IEEE Paper Format Complete Guidelines

This article will guide you on how to format your IEEE paper. From the title page to the references, we've got you covered!

To maximize their chances of success, every student majoring in computer science should be able to prepare a paper using the IEEE format. It is crucial to grasp the IEEE paper format because it is frequently used to style academic papers written in computer and engineering fields, regardless of your specialization.

In this article, you will not only learn how to cite using the IEEE paper format, but we will also explain what the IEEE paper style format is. We will provide you with a list of the fundamental guidelines, offer some general writing advice, and provide helpful IEEE citation examples.

IEEE refers to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. It is a group of experts in electrical engineering and related fields. The Institute of Radio Engineers and the American Institute of Electrical Engineers served as its foundation when it was founded in 1963.

The IEEE reference format is an approved standard for authoring, publishing, and citing research papers. Students and researchers in computer science and related technical subjects frequently adopt the format developed based on the Chicago Manual of Style. Every student or young professional in this field will find this detailed handbook helpful.

The IEEE has developed its style manual to specify the requirements for structuring and producing academic papers in relevant domains. As with APA formatting, IEEE also requires in-text citations and a list of references at the end of the paper.

IEEE Paper Format in Google Docs

It is essential to know how to do IEEE paper format in Google Docs for ease of writing. To comply with the IEEE paper formatting style, use the following IEEE guidelines:

  1. The layout of the Page
  • The page size for your essay must be 210mm (8.27") wide by 297mm (11.69") long, which is equivalent to an A4 page. The following margin requirements must be met:
  • Top: 19mm (0.75”)
  • Bottom: 43 mm (1.69”)
  • Left x Right: 14.32 mm (0.56”)
  • A space of 4.22 mm (0.17") must separate the columns in your paper.
  1. Page Format
  • Every paragraph needs to be indented. 
  • All paragraphs must be justified, meaning they must be aligned left and right.

III. Document Text Font

  • Times New Roman should be used throughout the document.
  • Fonts of type 3 are not permitted. 
  • If other font types are required for a particular task, they may be employed.

IV. Author and Title Information

  • The title must be in 24 pt font. The author's name must be in regular 11-point font and italicized. 
  • All title and author information must be centered and in a single column.
  • Except for short minor words like "a," "an," "and," "as," "at," "by," "for," "from," "if," "in," "into," "on," "or," "of," "the," "to," and "with," every word in a title needs to be capitalized.
  • Any professional title (e.g., Chief Executive Officer), academic title (e.g., Professor), or participation in a professional organization must not be displayed in the author's details (e.g., Head of Department EEE).
  • Each author's name must be written with their Surname as the last component to prevent misunderstanding (e.g., Will E.A. Richards)
  • Each association must at the very least specify the name of the company and the country where the author is located (e.g., Cord Productions Ltd, Austria). A working email address is required for the related author.

IEEE Paper Header and Title

IEEE paper formatting rules are precise and must be adequately understood. 

This is a step-by-step IEEE paper writing format to put you through how to write an IEEE paper header and title.

Header

Each page must have a header with the qualities listed below:

  • Size and font: Times New Roman, Bold, 14 points for papers that are portrait-oriented
  • Size and font: Times New Roman, Bold, 18 points for papers that are landscape-oriented 
  • Line below should be separated by two points from the text 
  • Placed with the margin to the left is the publication's month and year (the venue date)
  • In the right margin are the document number and document designator.

Footnotes

A footnote is a paragraph of text that appears at the bottom of a page and provides extra details, justifications, or remarks about the main text. In the document's body, each footnote in an IEEE-formatted paper should have a unique number and be followed sequentially.

The paper’s first footnote should be three paragraphs long and not numbered; all subsequent footnotes should be numbered sequentially.

The first section should mention the paper's received and amended (optional) dates. The affiliations of the authors are listed in the following paragraph. If there are two or more authors with different affiliations, use individual sentences and paragraphs for each, specifying all initials with the last name.

The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, given by the IEEE, should be mentioned in the last paragraph of the first footnote.

Title

The paper's title should be in 24-point type and centered at the top of the first page.

Following a line break in 10-point font, the byline (line showing the author’s name) should be centered beneath the title. On different lines, it needs to include:

  • Name (s) of the author(s)
  • Association with the author (s)
  • Location by city and nation (s)
  • Email address

Works Cited Page 

The IEEE paper format is a standard for formatting documents according to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers guidelines. The IEEE reference page, also known as the IEEE bibliography, is located after your essay. It is where you provide detailed information about each source you have used. It is numbered to correspond with your IEEE in-text citations, so the reader can quickly locate and access them.

To format the reference page, follow the IEEE paper format requirements below:

  • Place the heading "References" at the top in bold and center or left-align it. 
  • In square brackets, type the reference numbers down the left side of the page (not to be confused with parentheses).
  • Consistently indent the references themselves to distinguish them from the numerals.
  • Put a standard paragraph break in between the references and single-space them.

IEEE Paper Style Citations

IEEE offers instructions on how to format your document. You must adhere to these rules when submitting an article to an IEEE magazine for publication. 

Check out other IEEE paper format examples to learn more about the intricacies of the IEEE paper format. Note that if you have simply been instructed to use IEEE citations for a college IEEE paper format, you may not need to adhere to these guidelines. However, to submit to IEEE publications, you must adhere to them.

IEEE uses the following citation styles:

1. Bracketed numbers are used as in-text citations.

2. A list of references, numbered and including complete source details.

IEEE in-text citation

An IEEE in-text citation comprises nothing more than a number in brackets directing the reader to the reference. If you frequently cite the same source, use the same number each time. Including the author's name in your statement is optional but acceptable.

IEEE citations can be inserted at the location in the phrase before any ensuing punctuation. Commas and an em dash separate multiple sources simultaneously (—, outside the brackets, with no spaces). E.g., [5], [8], and [10]–[13]

If you treat the citations in your phrase like nouns, you would not need to name any authors, and your sentence will be more concise. Be consistent if you choose to use this strategy. Do not alternate between the two strategies in a single paper. 

Use a page number between brackets to direct the reader to the appropriate source section when you quote or paraphrase from it (e.g., [10, p. 150]).

IEEE References

Readers can identify and review your sources with the help of the complete information provided on the IEEE reference page. Typically, you will list the author's name, the source's title, the date it was published, information about the publisher, and occasionally a DOI.

Different formatting and specific information are given based on the source type.

IEEE Paper Headings and Subheadings 

The IEEE paper guidelines encourage authors to use a four-level structure. The primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary section headings.

Although it is advised, section heads are not required to be enumerated. However, the chosen IEEE paper format style must be followed consistently throughout the entire document.

Below is an explanation of how to do IEEE paper format. 

Primary Heading: is centered above the text, with Roman numbers followed by a period. E.g., I. INTRODUCTION.

Secondary Heading: are listed in title case, italicized, left-aligned, and not indented, with a line break separating them from the rest of the text. e.g., Secondary Heading.

Tertiary Headings: are enumerated in italicized title case and Arabic numerals with a close parenthesis, left-aligned, one inch indented, and separated from the text by a colon. A single line separates the heading and the text. E.g., 1) Tertiary Heading: are enumerated in the italicized title.

Quaternary Heading: are listed using lowercase letters, a close parenthesis, italics, sentence case, left alignment, a two-inch indentation, and a colon before being separated from the rest of the text. Here, there is likewise no line break. E.g., a) Quaternary Heading: They are enumerated using lowercase.

Along with section titles, there are headings for the appendix, references, and acknowledgments, each of which follows a distinct format:

Appendix Heading — The main heading (s) in the paper's appendix should be formatted following the standard style. Appendix titles can be listed using letters or Roman numerals (such as Appendix A or Appendix I); however, a Roman numeral should not come before the heading. The heading should be blank and unnumbered if your work only contains one appendix.

Headings for References and Acknowledgments — This should follow the pattern for primary headings, but it should not be mentioned or labeled.

Tables and Figures 

The reference to the figure, table, or equation is included in the reference list based on the structure of the information's source, such as a book, journal article, or technical report for IEEE paper formatting.

After mentioning a specific image, table, or equation from another source in your text, include the reference number in brackets. Then, use the notation below, including all the source's information in the reference list.

Figure… as seen in [7, Fig. 3]

Table… is presented in [5, Tab. 1]

Equation… as illustrated in [9, eq. (4)]

Instead of writing phrases like "in Fig. 1 of reference [5]," change the text to read [5, Fig. 1]. Similarly, change expressions like "in equation (2) of reference [5]" to [5, eq. (2)]. 

Type of Material

In-text example

Reference List Example

Figures

For more details, the reader is referred to [2, Fig. 4].

[2]     M. C. Cheng and R. Wirtz, Mechanical Vibration and Analysis, 2nd ed., Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2015, p. 17.


Note: This is a book format example.

Tables

As illustrated in [6, Tab. 3], the perceived barriers to seeking oral and written information.

[6]   D. Le, L. C. Van, J. G. Tromp, and G. N. Nguyen, Eds. Emerging Technologies for Health and Medicine: Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things, Robotics, Industry 4.0 John Wiley & Sons, 2018.


Note: This is an electronic book format example.

You must cite your paper's tables and figures in the text's main body. For example,

Casings for electronic equipment are depicted in Figures 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Table 1 lists additional details about these three casings. Equations (1), (2), and (3) were used to construct vented enclosures that were employed as equipment casings from a thermal perspective.

A paper's figures, tables, and equations are numbered consecutively from start to finish.

Guidelines for referencing tables in an IEEE paper format:

  • Put the figure's caption or title below it.
  • A period, an em dash, the caption text, and the abbreviation "Fig." should all be included when citing a caption number.
  • Figure titles and captions should be center-justified.
  • Use Fig. instead of Figs when referring to many elements of a figure, such as Fig. 4 (a) and 4 (b).
  • Put a note at the end of your caption if you edit or adapt the figure.

Guidelines for referencing tables in an IEEE paper format:

  • Put the table's title or caption above it.
  • Center-justify the table and any table titles or captions. Capitalize the table titles and captions. Roman numbers should list the TABLE.
  • Use Table, not Tables, when referring to various table elements in the text (e.g., Table III1) and III2).
  • The end of your caption should include a note if the table has been altered or changed.

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