Citation guides
IEEE Citation Guide: Numbers, Reference List and Examples
IEEE citation format from the 2025 IEEE Reference Guide: numbered in-text citations, author rules, and examples for articles, papers, books and reports.
IEEE is the numbered style used across electrical engineering, computer science and much of the rest of engineering. Instead of an author and year in the text, each source gets a number in square brackets, and the reference list is sorted by that number. The rules below follow the current IEEE Reference Guide (version 3.28.2025), which changed one thing many older guides still teach: how you cite a run of sources.
In-text citations
Number your sources in the order you first cite them. The first source you cite is [1], the next new one is [2], and a source keeps its number every time you come back to it. The number sits on the line, in square brackets, before the full stop or comma.
A number in the sentence
You can treat the number as part of the sentence, or name the authors and add the number after them. In the text, IEEE uses "et al." as soon as a source has three or more names.
Naming the authors
Several sources at once
List each number in its own bracket, separated by commas. The 2025 guide no longer uses ranges with a dash: what used to be [1]–[4] is now written out in full. Many university handouts still show the range, so if your course guide does, follow your course.
Several sources, 2025 rule
A page, figure or chapter
Put the part inside the same bracket, after a comma. IEEE does not use ibid. or op. cit.: cite the number again.
Pointing to part of a source
The reference list
Title it References and list the sources in number order, not alphabetically. The number in square brackets stands at the left, and the reference hangs beside it. A few rules apply to every entry:
- Initials come before the surname: J. D. Watson, not Watson, J. D.
- Name every author up to six. With more than six, give the first author and et al.
- Titles of articles, chapters and papers are in sentence case and double quotation marks, with the comma inside the closing mark.
- Journal and conference names are abbreviated (IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng.), except one-word titles such as Nature and Science.
- Use vol., no. and pp., and abbreviate the month: Jan., Feb., Aug., Sep.
- Every reference ends with a full stop, unless it ends with a URL.
- No date? Write (n.d.) where the date would go.
Journal article
Template
Two authors
More than six authors
The AlphaFold paper has 34 authors, so only the first is named. A paper with six or fewer authors lists them all, with "and" before the last. When a journal numbers articles instead of pages, write Art. no. followed by the number where the pages would go.
Conference paper
A paper in published proceedings takes "in" and the abbreviated name of the proceedings.
Conference paper
Book
The book title is in italics with no quotation marks, followed by the place and the publisher. For a place in the United States, IEEE gives the state and the country.
Book
Chapter in an edited book, template
Preprint on arXiv
arXiv preprint
The guide asks you to cite the version of record once a paper has been published, not the preprint. Check the arXiv page for a "published in" note and a DOI before you settle on the preprint.
Report
A technical or government report names the organisation and its location after the title, then the report number and date. More patterns are in our guide on how to cite a report.
Report with a number and DOI
Website
Give the author, the page title in quotation marks, the website name, the date you accessed it and the URL. There is no full stop after the URL.
Website, template
Thesis, standard and video
Thesis, template
Standard, the guide's own example
Online video, template
Quick reference: IEEE elements
| Element | IEEE format |
|---|---|
| In text | [1], or Watson and Crick [1] |
| Several sources | [2], [4], [5] (no ranges in the 2025 guide) |
| Part of a source | [3, pp. 5–10], [3, Fig. 1] |
| Authors | J. D. Watson; all up to six, then first author et al. |
| Article title | "Sentence case," in double quotes |
| Journal | Abbreviated, except one-word names such as Nature |
| Volume, issue, pages | vol. 171, no. 4356, pp. 737–738 |
| Date | Apr. 1953, or (n.d.) when there is none |
| DOI | doi: 10.1038/171737a0. |
| Online source | Accessed: Oct. 10, 2026. [Online]. Available: URL |
Mistakes to check before you hand in
- Numbers out of order. The first source you cite must be [1], even if it comes last alphabetically.
- The same source under two numbers, usually after an edit moved a paragraph. Search your list for repeated titles.
- Surname first (Watson, J. D.). That is APA or Harvard; IEEE puts the initials first.
- Full journal names. CitApp's IEEE citation generator prints the journal name as the publisher gives it, so shorten multi-word names with the abbreviation lists at the end of the IEEE Reference Guide.
- A preprint cited when the published version exists. Cite the journal or conference version.
Written by Ihsan Hossain
Founder of CitApp, a citation tool built to make source formatting effortless for students. Guides on this blog are checked against the style guides' own rules and university library guides. Last full check: October 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Do I write [1]–[4] or [1], [2], [3], [4]?
The current IEEE Reference Guide (version 3.28.2025) writes every number out: [1], [2], [3], [4]. Older editions of the guide and many university handouts still show the range [1]–[4]. If your course guide shows ranges, follow it; otherwise write the numbers out.
How many authors do I list before et al.?
In the reference list, name all authors up to six. With more than six, give the first author followed by et al. In your own sentences, IEEE uses et al. as soon as a reference has three or more names, for example "Wood et al. [7] showed".
Does a source keep the same number if I cite it again?
Yes. A source gets its number the first time you cite it and keeps that number every time after. Never give one source two numbers, and never put two sources under one number.
Should the journal name be abbreviated?
Yes, IEEE abbreviates journal and conference names, for example IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng. The exception is a one-word title such as Nature or Science, which is written out. The IEEE Reference Guide ends with long lists of standard abbreviations.
Can I use ibid. in IEEE?
No. IEEE removes ibid. and op. cit. Cite the earlier number again instead, and add the page or figure inside the bracket if you need it: [3, pp. 5–10].