How to Cite a Journal Article in IEEE Referencing

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is known for publishing an array of journals. But how do you cite a journal article in a college paper using IEEE referencing? In this post, we’ll look at how to format in-text citations and the reference list entry for a journal article.

In-Text Citations

All citations in IEEE referencing use a number–note system. This means you cite sources with bracketed numbers in the text, each of which points to an entry in the reference list. Sources are numbered in the order they are first cited, so you would cite the first source in your paper like this:

This method is quicker and cheaper, but less reliable [1].

You would then use the same number each time you cited this source in the document. Most citations will follow this basic format, but you should also:

• Give the citation after the author’s name if you name them in the text.
• Include a page number in the citation if you are quoting the source directly.

To see how this works in practice, check out our overview of the IEEE referencing system.

Reference List: Print Journal Article

The correct format for a journal article in an IEEE reference list depends on how it was published. For print journal articles, you will need the following basic format:

[#] Author Initial(s) and Surname, “Article title,” Journal Title, volume number, issue number, page range, month and year of publication.

In practice, then, the entry for a print journal article in an IEEE reference list would look like this:

[1] C. Chesum, “Innovations in Catalyzation,” J Adhes Sci Technol, Vol. 7, No. 1., pp. 11–24, July-September 2012.

Don’t forget, as shown above, to abbreviate the title of journals in the reference list and add a hanging indent for each line after the first.

Reference List: Online Journal Article

These days, of course, paper is a bit old-fashioned. Some journals are therefore only available online. In this case, the format to use when referencing a journal article is a little different:

[#] Author Initial(s) and Surname, “Article title,” Journal Title, volume number, issue number, page range, month and year of publication. DOI.

The reference list entry for an online journal article would therefore look like this:

[2] W. Xi, Y. Yesilevskiy and C. D. Remy, “Selecting gaits for economical locomotion of legged robots,” The International Journal of Robotics Research, vol. 35, no. 9, pp. 1140–1154, Nov. 2015. doi: 10.3994/ijep.v10i2.12672.

If there is no DOI available, however, you should provide a URL and date of access:

[3] D. Cage, “Including Complexity in the Design Process,” Journal of Systems Engineering and Electronics, Vol. 1, No. 3, June 2011. Accessed: April 5, 2019. [Online]. Available: http://online-journals.org/index.php/i-jep/article/view/241611.

As above, don’t forget to use a hanging indent for each line after the first.