Welcome to the IEEE Citation Guide!
IEEE Style is commonly used in Engineering and Computer Science courses, for citing references in papers.
There are 2 parts to documentation in IEEE Style:
- In-text Citations - brief numerical link to main entry in references
- References - detailed list of sources
Get a printable manual (48 pages) at IEEE Reference Style Guide for Authors.
Consult the IEEE Author Center, for more resources.

General Guidelines
In-text citation
- In-text citations are shown as numbers within square brackets: [2]
- Each source that you cite is assigned a number according to the order it appears in your text.
- If you cite the same source more than once, use the same number rather than creating a new reference.
- Use “et al.” when three or more names are given for a reference cited in the text.
Reference list
- Reference numbers are aligned to the left margin and form a column of their own.
- Use "et al." to signify that a document has more than six authors.
- All references, except those ending with URLs, will end with a period, including those with a DOI.
- Check the IEEE Editorial Style Manual for official abbreviations. Many commonly used terms as well as specific IEEE journals should be abbreviated in the references.