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Cite journal articles in IEEE

Learn how to cite journal articles in IEEE style. Use correct templates for single and multiple authors, print and online articles, with or without DOIs to reference sources accurately in your writing.

In-text citations

Citation format Example
Paraphrasing According to Kaczorek [1], managing energy requires for  …
Direct quote “Mathematical fundamentals of the fractional calculus are …” [1, p. 1].

Reference list

  • Use the official abbreviated form for journal titles when available. See IEEE Reference Style Guide – Common Abbreviations for examples.
  • Abbreviate months of five or more letters. See Abbreviations for examples.
  • Include the DOI whenever one is available. If no DOI is available, place a full stop after the year, add '[Online]. Available:' and the URL.

  Journal or periodical

Reference format Example
Template [#] J. K. Author, “Title of journal article,” Abbreviated Title of Journal, vol. x, no. x, pp. xxx-xxx, Abbreviated Month year, DOI: xxx.
Full reference

[1] T. Kaczorek, "Minimum energy control of fractional positive electrical circuits," Archives of Electrical Engineering, vol. 65, no. 2, pp.191–201, June 2016, doi: 10.1515/aee-2016-0013.

[2] M. Khandelwal, “Correlating P-wave Velocity with the Physico-Mechanical Properties of Different Rocks,” Pure and applied geophysics, vol. 170, no. 4, pp. 507–514, Apr. 2013, doi: 10.1007/s00024-012-0556-7.

Journal articles with an article ID number

Place a comma after the year, then add the article ID number, followed by the DOI or URL

Reference format Example
Template [#] J. K. Author, “Title of journal article,” Abbrev. Title of Journal, vol. x, no. x, pp. xxx-xxx, Abbrev. Month year, Art. no. xxx, doi: xxx.
Full reference

[1] L. Jones, "Bridges reach for the skies [Built environment infrastructure]", Eng. and Technol., vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 66-70, May 2017, Art. no. 16790686, doi: 10.1049/et.2017.0410.

In-text citations

Citation format Example
Paraphrasing Engineers' information-seeking habits was recently explored …  [1].
Direct quote Research exploring “how engineers working in a particular organization sought information: what types of information needs they had, what sources they used, and how they selected these sources” [6, p. 566] has noted that …

Reference list

  • Use the official abbreviated form for journal titles when available. See IEEE Reference Style Guide – Common Abbreviations for examples.
  • Abbreviate months of five or more letters. See Abbreviations for examples.
  • Include the DOI whenever one is available. If no DOI is available, place a full stop after the year, add '[Online]. Available:' and the URL.

Journal articles

Reference format Example
Template [#] J. K. Author and C. D. Author, “Title of journal article,” Abbreviated Title of Journal, vol. x, no. x, pp. xxx-xxx, Abbreviated Month year, doi: xxx.  
Full reference

[1] M. Fidel and H. M. Green, “The many faces of accessibility: Engineers’ perception of information sources,” Inf.  Process. Manage., vol. 45, no. 4, pp. 225-256, May 2015, doi: 1016/S0306-4573(03)00003-7.

  [2] K. Keogh and L. Sonenberg, “Designing Multi-Agent System Organisations for Flexible Runtime Behaviour,” Applied sciences, vol. 10, no. 15, p. 5335, Aug. 2020, doi: 10.3390/app10155335.  

Journal articles with an article ID number

Place a comma after the year, then add the article ID number, followed by the DOI or URL

Reference format Example
Template [#] J. K. Author and C. D. Author, “Title of journal article,” Abbrev. Title of Journal, vol. x, no. x, pp. xxx-xxx, Abbrev. Month year, Art. no. xxx, doi: xxx.
Full reference

[1] J. Zhang and N. Tansu, “Optical gain and laser characteristics of InGaN quantum wells on ternary InGaN substrates,” IEEE Photon. J., vol. 5, no. 2, Apr. 2013, Art no. 2600111, doi: 10.1109/JPHOT.2013.2247587

In-text citations

List the first author and use 'et al.' in italics for sources with three or more authors.

Citation format Example
Paraphrasing

This suggests mobile networks [4] are more secure if …

Yang et al. [3] state that...
Direct quote “In recent years mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) have received tremendous attention because of their self-configuration and self-maintenance capabilities” [3, p.  38].

Reference list

  • Use the official abbreviated form for journal titles when available. See IEEE Reference Style Guide – Common Abbreviations for examples.
  • Abbreviate months of five or more letters. See Abbreviations for examples.
  • Include the DOI whenever one is available. If no DOI is available, place a full stop after the year, add '[Online]. Available:' and the URL.
Reference format Example
Template [#] A. B. Author, C. D. Author, E. F. Author, H. I. Author, J. K. Author and  L. M. Author, “Title of journal article,” Abbreviated Title of Journal, vol. x, no. x, pp. xxx-xxx, Abbreviated Month year, doi: xxx.
Full reference

[1] H. Yang, H. Luo, F. Ye, S. Lu and L. Zhang, “Security in mobile ad hoc networks: Challenges and solutions,” IEEE Wireless Comm., vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 38–47, Feb. 2004, doi: 10.1109/MWC.2004.1269716.

[2] G. Oatley, T. Choudhury, and P. Buckman, “Smart Textiles for Improved Quality of Life and Cognitive Assessment,” Sensors, vol. 21, no. 23, p. 8008, Nov. 2021, doi: 10.3390/s21238008.  

Journal articles with an article ID number

Place a comma after the year, then add the article ID number, followed by the DOI or URL

Reference format Example
Template [#] A. B. Author, C. D. Author, E. F. Author, H. I. Author, J. K. Author and  L. M. Author, “Title of journal article,” Abbrev. Title of Journal, vol. x, no. x, pp. xxx-xxx, Abbrev. Month year, Art. no. xxx, doi: xxx.
Full reference

[1] R. Fardel, M. Nagel, F. Nuesch, T. Lippert, and A. Wokaun, “Fabrication of organic light emitting diode pixels by laser-assisted forward transfer,” Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 91, no. 6, Aug. 2007, Art. no. 061103, doi: 10.1063/1.2759475

[2] A. Chakraborty, F. L. Lizarelli, A. O’Loughlin, A. Barton, and H. S. Kandra, “Empirical evidence on circular economy adoption in Australian small and medium enterprises,” Journal of cleaner production, vol. 467, June 2024, Art. No. 142958, doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.142958.  

In-text citations

List the first author and use 'et al.' in italics for sources with three or more authors.

Citation format Example
Paraphrasing Techniques used to analyse scattered fields have … [4].
Direct quote Kuang et al. [2] state that “the Lorentz transformation method can be used to solve the scattered field from a moving object” [p.4].

Reference list

  • Where there are more than six authors, use the first listed author’s name followed by 'et al.' in italics.
  • For non-IEEE publications, 'et al.' may be used if names are not provided.
  • Use the official abbreviated form for journal titles when available. See IEEE Reference Style Guide – Common Abbreviations for examples.
  • Abbreviate months of five or more letters. See Abbreviations for examples.
  • Include the DOI whenever one is available. If no DOI is available, place a full stop after the year, add '[Online]. Available:' and the URL.
Reference format Example
Template [#] J. K. Author et al., “Title of journal article,” Abbreviated Title of Journal, vol. x, no. x, pp. xxx-xxx, Abbreviated Month year, doi: xxx.
Full reference

[1] T. Brunschwiler et al., “Formulation of percolating thermal underfills using hierarchical self-assembly of microparticles and nanoparticles by centrifugal forces and capillary bridging,” J. Microelectron. Electron. Packag., vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 149–159, 2012, doi: 10.4071/imaps.357.

Journal articles with an article ID number

Place a comma after the year, then add the article ID number, followed by the DOI or URL.

Reference format Example
Template [#] J. K. Author et al., “Title of journal article,” Abbrev. Title of Journal, vol. x, no. x, pp. xxx-xxx, Abbrev. Month year, Art. no. xxx, doi: xxx.
Full reference

[1] L. Kuang et al., “A numerical method for analyzing electromagnetic scattering properties of a moving conducting object,” Int. J. Antennas Propag., vol. 2014, 2014, Art. no. 386315, doi: 10.1155/2014/386315.

[2] H. Setiadi et al., “An Extreme Learning Machine Based Adaptive VISMA for Stability Enhancement of Renewable Rich Power Systems,” Electronics (Basel), vol. 11, no. 2, p. 247, Jan. 2022, doi: 10.3390/electronics11020247.