IEEE Citation Style: A Guide for Engineering and Computer Science

IEEE is the citation style for electrical engineering, computer science, electronics, and related technical fields. Like Vancouver, it uses numbered references in the order sources first appear — but it has its own formatting conventions for the reference list, including specific treatment of conference papers, which are a major source type in technical disciplines.

How in-text citations work

Each source is numbered in order of first appearance and cited with square brackets:

Machine learning models have been shown to outperform traditional statistical methods in this task [1].

Several studies have demonstrated this effect [1], [2], [3].

A comprehensive review of the field can be found in [4].

According to Smith et al. [1], the algorithm runs in O(n log n) time.

Key rules:

• Square brackets, not superscripts or round brackets
• Numbers assigned in order of first citation
• Same number used every time the same source is cited
• Consecutive citations: [1]–[3] or [1], [2], [3]
• Placed before punctuation: ...in this field [1]. not ...in this field. [1]

Reference list format

The reference list appears at the end, in numerical order. IEEE reference entries use a specific structure for each source type.

Journal article

[1] H. L. Roediger and J. D. Karpicke, "Test-enhanced learning: Taking 
    memory tests improves long-term retention," Psychol. Sci., vol. 17, 
    no. 3, pp. 249–255, Mar. 2006, doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01693.x.

Format:

[N] A. Author and B. Author, "Article title," Abbrev. Journal Name, 
    vol. X, no. Y, pp. Z–Z, Mon. Year, doi: 10.xxxx/xxxx.

Notes:

• Author: initials before surname (reversed from APA/Harvard)
• Article title: in quotation marks, sentence case
• Journal name: abbreviated and italicised
• Include month for journals
• DOI as URL

Conference paper

Conference papers are a critical source type in CS and engineering. IEEE is one of the largest publishers of conference proceedings.

[2] J. Smith, A. Jones, and B. Brown, "Transformer architecture for 
    low-latency inference," in Proc. 2023 IEEE Int. Conf. Mach. Learn. 
    (ICML), New York, NY, USA, Jul. 2023, pp. 1234–1241.

Format:

[N] A. Author et al., "Paper title," in Proc. Conference Name 
    (Abbreviation), City, Country, Mon. Year, pp. Z–Z.

Book

[3] A. Baddeley, M. W. Eysenck, and M. C. Anderson, Memory, 3rd ed. 
    London, U.K.: Psychology Press, 2020.

Chapter in edited book

[4] S. Brown, "Working memory in technical contexts," in Cognitive 
    Aspects of Engineering, J. Smith and A. Jones, Eds. New York, NY, 
    USA: Springer, 2021, pp. 102–125.

Technical standard

[5] IEEE Standard for Floating-Point Arithmetic, IEEE Std 754-2019, 
    Jul. 2019.

Patent

[6] J. Smith, "Method for improving memory consolidation through spaced 
    repetition," U.S. Patent 10 123 456, Jan. 15, 2022.

Website / online source

[7] J. Smith. "How neural networks work." BBC Future. Accessed: 
    Mar. 15, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://www.bbc.com/future/
    article/20230315-neural-networks

Notes:

• For online sources: include access date and mark [Online]
• Author optional if organisation is author: use organisation name

Datasheet / component specification

[8] STMicroelectronics, "STM32F4 Discovery board datasheet," 
    STMicroelectronics, Geneva, Switzerland, Datasheet DS10115, 
    Rev. 8, Oct. 2020.

Author names in IEEE

IEEE uses first initial + middle initial (if given) + last name:

• John David Smith → J. D. Smith
• Multiple authors: listed with "and" before the last: J. Smith, A. Jones, and B. Brown

For three or more authors in-text (when naming the author), use et al.: Smith et al. [1]

Common IEEE mistakes

Using round brackets (1) instead of square brackets [1] — IEEE always uses square brackets. Round brackets indicate footnotes or are APA style.

Alphabetical reference list — IEEE lists references in order of first citation, not alphabetically.

Full journal names — IEEE uses abbreviated journal names. Check the IEEE website for standard abbreviations: "IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks" abbreviates to "IEEE Trans. Neural Netw."

Missing page numbers for conference papers — Conference paper entries should include page numbers (pp. X–Y).

Not including DOI when available — IEEE strongly recommends including the DOI. If the article has a DOI, include it.

Use the Citation Reference Formatter to generate IEEE-formatted references. For other science styles, see the Vancouver Guide. For social science referencing, see the APA Guide.