IEEE Referencing Guide for Engineering and IT Students

IEEE basics

IEEE is a numbered referencing style used mainly in engineering, computer science and related technical fields. Sources are numbered in square brackets in the order they first appear in the text, and the reference list at the end follows the same numbered order, not alphabetical order.

Check whether your department wants the IEEE Reference Guide version or a local variant, and follow that for punctuation details.

Numbered in-text citations

Place the number in square brackets, such as [1], before punctuation or at the point where the source applies. Use the same number every time you cite the same source.

• Single source: "as shown in [3]".
• Multiple sources: [1], [3] or [1]–[3] for a range.
• Specific page or section: [2, p. 45].
• Name in the sentence: "Smith et al. [4] reported..."

Numbers are assigned in order of first citation, so a source cited first on page 5 becomes [1] even if it is more important than others.

Reference list formats

Basic formats, with italics for titles of books and journals:

• Journal article: [1] A. Author, B. Author, and C. Author, "Title of article," Abbrev. Journal Title, vol. x, no. x, pp. xxx–xxx, Month Year, doi: xxxxx.
• Conference paper: [2] A. Author, "Title of paper," in Proc. Conf. Name, City, Country, Year, pp. xxx–xxx.
• Book: [3] A. Author, Title of Book, xth ed. City, Country: Publisher, Year.
• Website: [4] Organisation, "Title of page," Site Name. URL (accessed Month Day, Year).

Authors are written with initials first and surname last. Article titles go in double quotation marks, and journal names are usually abbreviated.

Citing standards, datasets and code

Standards, datasets and software repositories can be cited using the same numbered system with adapted details.

• Standard: [5] Title of Standard, Standard number, Year.
• Dataset: [6] Author or Organisation, "Dataset title," Publisher or Repository, Year. [Online]. Available: URL
• Code: [7] Author or Organisation, "Repository name," GitHub. URL (accessed Month Day, Year).

Include version numbers or commit identifiers for software and data, so that others can find the same version you used.

Common IEEE mistakes

Mistakes to watch for:

• Numbering references alphabetically instead of by first appearance.
• Reusing a number for different sources or giving a source two numbers.
• Missing brackets or placing them after the full stop.
• Listing sources that are never cited.
• Inconsistent journal abbreviations.
• Using surname-first order for authors.
• Missing access dates for websites.

Reference managers can export IEEE style, but check the final list against the style guide.

Checklist

Before submitting, check that:

• Every in-text number matches a reference list entry.
• The list is in numerical order of first citation.
• Authors, titles, volume, pages and years are correct.
• Websites include URLs and access dates.
• Journal abbreviations are consistent.
• DOIs are included where available.
• Every source in the list is cited in the text.