IEEE

About IEEE referencing 

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers has a set of editorial guidelines authors contributing to its publications.  

As part of these guidelines, the IEEE has the following numbered referencing system: 

• All in-text citations are numbered in square brackets, starting from [1].
• Each number refers to a full citation in the reference list at the end of the paper.
• The reference list is organised numerically, not alphabetically. 

Manuals and resources

For guidance using the IEEE referencing style, we recommend consulting the IEEE Reference Guide and the IEEE Editorial Style Manual. 

The IEEE Reference Guide includes:

• examples of how to reference specific sources
• general information about how to format citations and references in IEEE style
• general guidelines for citing online references
• a list of common abbreviations of words used in references, as the names of conferences and journals are abbreviated in the IEEE style.

The IEEE Editorial Style Manual includes:

• guidelines around punctuation, abbreviations, section headings, numbers and equations, and footnotes. 
• additional guidance on writing references (Section B: p12), including citing tables and figures (Section B: p13).

For general information about academic referencing, including why it is essential, see Introduction to referencing.