.

Preprints and arXiv

Preprints may be cited with author, title, server name, identifier, year, and URL/DOI. Their non-peer-reviewed status should be kept in mind.

Direct Quotations

One page: [9, p. 24]

Several pages: [9, pp. 24–26]

Citing Tables and Figures

For reproduced or adapted tables, graphs, diagrams, or figures, include the relevant IEEE reference number in the caption or note. Copyright permission may also be required.

Titles in IEEE References

Article and chapter titles are generally placed in quotation marks, while book and journal titles are italicised. Formatting varies by source type.

Reference Managers and IEEE

Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote, and similar tools offer IEEE styles, but generated records should always be checked.

• Reference-number order
• Author initials
• Article and conference titles
• Journal title
• Volume, issue, and pages
• Conference name and location
• DOI
• URL and access date

Common IEEE Errors

• Alphabetising the reference list
• Assigning a new number to a repeated source
• Mixing citation formats instead of using square brackets
• Mismatch between citation numbers and reference entries
• Formatting conference papers as journal articles
• Confusing article and book-title formats
• Missing volume, issue, or page information
• Failing to verify DOI information
• Omitting access information where needed for web sources
• Using reference-manager output without checking it

A Simple Numbering Example

The first source is [1], the second [2], the third [3]. If source 1 is cited again later, it remains [1].

IEEE Pre-Submission Checklist

• Are references numbered in order of first appearance?
• Are all in-text citations shown in square brackets?
• Is the same number reused for repeated citations?
• Is the reference list numerical rather than alphabetical?
• Do in-text numbers match reference entries?
• Are author initials and surnames in the correct order?
• Are journal, book, and conference references formatted appropriately?
• Have volume, issue, page, or article numbers been checked?
• Have DOI and URL details been verified?
• Is IEEE style applied consistently throughout the manuscript?