Journal articles make up most of the reference list in an engineering or computing paper, so getting the IEEE journal format right does more for your referencing mark than anything else.
An IEEE journal reference packs authors, title, abbreviated journal name, volume, issue, pages or article number, date and DOI into one line with exact punctuation.
This guide focuses on journal articles only: IEEE Transactions, letters and magazines, journals from other publishers, online-only journals with article numbers, and early access papers that have no volume yet. For the general rules of IEEE style and other source types, see the IEEE format guide.
Quick Answer
The IEEE journal article pattern is: [n] A. B. Author, C. D. Author, and E. F. Author, "Title of article," Abbrev. Title of Journal, vol. x, no. x, pp. xxx–xxx, Abbrev. Month Year, doi: xx.xxxx/xxxxx. Cite it in the text with its number in square brackets, such as [4], and reuse that number every time you cite the article.
The Journal Reference, Element by Element
| Element | Format | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Number | Square brackets, flush left | [4] |
| Authors | Initials, then surname; "and" before the last | W. Zhang, L. Wang, and K. Ahmed, |
| Article title | Double quotation marks, sentence case, comma inside | "Energy-efficient scheduling for edge networks," |
| Journal | Abbreviated, italic | IEEE Trans. Netw. Serv. Manag., |
| Volume | vol. x | vol. 20, |
| Issue | no. x | no. 2, |
| Pages or article number | pp. x–y, or Art. no. x | pp. 1450–1463, |
| Date | Abbreviated month and year | June 2023, |
| DOI | doi: then the DOI number | doi: 10.1109/xxxx.2023.xxxxxxx. |
[4] W. Zhang, L. Wang, and K. Ahmed, "Energy-efficient scheduling for edge computing networks," IEEE Trans. Netw. Serv. Manag., vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 1450–1463, June 2023, doi: 10.1109/xxxx.2023.xxxxxxx.
Authors in Journal References
List authors in the order shown on the article. Write initials with full stops and spaces (J. A. Smith), and keep hyphenated initials together (J.-P. Martin). Two authors are joined by "and" with no comma.
Three to six authors are separated by commas, with a comma before the final "and". For more than six, the IEEE Reference Guide gives the first author followed by et al.
One author: [1] R. Okafor, "Title," Journal, ...
Two: [2] R. Okafor and S. Lee, "Title," ...
Three: [3] R. Okafor, S. Lee, and M. Rossi, "Title," ...
Seven or more: [4] R. Okafor et al., "Title," ...
In the text, for an article with three or more authors you can write "Okafor et al. [4] showed..."; for two, "Okafor and Lee [2] showed...". The number is always required, even when you name the authors.
Journal Title Abbreviations
IEEE expects abbreviated journal titles. IEEE's own journals have official abbreviations, which appear on the journal's IEEE Xplore page and in the reference sections of its articles. For other publishers, use the standard ISO 4 abbreviation, which you can find in abbreviation databases or on the journal's own site. Single-word titles are never abbreviated.
| Full journal title | Abbreviation |
|---|---|
| IEEE Transactions on Communications | IEEE Trans. Commun. |
| IEEE Transactions on Information Theory | IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory |
| IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems | IEEE Trans. Neural Netw. Learn. Syst. |
| Proceedings of the IEEE | Proc. IEEE |
| IEEE Signal Processing Letters | IEEE Signal Process. Lett. |
| IEEE Access | IEEE Access |
| Nature | Nature |
Common abbreviation building blocks include Trans. (Transactions), J. (Journal), Proc. (Proceedings), Lett. (Letters), Mag. (Magazine), Commun. (Communications), Comput. (Computer, Computing), Eng. (Engineering), Electron.
(Electronics), Syst. (Systems), Technol. (Technology) and Int. (International). If you cannot confirm an abbreviation, use the full title rather than guess; a guessed abbreviation looks more wrong than a full one.
Volume, Issue, Pages and Article Numbers
Print-era journals use page ranges. Many newer journals, including IEEE Access and most open access titles, number each article instead. In that case give the article number in place of the pages.
Page range: ..., vol. 68, no. 4, pp. 2345–2358, Apr. 2020, doi: ...
Article number: [5] A. Kumar and P. Silva, "Federated learning for smart grid fault detection," IEEE Access, vol. 11, 2023, Art. no. 104512, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2023.xxxxxxx.
Single page: ..., p. 45, ...
Use an en dash (–) between pages, not a hyphen. If a journal has no issue numbers, leave out "no." altogether rather than writing "no. n/a". If the issue covers two months, give both: Jan./Feb. 2024.
Early Access and in-Press Articles
IEEE publishes many papers online as "Early Access" before they are assigned to an issue. These have a DOI but no volume, issue or pages yet. IEEE's guide marks them as "to be published" and gives the DOI.
[6] L. Moreau and T. Ito, "Low-latency scheduling for industrial 5G," IEEE Trans. Ind. Informat., to be published, doi: 10.1109/TII.2026.xxxxxxx.
Before you submit, search the DOI again. If the article has since appeared in an issue, update the reference with its volume, issue, pages and date. Markers and journal reviewers both notice stale early access references.
Online Journals and Articles Without a DOI
Most journal articles now have DOIs, and when you give a DOI you do not need a URL. For an article that is only online and has no DOI, add "[Online]. Available:" and the URL at the end. Use the article's own page, not a database search page or a link that needs a login.
[7] M. Hassan, "Battery aging models for electric buses," J. Sustain. Transp. Eng., vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 22–35, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://www.example-journal.org/articles/battery-aging
Magazine and Letters Articles
IEEE magazines, such as IEEE Spectrum and the society magazines, and letters journals, such as IEEE Commun. Lett., follow exactly the same pattern as other journals. Magazines are often dated by month and may use article page ranges within a monthly issue. Treat them as journals: give the volume and issue if shown, the pages and the month and year.
[8] S. Moore, "Chipmakers turn to backside power delivery," IEEE Spectr., vol. 61, no. 3, pp. 30–35, Mar. 2024.
Worked Example: From Article Page to Reference
What the article page shows: "A Hybrid Deep Learning Model for Short-Term Load Forecasting" by Priya Nair, Daniel Hughes and Amara Osei. IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, Volume 15, Issue 2, March 2024, pages 1801 to 1812. DOI 10.1109/TSG.2024.xxxxxxx. It is the third source cited in your report.
Reference: [3] P. Nair, D. Hughes, and A. Osei, "A hybrid deep learning model for short-term load forecasting," IEEE Trans. Smart Grid, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 1801–1812, Mar. 2024, doi: 10.1109/TSG.2024.xxxxxxx.
In the text: Hybrid models outperformed single-network baselines on day-ahead forecasts [3]. Or: Nair et al. [3] report...
The title moved into sentence case, the journal name was abbreviated and italicized, the month was abbreviated, and the three authors were all listed because the count is below seven.
Journal Reference Checklist
| Check | Done when |
|---|---|
| Number | Matches the order of first citation in your text |
| Authors | Initials first, "and" before the last, et al. only above six |
| Title | Sentence case, double quotation marks, comma inside |
| Journal | Italic, correctly abbreviated or given in full if unsure |
| Labels | vol., no., pp. or Art. no. all present |
| Date | Month abbreviated per IEEE, year given |
| DOI | Present where one exists, after "doi:" |
Journals from Other Publishers
Engineering reports rarely cite IEEE journals alone. Articles from Elsevier, Springer, Wiley, ACS, IOP and open access publishers use exactly the same IEEE pattern; only the abbreviation source changes. Use the ISO 4 abbreviation the journal itself publishes, which often appears on the journal homepage or in the "cite this article" box.
| Full journal title | Abbreviation |
|---|---|
| Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews | Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. |
| Journal of Power Sources | J. Power Sources |
| Applied Energy | Appl. Energy |
| Sensors | Sensors |
[9] F. Ahmed and J. Park, "Thermal management of lithium-ion packs in fast charging," J. Power Sources, vol. 580, 2023, Art. no. 233412, doi: 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2023.xxxxxx.
Many publishers' export buttons offer an "IEEE" option. The output is a good start, but check it: exported references often keep full journal titles, title-case article titles or a DOI link in the wrong form.
Citing a Figure, Table or Section of an Article
When you refer to one part of an article, add it inside the brackets after the number: [3, Fig. 2], [3, Table I] or [3, Sec. IV]. The reference list entry stays the same; you never create a second entry for a different part of the same article.
If you reproduce or adapt a figure, add "Reproduced from [3]" or "Adapted from [3]" to your caption, and check whether the publisher's license allows reuse in a published paper.
Several Articles by the Same Authors
Each article gets its own number and its own entry, even when the authors and year are identical. Unlike author-date styles, IEEE never needs "2023a" and "2023b", because the numbers already tell the articles apart.
Common Mistakes with IEEE Journal References
- Writing the journal title in full and in roman type instead of abbreviated italics.
- Title case for the article title, or single quotation marks.
- Leaving out "Art. no." and giving a meaningless page range for online-only journals.
- Copying an APA-style DOI link (https://doi.org/...) when your template asks for the "doi:" form, or mixing both forms.
- Citing an early access article without checking whether it has since been published in an issue.
- Using "&" between authors.
How We Help with IEEE Journal References
Send your draft and the list of articles you cited, with links or DOIs where you have them, plus any template your course or journal uses. A writer in engineering or computing formats each journal reference, verifies abbreviations, volumes, issues, article numbers and DOIs, updates early access entries, and checks that every in-text number matches the list.
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Frequently Asked Questions
[n] A. Author, B. Author, and C. Author, "Title of article," Abbrev. Journal, vol. x, no. x, pp. xx–xx, Mon. Year, doi: xx. In the text, use the number in square brackets.
Yes. Use IEEE's official abbreviations for IEEE journals and standard ISO 4 abbreviations for others. Single-word titles are not abbreviated.
The article number, used instead of page numbers by journals such as IEEE Access that number articles rather than pages.
Give the authors, title and journal, then "to be published" and the DOI. Update the reference if the article is assigned to an issue before you submit.
No. Article titles use sentence case inside double quotation marks.
On the journal's IEEE Xplore page, in the reference lists of its own articles, or in standard journal abbreviation databases.
Not if you give a DOI. Add "[Online]. Available:" and a URL only for online articles without a DOI.
List up to six authors. For more than six, give the first author followed by et al.
Yes, as a start. Check it for full journal titles, title-case article titles and the form of the DOI before using it.
Add the figure to the in-text citation, such as [3, Fig. 2], and note "Adapted from [3]" in your caption if you reuse it. The reference list entry does not change.