Electrical and Computer Engineering

The Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a engineering and computer science professional organization that publishes a variety of materials including industry standards.

IEEE citation style is used primarily for electronics, engineering, telecommunications, computer science, and information technology reports.

Key Features:

• In-text citation consisting of a number in square brackets e.g. [1], which refers to the full citation listed in the reference list
  • Place bracketed citations within the line of text, before any punctuation, with a space before the first bracket
  • When citing multiple sources at once, list each number separately, in its own brackets, using a comma or dash between numbers, as such: [1], [3], [5] or [1] - [5].
• Citations are numbered in the ordered in which they are cited
  • Once you have referred to a source and given it a number, continue to use that number as you cite that source throughout the paper.
• The Reference list appears at the end of the paper in order by the citation number

 

A visual example of the basics:

Source: IEEE Style Reference Guide, Murdoch University Library, https://libguides.murdoch.edu.au/IEEE/home

 

Examples of in-text citations:

"...end of the line for my research [13]."

"This theory was first put forward in 1987 [1]."

"Scholtz [2] has argued that..."

"Several recent studies [3], [4], [15], [16] have suggested that...."

"For example, see [7]."

 

Creating a Reference List 

The Reference List appears at the end of your paper and provides the full citations for all the references you have used.  List all references numerically in the order they've been cited within the paper, and include the bracketed number at the beginning of each reference.

• Use References as the heading of the section
• Author's name is listed as first initial, last name.
  • Example: Adel Al Muhairy would be cited as A. Al Muhairy (NOT Al Muhairy, Adel).
• Article title article is listed in quotation marks
• Journal or book is listed in italics

 

Examples of citations for different materials:

Material Type	Works Cited
Book in print	[1] D. Sarunyagate, Ed., Lasers. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996.
Chapter in book	[2] G. O. Young, "Synthetic structure of industrial plastics," in Plastics, 2nd ed., vol. 3, J. Peters, Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964, pp. 15-64.
eBook	[3] L. Bass, P. Clements, and R. Kazman, Software Architecture in Practice, 2nd ed. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley, 2003. [E-book] Available: Safari e-book.
Journal article	[4] G. Liu, K. Y. Lee, and H. F. Jordan, "TDM and TWDM de Bruijn networks and shufflenets for optical communications," IEEE Trans. Comp., vol. 46, pp. 695-701, June 1997.
eJournal (from database)	[5] H. Ayasso and A. Mohammad-Djafari, "Joint NDT Image Restoration and Segmentation Using Gauss–Markov–Potts Prior Models and Variational Bayesian Computation," IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, vol. 19, no. 9, pp. 2265-77, 2010. [Online]. Available: IEEE Xplore, http://www.ieee.org. [Accessed Sept. 10, 2010].
eJournal (from internet)	[6] A. Altun, “Understanding hypertext in the context of reading on the web: Language learners’ experience,” Current Issues in Education, vol. 6, no. 12, July, 2005. [Online serial]. Available: http://cie.ed.asu.edu/volume6/number12/. [Accessed Dec. 2, 2007].
Conference paper	[7] L. Liu and H. Miao, "A specification based approach to testing polymorphic attributes," in Formal Methods and Software Engineering: Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Formal Engineering Methods, ICFEM 2004, Seattle, WA, USA, November 8-12, 2004, J. Davies, W. Schulte, M. Barnett, Eds. Berlin: Springer, 2004. pp. 306-19.
Conference proceedings	[8] T. J. van Weert and R. K. Munro, Eds., Informatics and the Digital Society: Social, ethical and cognitive issues: IFIP TC3/WG3.1&3.2 Open Conference on Social, Ethical and Cognitive Issues of Informatics and ICT, July 22-26, 2002, Dortmund, Germany. Boston: Kluwer Academic, 2003.
Newspaper article (from database)	[9] J. Riley, "Call for new look at skilled migrants," The Australian, p. 35, May 31, 2005. [Online]. Available: Factiva, http://global.factiva.com. [Accessed May 31, 2005].
Technical report	[10] K. E. Elliott and C.M. Greene, "A local adaptive protocol," Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, France, Tech. Rep. 916-1010-BB, 1997.
Patent	[11] J. P. Wilkinson, “Nonlinear resonant circuit devices,” U.S. Patent 3 624 125, Jul. 16, 1990.
Standard	[12] IEEE Criteria for Class IE Electric Systems, IEEE Standard 308, 1969.
Thesis/Dissertation	[1] J. O. Williams, “Narrow-band analyzer,” Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. Elect. Eng., Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA, 1993.

 

Source: Adapted from the Citation Styles Guide: IEEE by the University of Pittsburg Library at https://pitt.libguides.com/citationhelp/ieee

According to the IEEE Editorial Style Manual (section II. Writing Principles, pg 13), Images, Figures and Tables are:

• Cited with the abbreviation "Fig." followed by the figure/image number. e.g. Fig. 1
• Citation should appear as a caption to the Image (right below the image/figure)
• The general style for captions: “Fig.” followed by the number, followed by a period, a space, then the text of the caption
• The first word of the caption should always be capitalized
• In general, do not use A, An, or The at the beginning of a figure or table caption

Example: Fig. 1. Theoretical measured values of n

NOTE: If the image/figure is one that you borrowed from another work, the caption should end with an in-text citation just as you would use within the written text of the paper.

The following are two excellent sources of help on IEEE Style.

IEEE Referencing Guide by Murdoch University Library is an excellent source with clear explanations and examples covering just about anything you would need to cite.

How to Cite References: IEEE Documentation Style:  From IEEE's publication on citation standards covers books, conference technical articles, online sources, periodicals, theses, and more.