In IEEE, the section at the end of a paper is called "References" — not "Bibliography." It is numbered, ordered by citation appearance, and contains a complete entry for every source cited in the text. Nothing extra, nothing missing.
IEEE Reference List Rules
- Heading: Center "References" above the list — not bold, not in quotation marks
- Order: Entries are numbered [1], [2], [3]... in the order they were first cited in the paper
- Alignment: Each entry starts with its bracket number, hanging-indented so the text aligns after the number
- No alphabetical sorting: IEEE does NOT alphabetize. Citation order only.
- One entry per source: Even if cited many times in the text, each source has only one entry in the reference list
- Completeness: Every source cited in the text must appear here; do not include sources you did not cite
Sample IEEE Reference List
Full example with mixed source types
References
[1] M. Chen and S. Liu, "Deep reinforcement learning for robot navigation," IEEE Trans. Robot., vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 1523–1538, Jun. 2022, doi: 10.1109/TRO.2022.012345.
[2] S. Russell and P. Norvig, Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach, 4th ed. Hoboken, NJ, USA: Pearson, 2021.
[3] T. Brown, "How large language models work," MIT Technology Review, Apr. 18, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://www.technologyreview.com. [Accessed: Jan. 5, 2025].
[4] A. Vaswani et al., "Attention is all you need," in Proc. Adv. Neural Inf. Process. Syst. (NeurIPS), Long Beach, CA, USA, 2017, pp. 5998–6008.
Handling Repeated Citations
When you cite the same source multiple times in your paper, you do NOT create a new entry in the reference list. Reuse the original number:
Example — reusing a reference number
Multiple studies confirm this finding [1]. Later analysis extended this work [2], [3]. Crucially, the original authors themselves updated the model [1, Sec. IV].
The reference list still has only one entry for each source, even if cited on every page.
What to Do When Information Is Missing
| Missing Element | What to Do |
|---|
| No author | Start with the organisation name or title of the work |
| No date | Omit the date field — do not write "n.d." |
| No page numbers | Omit pp. — for online sources, this is normal |
| No DOI | Omit doi: — optionally add [Online]. Available: URL |
| No volume/issue | Omit vol./no. — common for early access articles |
Generate Your Entire IEEE Reference List
Our free IEEE citation generator builds each reference correctly — then you simply number them in citation order and paste them at the end of your paper.
Open IEEE Citation Generator →
IEEE vs APA Bibliography: Key Differences
| Feature | IEEE | APA 7 |
|---|
| Section title | References | References |
| Order | Citation order (numbered) | Alphabetical by author surname |
| In-text style | [3] or [1], [5] | (Author, Year) |
| Author names | Initials only: J. Smith | Surname + initials: Smith, J. |
| Article title | "Quoted" | Not quoted, not italicised |
| Journal name | Abbreviated, italicised | Full name, italicised |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between "References" and "Bibliography" in IEEE?▼
In IEEE, the section is always called "References" — not "Bibliography." IEEE references include only sources you have actually cited in the text. A bibliography (in some other styles) may include additional background reading. In IEEE, include only cited sources.
Can I include uncited sources in my IEEE reference list?▼
No. IEEE references should only include sources you have cited in the text. Every reference must have a corresponding [number] somewhere in your paper. If you read a source but didn't cite it, do not include it in the reference list.
How many references is typical for an IEEE paper?▼
It varies widely by paper type. A conference paper might have 10–20 references; a journal survey paper might have 80–150+. The number of references should match what is actually needed to support your claims — there is no fixed minimum or maximum in IEEE style.
What font and spacing should the IEEE reference list use?▼
For IEEE journal papers, the reference list typically uses 8pt or 9pt font in a two-column layout with single spacing, matching the rest of the paper's body text. For conference papers, follow the specific template provided by the conference. Student papers submitted to instructors should follow the course formatting guidelines.