On this page
Updated . Example details checked against Crossref, doi:10.2147/NSS.S62907.
The IEEE format
Pattern
[n] A. B. Last name and C. D. Last name, “Title of article,” Abbrev. Journal, vol. #, no. #, pp. #–#, Mon. Year, doi: xx.
- Authors: up to six named, with “and” before the last; seven or more give the first and “et al.”
- Article title in quotation marks, capitalized like a sentence, with the comma inside the quotation marks.
- Journal abbreviated as IEEE’s list abbreviates it, here Nat. Sci. Sleep, in italics.
- doi: lowercase, then the number, with no link prefix.
A real example
Reference
[1] S. D. Hershner and R. D. Chervin, “Causes and consequences of sleepiness among college students,” Nat. Sci. Sleep, vol. 6, pp. 73–84, Jun. 2014, doi: 10.2147/NSS.S62907.
In-text citation
[1, p. 75]
When details are missing
- No DOI: end after the date.
- No issue: leave out “no.”
- A page in the text: [1, p. 75].
Common mistakes
- The full journal name. IEEE abbreviates journal titles; look yours up in the journal’s own instructions or a standard list.
- Periods inside quotation marks. IEEE closes the title with a comma inside the marks: “...students,”
Or let Format do it.
Paste the DOI and Format fetches the authors, title, journal, volume, issue, pages and year from Crossref. Format writes the References entry and the in-text citation in IEEE, exactly as shown above, and builds the References page when you export to Word or PDF. IEEE is part of Pro, $4 a month or $29 a year; MLA and APA are free.
Questions
Do I need the month?
IEEE includes it when the issue has one: Jun. 2014.
What about online-first articles?
Add “early access” and the date it appeared, with the DOI.
More citation guides
The same source in other styles
- Journal article in MLA 9
- Journal article in APA 7
- Journal article in Chicago
- Journal article in Harvard
Similar sources in IEEE
Every source kind is on the IEEE page, and every style is on How to cite.