IEEE Format: Understanding IEEE Citation Style Guide with Templates

The IEEE¹ format for papers is a writing style guide used by the publications of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the world’s largest technical professional organization that works toward advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. The IEEE publish approximately a third of the global technical literature, including journals, magazines, books, and standards. Their journals are among the most cited in fields like engineering and telecommunication and consequently, which makes its published articles especially important in academia.

The IEEE follows a specific paper format for their journal articles and conference papers. This article will describe in detail the specifications of the IEEE format, including details on each section, the IEEE citation style, with examples and IEEE templates.

Understanding the IEEE Format

The IEEE formats are different for journal articles and conferences so you must ensure that you download and use the correct IEEE template for your article.

What is the IEEE Paper Format?

Although each of the IEEE journals may have slightly different guidelines, the basic IEEE paper format is as follows:²

A4 or letter-sized paper
Two-column format
Font: Times New Roman, 10-12pt
Margins: Top (0.75-1 inch), bottom (1 inch), and side (0.625-0.75 inch)
Title: Top centered, 14-16pt font
In-text citations: Bracketed numbers
No page numbers

Importance of IEEE Format in Academic Writing

The IEEE format is known for being well structured and organized. This format ensures consistency and transparency in presenting research details and outcomes. This format also has a clear citation style with in-text citations represented by bracketed numbers and the reference list arranged in the same order in which the citation appears in the text. This clearly defined citation style helps other academics accurately refer to these citations. To better understand how IEEE differs from other academic styles, you can also read Paperpal’s guide on What are Citation Styles and Which One to Use.

IEEE Paper Format Guidelines

This section describes the general and specific rules of the IEEE paper format.³

General Formatting Rules

The body of the paper should be in 10pt type and in two columns.

Columns on the last page should be of the same length.

All papers must begin with an abstract and index terms.

Papers may include some or all of the following: note to practitioners, nomenclature, appendices, and acknowledgements.

Papers should be divided into sections and subsections.

Papers should begin with a drop cap two lines deep, followed by the next 8-12 characters (or 1-2 words, whichever is appropriate) in all caps.

Figures, tables, and equations should each be numbered consecutively, but separately. They should also be centered in the column in which they appear.

IEEE Title Page and Abstract

The title should be centered at the top of the first page, in 24pt type.

The byline should be centered below the title, after a line break, in 10pt type. It should include author name(s), author affiliation(s), city and country location(s), and e-mail addresses.

The abstract should have one paragraph of approximately 200 words.

Abbreviations, footnotes, references, tables, graphs, charts, figures, and mathematical equations should not be used.

The abstract should be followed by index terms, in a separate paragraph. Index terms are similar to keywords and are provided by the author to help journals, editors, and readers categorize, archive, or locate your paper. IEEE maintains a standardized list of index terms. Index terms should be listed in alphabetical order; the first should be capitalized, and the rest in lower case unless they contain acronyms or other components.

IEEE Headings and Subheadings

Primary headings—enumerated with Roman numerals followed by a period, set in small caps, and centered above the text.

Secondary headings—enumerated with capital letters followed by a period, set in italics and title case, left-aligned, unindented, and separated from the text by a line break.

Tertiary headings—enumerated by Arabic numerals, followed by a close-parenthesis, set in italics and title case, left-aligned, indented one em, separated from the text by a colon.

Quaternary headings—enumerated by lowercase letters followed by a close-parenthesis, set in italics and sentence case, left-aligned, indented two ems, and separated from the text by a colon. No line break.

Fig. 1: IEEE Heading Format

Figures, Tables, and Equations

Each component should be numbered consecutively, that is, the numbering system does not start over in a new section or an appendix but simply continues on.

For example, if you have four figures in Section I, the first figure in Section II is simply Fig. 5, not Fig. II-1 or similar. The numbering of figures does not affect the numbering of tables or equations; each category is numbered independently. For example, if you have three figures and then a table, that table is still numbered Table I, not Table IV.

In tables, vertical lines are optional, and double horizontal lines may be used to signify the beginning and end of the table.

Tables are labelled with the same format as a section or appendix heading, along with a title. Tables are enumerated with Roman numerals.

Fig. 2: Example of an IEEE Table Format

Figures should always be referred to as “figures” and not labels such as “graph 1.”

A figure label is placed below the figure, in sentence case, rather than small caps, and does not include line breaks.

The format is as follows: “Fig.”, followed by the number, then a period and an em space, followed by the title for the figure. Example: “Fig. 3. Number of citation errors in undergraduate papers at Purdue University, 2005-2015.”

If parts of the figure are labeled specifically, this should be done with a lowercase letter within parentheses.

Fig. 3: Example of an IEEE Figure Format

In equations, variables and numbers should be italicized, and the following elements should be set in roman type: function names, units, words, and abbreviations.

Equations are centered on the page and labeled with Arabic numerals, right aligned, in parentheses, and referred to only by those numbers in the text. Example: Always use “as seen in (3)” rather than “as seen in Equation (3).”

IEEE Citation Style

This section describes the IEEE citation style for in-text citations and the reference list.

IEEE Format for In-Text Citations

Here are a few rules to keep in mind while using the IEEE format for in-text citations:⁴

The IEEE format uses bracketed numbers for in-text citations and can be used as footnotes and nouns. Example: both “The city of Florence is populated entirely by owls wearing human masks [1], and thus…” and “As established in [1], the city of Florence is populated entirely by owls wearing human masks, and thus…” are correct.

To refer to a specific portion of the reference, an abbreviated form could be used within brackets; for example, section V of reference 4 could be written as “[4, Sec. V].

To cite multiple references, separate them with commas and en dashes as shown in the following examples:

Two citations: A trenchcoat and mask can easily disguise a few owls as a human, as experimentally shown by Smith [1], [2]. Note the space after the comma.

Three or more consecutively numbered citations: Italian owls are suspicious of outsiders, as noted in [3]–[5]. Note the use of the en dash without any space before or after.

Separate authors: This is disputed by Civetta [6] and Strix [7], who are not owls in masks.

IEEE Format for Reference Lists

Here are a few points about the IEEE format for references.⁵

As with other formats, references should be listed on a separate page at the end of your paper.

The list should be arranged in the order of appearance of the citations in the text and not alphabetically.

The numbers should be flush against the left margin and separated from the body of the reference.

Authors are always referred to by their surname and initials. Suffixes such as “Jr.” or “III” are separated by a comma; e.g., “E. C. M. Boyle, III.”

For up to six authors, list all authors in the order they are presented in the byline. Use the format “A. B. Author, C. D. Author, and E. F. Author.”

For seven or more authors, list the first author followed by “et al.”

Titles of books, journals, and publications of similar size are set in title case.

Titles of articles, technical reports, and publications of similar size are set in sentence case.

Names of months are shortened to 3 to 4 letters each: Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., May, June, July, Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., and Dec.

If you’re new to academic writing and often confuse references with citations, check out Paperpal’s guide on the Difference Between Citations and References

Examples of Common Source Types

The following table illustrates a few examples of common source types in the IEEE format.⁵

Source type	Format	Example
Book with single author	[#]      Author, Title, volume, edition. City, State, Country: Publisher, year.	[1]      C.M. Millward, A Biography of the English Language, 2nd ed. Fort Worth, TX, USA: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1996.
Book accessed online	[#]      Author, Title, volume, edition. City, State, Country: Publisher, year. [Online]. Available: URL. Accessed: month day, year.	[2]      P. H. Ditchfield, Old English Customs Extant at the Present Time. London, UK: George Redway, 1896. [Online]. Available: https://books.google.com/books?id=azpHAAAAIAAJ. Accessed: July 1, 2019.
Book with translators & editors	[#]      Author, Title, Translator, Trans., Editor, Ed., volume, edition. City, State, Country: Publisher, year.	[4]      T. Malory, Le Morte Darthur, P. J. C. Field, Ed. Rochester, NY, USA: D. S. Brewer, 2017.
Book with specific chapter/section	[#]      Author, “Chapter,” in Title, volume, edition. City, State, Country: Publisher, year, chapter, section, page range.	[6]      G. Garrard, “Apocalypse,” in Ecocriticism, 2^nded. New York, NY, USA: Routledge, 2012, ch. 5, pp. 93–116.
Journal article	[#]      Author, “Title,” Journal, volume, number, page range, month year, DOI.	[7]      K. M. Bivens and K. Cole, “The grotesque protest in social media as embodied, political rhetoric,” Journal of Communication Inquiry, vol. 42, no. 1, pp. 5-25, Jan. 2018, doi: 10.1177/0196859917735650.
Journal articles in other languages	[#]      Author, “Translated Title,” (in Language) Journal, volume, number, page range, month year, DOI.	[8] A. Bammesberger, “The etymology of West Germanic *beur-a-,” (in German) Sprachwissenschaft, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 229-231, 2000.
Websites	[#]      Author. “Page.” Website. URL (accessed month day, year).	[10]     G. Dvorsky. “NASA is officially sending an aerial drone to Titan and it’s a dream come true.” Gizmodo. https://gizmodo.com/nasa-is-officially-sending-an-aerial-drone-to-titan-and-1835918159 (accessed July 3, 2019).
Dissertations	[#]      Author, “Title,” document type, Department, University, City, State, Country, Year.	[11]      E. C. M. Boyle, III, “Barm, yeast, leaven, and the gesyfled loaf: an extended footnote to Juliana 396b,” M.A. thesis, Dept. English, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN, USA, 2017.

IEEE Templates for Journals and Conferences

The IEEE has a very easy-to-use template selector, which you can use to select appropriate templates for your articles (depending on the journal) and conferences. This selector prompts you to choose the type of publication (transactions, journals, and letters; magazines; or conferences), publication name, article type (original research, briefs), and file format (word, LaTeX) and then provides an appropriate downloadable template.

The template should be used if you are using MS Word. The template provides instructions on every aspect of the paper, including fonts, headings, colors, figures, tables, references, etc. and should be used carefully. Using these provided templates helps ensure consistency across all IEEE publications and conferences.

How to Generate Citations Effectively Using IEEE Citation Generator

An IEEE format citation generator automatically generates citations in the IEEE format by taking the identifier for the source, such as a website URL, book ISBN, or journal article ISSN (which is supplied by you), and detecting the remaining details. Then, it formats all the details in the correct IEEE citation style.

Here are some steps to effectively use an IEEE format citation generator:

1. Ensure that the information you provide the generator is accurate. Check the input information closely. Is the author name spelled correctly? Is the doi accurate? Is the title complete?

2. Make sure that you designate the correct medium, version, and/or edition for each source.

3. Ensure that your source is credible and authentic.

4. Note that generic citation generators may not be 100% accurate every time and there is always a margin of error. Therefore, always manually verify the generated citations.

To make this even easier, you can try Paperpal’s AI Citation Tool that lets you Instantly Find and Cite Credible Sources as You Write, ensuring speed and accuracy.

Best Practices and Common Mistakes to Avoid

Here are a few tips to ensure accurate IEEE formatting and to avoid any inadvertent errors.

Tips for Accurate IEEE Formatting

Ensure that you make correct selections in the template selector.

Cross check if the basic layout is correct, including text columns, margins, fonts, headings, etc.

Ensure that the text citations and reference list are ordered accurately in the appropriate format.

Try not to change the format of the template downloaded from the template selector.

Make sure to remove the template or blanket/common/placeholder text that is not required in the final paper. Such accidental inclusions could lead to your paper being rejected.

Tools for Citation Management

Citation management tools can help you organize, store, and manage your sources and then automatically generate citations in the format required. Some commonly used citation management tools include Paperpal, Zotero, EndNote, Mendeley, etc.

Fig. 4: Screenshot of citations generated by Paperpal’s Citation Generator

Paperpal offers a free citation generator that can help you generate citations in more than 10,000 styles, including IEEE, MLA, APA, Chicago, and AMA. Using the citation generator is quite simple:⁶

1. Search for references using the title or DOI.

2. Add the generated entry to your citation library.

3. Verify the generated citation is relevant to your work.

4. Insert into your document.

The IEEE format is known for its structure and clarity, especially its citation style, and Paperpal’s citation generator makes it simpler than ever!

Frequently Asked Questions

How to cite books with multiple authors in IEEE style?

The IEEE format for citing books with multiple authors is the same as that for books with a single author. Here are a few examples:7

Klaus and P. Horn, Robot Vision. Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press, 1986.
Li, J. Yang, and C. Li, “Super-resolution restoration and image reconstruction for passive millimeter wave imaging,” in Image Restoration—Recent Advances and Applications, A. Histace, Ed., Rijeka, Croatia: InTech, 2012, pp. 25–45.

How to cite IEEE conference papers and presentations?

The following table gives a few examples for IEEE conference paper and presentation citations.5

Source type	General format	Example
Presentation given at an academic conference	[#]      Author, “Title,” presented at the Conference, City, State, Country, Month days, year, paper number.	[13]     H. Tame, “Hell’s bells: visualizing the sound of hell in twelfth century sculpted portals,” presented at the 54th Int. Congr. on Medieval Stud., Kalamazoo, MI, USA,  May 9-12, 2019.
Conference proceedings	[#]      Author, “Title”, in Conference Proceedings, Editor, Ed., City, State, Country, Month year, page range.	[14]     E. Rogers, “On the deposit of gold and silver coins in Wales”, in Cambrian Archaeological Assoc., 6thAnnu. Meeting, H. Jones and J. Williams, Ed., Ludlow, UK, Oct. 1852, pp. 312-15.
Conference proceedings (online)	[#]      Author, “Title”, in Conference Proceedings, Editor, Ed., City, State, Country, Month year, page range, DOI.	[15]     J. H. Huang and D. Powers, "Large scale experiments on correction of confused words," Proc. 24th Australian Comput. Sci. Conf. Gold Coast, Qld, Australia, 2001, pp. 77-82, doi: 10.1109/ACSC.2001.906626

How to use the IEEE LaTeX template for conference papers?

The following steps that show how to use the IEEE LaTeX template for conference papers:

Use IEEE’s template selector to download the LaTeX template for conference papers.
Download the generated IEEE template, available as a zip folder and extract its contents.
Open the main .tex file in your LaTex editor (Overstudio, TeXstudio, etc.)
Add and edit content in the IEEE format template per your requirements but ensure that the basic format and structure remain the same.
Create a .bib file containing your bibliographic information and add each reference.
Use appropriate commands to cite these entries from the .bib file in your document.
Use appropriate commands to format your references in IEEE style.
Compile the document to generate a pdf.

To summarize what we’ve covered in this article, the IEEE format is a clear, simple, and straightforward format used for writing articles in journals and conferences. This IEEE format has a specific citation style, so users should take care to use the appropriate IEEE journal template or IEEE conference template to ensure accuracy per journal and conference guidelines and to ensure consistency among all published articles.

REFERENCES

About IEEE. IEEE website. Accessed July 29, 2025. https://www.ieee.org/about-ieee

An easy guide to IEEE research paper format. SharkPapers. Published May 21, 2024. Accessed July 30, 2025. https://www.sharkpapers.com/blog/research-paper-writing-guides/ieee-research-paper-format

IEEE general format. Purdue online writing lab. Accessed August 1, 2025. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/ieee_style/ieee_general_format.html

In-text citation. Purdue online writing lab. Accessed August 2, 2025. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/ieee_style/in-text_citation.html

Reference list. Purdue online writing lab. Accessed August 3, 2025. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/ieee_style/reference_list.html

Free citation generator. Paperpal. Accessed August 3, 2025. https://paperpal.com/tools/citation-generator

Reference guide. IEEE author center. Accessed August 3, 2025. https://journals.ieeeauthorcenter.ieee.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/IEEE_Reference_Guide.pdf

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