IEEE Citation Generator
Numbered IEEE references with abbreviated journal names, from a DOI, ISBN or web address.
Autofill
What the page says
Source details
Your citation
Fill in the details or use autofill — the citation appears here as you type.
References
Saved in this browser only. “Copy list” keeps italics when you paste into Word or Google Docs.
In the text:
About the IEEE Citation Generator
Build IEEE references — the numbered [1], [2] style of IEEE journals and conferences and of most engineering and computer-science courses — for journal articles, conference papers, books and chapters, technical reports, standards, patents, datasheets and manuals, theses, web sites, news articles, videos, data sets and software. Paste a DOI, an ISBN or a web address to fill in the form, or type the details yourself: the reference updates as you type and copies with its italics.
The formatting follows the IEEE Reference Guide of the IEEE Author Center: initials before surnames (J. K. Author), every author up to six and otherwise the first author and “et al.”, titles of articles and papers in quotation marks, abbreviated journal and conference names in italics, “vol.”, “no.”, “pp.” and abbreviated months, “doi:” before a DOI and “[Online]. Available:” before a web address. Your list is numbered in the order you cite the sources, and each source gets its in-text citation — [3], [3, pp. 5–10] or Wood et al. [7].
How to use it
- Paste a DOI (for example
10.1109/TBME.2011.2158315), an ISBN or the web address of the source into Autofill — or choose the type of source and fill in the form. - Check the Abbreviated title of a journal or conference: autofill copies the abbreviation when the DOI record has one; otherwise press Abbreviate to build it from IEEE’s word list, then correct it if needed.
- Type the page, figure or section you cite into Page or location to get, for example, [3, pp. 5–10] or [3, Fig. 1].
- Press Add to list in the order you cite the sources: the first source you cite is [1]. Use Up and Down to change a number; Cite several references writes [1], [3], [4] for you.
- Press Copy list to paste the numbered list into Word or Google Docs with its italics, or download it as .rtf or .txt.
Examples
Journal article · M. M. Chiampi and L. L. Zilberti · IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, vol. 58, no. 10, pp. 2787–2793 · October 2011 · DOI 10.1109/TBME.2011.2158315
[1] M. M. Chiampi and L. L. Zilberti, “Induction of electric field in human bodies moving near MRI: An efficient BEM computational procedure,” IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng., vol. 58, no. 10, pp. 2787–2793, Oct. 2011, doi: 10.1109/TBME.2011.2158315.
The abbreviated journal name is italic in the tool. The DOI is enough: no web address is needed.
Conference paper · G. Veruggio · Proc. Humanoids ’06: 6th IEEE-RAS Int. Conf. Humanoid Robots · 2006 · pp. 612–617 · DOI 10.1109/ICHR.2006.321337
[2] G. Veruggio, “The EURON roboethics roadmap,” in Proc. Humanoids ’06: 6th IEEE-RAS Int. Conf. Humanoid Robots, 2006, pp. 612–617, doi: 10.1109/ICHR.2006.321337.
Standard · IEEE Criteria for Class IE Electric Systems · IEEE Standard 308 · 1969
[3] IEEE Criteria for Class IE Electric Systems, IEEE Standard 308, 1969.
The standard’s title comes first and is italic; standards have no author in IEEE references.
Web page · J. Smith · “Obama inaugurated as President” · CNN.com · accessed 1 February 2009
[4] J. Smith. “Obama inaugurated as President.” CNN.com. Accessed: Feb. 1, 2009. [Online]. Available: http://www.cnn.com/POLITICS/01/21/obama_inaugurated/index.html
All four are examples from the IEEE Reference Guide. A reference that ends with a web address has no full stop after it.
Common uses
- Reference lists for IEEE journal and conference submissions, and for engineering, electronics and computer-science assignments, theses and project reports that require IEEE style.
- Turning the DOI of an IEEE Xplore, ACM or Springer paper into a finished reference with the right journal abbreviation.
- Citing what engineering papers often cite and other generators skip: standards, patents, datasheets, technical reports and software.
- Keeping a numbered list in citation order while you write, and renumbering it when you move a paragraph.
The IEEE rules this generator applies
- Authors: initials, then the surname (J. K. Author), with no comma before Jr., Sr. or III. Every author up to six; with more than six, the first author and “et al.” (an option lists them all).
- Titles: articles, conference papers, chapters, reports, theses and patents in double quotation marks, with the comma inside: “Title,”. Books, journals, proceedings, standards, manuals, videos and software in italics.
- Abbreviations: abbreviated journal and conference names; vol., no., pp., Art. no., ch., ed., Ed./Eds. and trans.; months as Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., May, Jun., Jul., Aug., Sep., Oct., Nov. and Dec.
- Dates: at least the year in every reference; (n.d.) where a work has no date.
- Online sources: “doi:” and the DOI; “Accessed:” and the date for web sites and online sources without a DOI; “[Online]. Available:” and the address, with no full stop after it.
- In the text: the number in square brackets on the line, inside the punctuation — [1]; a location inside the brackets — [3, pp. 5–10], [3, Fig. 1]; several numbers each in their own brackets — [1], [2], [3]; with names, et al. for three or more authors — Wood et al. [7].
Source: the IEEE Reference Guide and the IEEE Editorial Style Manual for Authors of the IEEE Author Center.
Journal and conference abbreviations
IEEE references give periodical and proceedings titles in abbreviated form — IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng., Appl. Phys. Lett., Proc. IEEE — but never shorten a one-word title such as Science or Nature. When the DOI record includes an abbreviated title (as it does for IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, for example), autofill uses it. Otherwise Abbreviate builds one from the “Common Abbreviations of Words in References” list of the IEEE Reference Guide and its tips: articles, prepositions and conjunctions are dropped, words ending in -ology end after -ol., compound words take the abbreviation of their last word (Bioengineering → Bioeng.) and ordinal words become numbers (First → 1st). The list does not cover every word, so compare the result with the abbreviation the journal itself uses.
Standards, patents, datasheets and papers presented at conferences
- Standards: title in italics, then the standard number with its body (IEEE Std 802.11-2020, ISO 9001:2015), the organisation and place if the number does not name them, and the date.
- Patents: inventors, the title in quotation marks, the office and number as printed (U.S. Patent 3 624 125) and the full date of issue; tick Patent application for a published application.
- Datasheets and manuals: the guide has no separate datasheet section; its own datasheet example follows its format for manuals and handbooks — company and location, italic title, the date or (n.d.), and “[Online]. Available:” — which this tool uses.
- Conference papers: a paper in published proceedings is cited “in” the abbreviated proceedings title with its pages; tick Presented at the conference, not published in proceedings for a paper only presented there — “presented at the 32nd ESA Antenna Workshop, Noordwijk, The Netherlands,” followed by the dates of the meeting.
Limitations
- Abbreviations built from IEEE’s word list need checking: the list does not cover every word (for example Physical Review comes out as “Physical Rev.”, while IEEE writes “Phys. Rev.”). Type the right abbreviation in “Abbreviated title” when it differs.
- Autofill copies what publishers and catalogues have recorded, which can be incomplete or wrong — check every field against the work, especially author names given in one piece.
- IEEE’s guide also covers legal citations, lectures, courses, U.S. government documents and private communications; these are not built in and need formatting by hand.
- Where the guide’s own examples differ in small details (for example a comma after a title ending in a question mark), the tool follows its periodical examples. Your journal’s or department’s instructions come first.
- Many news and shopping sites block automated requests, so web-address autofill may find nothing on them; fill in the form by hand.
Privacy
Everything you type stays in your browser except the autofill box: a DOI goes to doi.org (and the agency it forwards to), an ISBN to Open Library, and a web address to MySmartCoPilot’s server, which reads only the page’s head and returns its citation details. The page itself is never stored; its details are kept for up to 24 hours under a hash of the address, so repeat lookups are quick. Your reference list is saved only in this browser.
Frequently asked questions
How do I cite a source in the text in IEEE style?
With its number in square brackets on the line, inside the punctuation: “as shown in [3].” Add a location inside the brackets — [3, p. 5], [3, Fig. 1], [3, Sect. 4.5]. For several sources the current IEEE guide writes every number out in its own brackets — [1], [2], [3] — rather than a range.
When does IEEE use et al.?
In the reference list IEEE names every author up to six; with more than six it gives the first author followed by “et al.” In your text, “et al.” is used for a source with three or more authors: Wood et al. [7].
How are the references numbered?
In the order you first cite them in your text, and a source you cite again keeps its first number. Add sources to the list in that order, or move them with Up and Down — the numbers follow.
Do I need both the DOI and the URL?
No. The DOI identifies the article permanently, so the reference ends with “doi: …” and no web address. Tick Also give the web address when there is a DOI in the IEEE settings if your instructor asks for both; the DOI then comes first and the address last.
Do I need an access date?
For web sites, yes: IEEE’s web-site references give “Accessed:” and the date you viewed the page. Other online sources that have no DOI show it before “[Online]. Available:”. The form fills in today’s date; change it to the day you read the source.
Is this an official IEEE tool?
No. MySmartCoPilot is not affiliated with IEEE. The rules come from the IEEE Reference Guide published by the IEEE Author Center; always follow your journal’s, conference’s or instructor’s instructions where they differ.