Journals are the most frequently cited source type in IEEE papers. The format depends on whether the article is a standard journal article, a conference paper, a magazine piece, or an early access / preprint — each has slightly different requirements.
Standard IEEE Journal Article
This is the most common IEEE citation. The article is published in a peer-reviewed IEEE journal with a volume, issue number, and page range:
Format
[#] A. A. Author and B. B. Author, "Title of article," IEEE Journal Abbrev., vol. X, no. Y, pp. 000–000, Mon. Year, doi: 10.XXXX/XXXXX.
Example — single author
[1] M. Zhang, "Convolutional neural networks for autonomous driving," IEEE Trans. Intell. Transp. Syst., vol. 23, no. 7, pp. 8943–8956, Jul. 2022, doi: 10.1109/TITS.2021.3114982.
Example — multiple authors
[2] R. Patel, S. Kumar, and A. Singh, "Energy harvesting in wireless sensor networks: a review," IEEE Commun. Surv. Tutorials, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 1145–1192, 2023, doi: 10.1109/COMST.2023.012345.
IEEE Conference Paper
Papers presented at conferences and published in IEEE proceedings follow a different format:
Format
[#] A. A. Author, "Title of paper," in Proc. Conference Name (ABBREV), City, Country, Year, pp. 000–000, doi: 10.XXXX/XXXXX.
Example
[3] L. Chen and W. Liu, "Transformer models for code generation," in Proc. Int. Conf. Software Eng. (ICSE), Melbourne, Australia, 2023, pp. 234–244, doi: 10.1109/ICSE48619.2023.00036.
Conference name abbreviation: Use the official IEEE abbreviation in italics. If the conference is well-known (e.g., CVPR, ICML, NeurIPS), the abbreviation can stand alone. Always include the city, country, and year.
IEEE Magazine Article
Magazine articles (e.g., IEEE Spectrum, IEEE Computer) differ from journal articles — they typically lack volume/issue numbers in the same sense:
Format
[#] A. A. Author, "Title of article," Magazine Name, vol. X, no. Y, pp. 00–00, Mon. Year.
Example
[4] T. Brown, "The rise of edge computing," IEEE Spectrum, vol. 60, no. 3, pp. 28–35, Mar. 2023.
IEEE Early Access Article (Online First / Preprint)
Articles accepted but not yet assigned to a volume/issue appear as "Early Access" on IEEEXplore:
Format
[#] A. A. Author, "Title of article," IEEE Journal Abbrev., early access, Month Day, Year, doi: 10.XXXX/XXXXX.
Example
[5] P. Wang, "Quantum error correction via surface codes," IEEE Trans. Quantum Eng., early access, Jan. 15, 2024, doi: 10.1109/TQE.2024.00123.
Non-IEEE Journal Article
For articles published in journals outside of IEEE (e.g., Nature, PNAS, ACM), use the same format but replace the IEEE journal abbreviation with the standard abbreviation for that journal:
Example — Nature journal
[6] E. Hoffman et al., "Large-scale genomic analysis of cancer mutations," Nature Genet., vol. 55, no. 8, pp. 1234–1245, Aug. 2023, doi: 10.1038/ng.1234567.
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Quick Comparison Table
| Source Type | Key Difference from Standard Journal |
|---|
| Standard journal article | Has vol., no., pp. — use journal abbreviation |
| Conference paper | Use "in Proc." + conference name/abbreviation + city |
| Magazine article | Same format — note magazine names may not abbreviate like journals |
| Early access | Replace vol./no./pp. with "early access, Date" |
| Non-IEEE journal | Same format — use that journal's standard abbreviation |
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I cite an IEEE Transactions paper?▼
IEEE Transactions papers use the standard journal article format. Abbreviate the journal name: IEEE Trans. Commun., IEEE Trans. Neural Netw. Learn. Syst., etc. Always include the DOI when available.
What if my journal article has no page numbers yet?▼
If the article is in early access (accepted but not yet paginated), cite it as an early access article: include "early access," the date it was made available online, and the DOI. Do not leave placeholder page numbers.
How do I cite a paper from IEEEXplore?▼
IEEEXplore gives you all the citation details — authors, title, journal, volume, issue, pages, and DOI. Use these to build the standard IEEE journal article format. IEEEXplore also has a "Cite This" button that generates the citation for you (though always verify its output).
Can I cite a journal article without a DOI in IEEE?▼
Yes. If no DOI is available, omit the doi field entirely — do not write "no DOI" or leave it blank. You may optionally add a URL instead, formatted as: [Online]. Available: URL.