IEEE Formats for Citing Your Sources
Below are the citation formats that have been established by the IEEE for different types of
information sources. They are taken from IEEE’s publication “Information for IEEE
Transactions, Journals, and Letters Authors.” According to IEEE’s style guide, “a numbered
list of references must be provided at the end of the paper. The list should be arranged in the
order of citation in text, not in alphabetical order. List only one reference per reference
number. Each reference number should be enclosed by square brackets. In text, citations of
references may be given simply as “in [1] . . . ”, rather than as “in reference [1] . . . .”
PRINT SOURCES
Books:
[1] 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.
[2] W.-K. Chen, Linear Networks and Systems. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1993, pp.
123–135.
Journals:
[3] J. U. Duncombe, “Infrared navigation—Part I: An assessment of feasibility,” IEEE
Trans. Electron Devices, vol. ED-11, pp. 34–39, Jan. 1959.
[4] E. P. Wigner, “Theory of traveling-wave optical laser,” Phys. Rev., vol. 134, pp.
A635–A646, Dec. 1965.
[5] E. H. Miller, “A note on reflector arrays,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., to be
published.
Articles from Conference Proceedings (published):
[6] D. B. Payne and J. R. Stern, “Wavelength-switched passively coupled single-
mode optical network,” in Proc. IOOC-ECOC, 1985, pp. 585–590.
Papers Presented at Conferences (unpublished):
[7] D. Ebehard and E. Voges, “Digital single sideband detection for interferometric
sensors,” presented at the 2nd Int. Conf. Optical Fiber Sensors, Stuttgart, Germany,
1984.
Standards/Patents:
[8] G. Brandli and M. Dick, “Alternating current fed power supply,” U.S. Patent 4 084
217, Nov. 4, 1978.
Technical Reports:
[9] E. E. Reber, R. L. Mitchell, and C. J. Carter, “Oxygen absorption in the Earth’s
atmosphere,” Aerospace Corp., Los Angeles, CA, Tech. Rep. TR-0200 (4230-46)-3,
Nov. 1968.
1
ELECTRONIC SOURCES
Three pieces of information are required to complete each reference for an online source: (1)
protocol or service; (2) location where the item is to be found; and (3) item to be retrieved. It
is not necessary to repeat the protocol (i.e., http) in Web addresses after “Available” since
that is stated in the URL.
Format for Books: Author. (year, month day). Title. (edition) [Type of medium]. volume
(issue). Available: site/path/file
Example:
[1] J. Jones. (1991, May 10). Networks. (2nd ed.) [Online]. Available:
http://www.atm.com
Format for Journals: Author. (year, month). Title. Journal. [Type of medium]. volume
(issue), pages. Available: site/path/file
Example:
[2] R. J. Vidmar. (1992, Aug.). On the use of atmospheric plasmas as
electromagnetic reflectors. IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci. [Online]. 21(3), pp. 876–
880. Available: http://www.halcyon.com/pub/journals/21ps03-vidmar
Format for Papers Presented at Conferences: Author. (year, month). Title. Presented at
Conference title. [Type of Medium]. Available: site/path/file
Example:
[3] PROCESS Corp., MA. Intranets: Internet technologies deployed behind
the firewall for corporate productivity. Presented at INET96 Annu. Meeting.
[Online]. Available: http://home.process.com/Intranets/wp2.htp
Format for Reports and Handbooks: Author. (year, month). Title. Company. City, State
or Country. [Type of Medium]. Available: site/path/file
Example:
[4] S. L. Talleen. (1996, Apr.). The Intranet Architecture: Managing
information in the new paradigm. Amdahl Corp., CA. [Online]. Available:
http://www.amdahl.com/doc/products/bsg/intra/infra/html
Format for Computer Programs and Electronic Documents: ISO recommends that
capitalization follow the accepted practice for the language or script in which the
information is given.
Example:
[5] A. Harriman. (1993, June). Compendium of genealogical software.
Humanist. [Online]. Available e-mail: HUMANIST@NYVM Message: get
GENEALOGY REPORT
