IEEE Citation Checker
Paste your numbered reference list and get each likely departure from IEEE style flagged — bracket numbering, initials before surnames, et al. after six authors, quoted titles, vol./no./pp. and the doi: form — with a corrected fragment to copy and the rule it comes from. Free, no sign-up, and nothing leaves your browser.
One reference per line, or wrapped lines under their [n] number. The check runs in your browser — nothing is uploaded.
Paste an IEEE reference list to check it.
What this checker looks for
- Numbering: [1], [2], [3] in square brackets, with no gaps, repeats or numbers out of sequence.
- Authors: initials before surnames (J. K. Author), “and” before the last name with a comma when there are three or more, all names up to six, then the first author and et al.
- Titles of articles and papers in double quotation marks, with the comma inside: “Name of paper,”.
- Locators: vol., no., pp. or p., and months abbreviated the IEEE way — Jan., Feb., Sep.
- DOIs written doi: 10.xxxx, and a period at the end of every reference that does not end with a URL.
- The same source listed twice, and lists sorted A–Z instead of by first citation.
It cannot see italics, so it does not check that periodical and book titles are italic, and it does not check journal abbreviations against IEEE’s list. Every finding is a likely issue to review, not a verdict — your list is never rewritten for you.
How to Use the IEEE Citation Checker
- Paste your reference list. Copy it from Word, Google Docs or a PDF with the numbers included. A wrapped line stays with the reference whose [n] number starts it.
- Read the list-level findings first. Numbering problems, repeated sources and an alphabetical list affect every citation in your text, so they come before the individual references.
- Work through each flagged reference. Every finding names the rule, offers a corrected fragment to copy, and links to the IEEE document it comes from. Likely issue means the pattern is almost always wrong; Worth a look means it usually is.
- Check again after editing. Paste the corrected list; a reference that now passes drops out of the results.
The IEEE Rules the Checker Applies
IEEE sets out its reference style in the IEEE Reference Guide (version 3.28.2025) and the IEEE Editorial Style Manual for Authors, both published on the IEEE Author Center. The checker tests the parts of those rules that can be read from plain text:
| Element | IEEE form | Flagged when |
|---|---|---|
| Number | [1], flush left, in order of first citation | 1. or (1); numbers that skip, repeat or run backwards |
| Authors | J. K. Author — initials first | Author, J. K. or Author JK |
| Two authors | M. Roe and N. Poe | M. Roe, and N. Poe or M. Roe & N. Poe |
| Three to six | A. Lee, B. Chen, and C. Wu | no comma before and, or no and |
| Seven or more | A. Lee et al. | all seven names, or several names before et al. |
| Article title | “Name of paper,” — comma inside | comma outside the quotation mark, single quotes, or no quotes |
| Locators | vol. 58, no. 10, pp. 2787–2793 | Vol. 58, No. 10, p. 2787-2793, or 2011;58(10):2787-93 |
| Month | Jan., Feb., Sep., May | January, Sept., or Jun with no period |
| DOI | doi: 10.1109/TBME.2011.2158315. | DOI: 10.… or https://doi.org/10.… |
| Final period | every reference, even after a DOI | missing, unless the reference ends with a URL |
Rules from the IEEE Reference Guide, V 3.28.2025, and the IEEE Editorial Style Manual for Authors, which puts commas and periods inside quotation marks and allows one reference per source.
The et al. rule is the one most often mixed up. The guide says IEEE publications must list the names of all authors, up to six; with more than six, the reference gives only the first author followed by et al. — not the first three, which is the AMA habit, or the first six, which is Vancouver’s.
Worked Example
Choose Try a sample to load four references taken from the IEEE Reference Guide, three of them with mistakes put in. The checker reports 9 likely issues to review across 4 references:
- The list: [3] comes after [4]. IEEE lists references in numerical order and numbers them by first citation, so either the entries or your in-text numbers are out of step.
- Reference [2] collects six findings: inverted names (the fix is J. Zhang and N. Tansu), a comma outside the closing quotation mark, Vol. and No. in capitals, April where IEEE writes Apr., and no final period.
- Reference [4] lists five authors with no comma before the final and; the fix ends …T. Lippert, and A. Wokaun.
- Reference [3] writes DOI: in capitals; the fix is doi: 10.1109/LCOMM.2018.2886261. with its closing period.
Reference [1] passes untouched, and the results say that one reference had no likely issues.
What a Plain-Text Check Cannot See
- Italics. IEEE sets periodical and book titles in italics. Pasted text carries no italics, so they are not checked.
- Journal abbreviations. IEEE abbreviates periodical titles word by word (IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng.) and spells out one-word titles such as Science. The checker does not compare titles with IEEE’s abbreviation list.
- Whether the details are right. It reads form, not facts: a wrong volume, a mistyped DOI or a source that does not exist all pass. Look references up in IEEE Xplore or Crossref.
- Your in-text citations. Whether the numbers follow first citation depends on your text. Paste both into the Numbered Citation Order Checker to check and renumber them.
- References it cannot parse. Standards, patents, corporate authors and websites are checked for numbering, the DOI and the final period. When the checker cannot read a list of personal names, it says nothing about authors rather than guess.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How many authors do you list in an IEEE reference?
- All of them, up to six. The IEEE Reference Guide says IEEE publications list the names of all authors up to six; with more than six, give the first author followed by et al. (J. Smith et al.). In your text, a sentence that names a source with three or more authors also uses et al.
- Does IEEE use “and” or “&” between authors?
- “And”. Two authors are joined by “and” with no comma (M. Roe and N. Poe), and three to six take a comma before the final “and” (A. Lee, B. Chen, and C. Wu), as every example in the IEEE Reference Guide does. The ampersand belongs to APA.
- Where does the comma go after an article title in IEEE?
- Inside the closing quotation mark: “Name of paper,”. The IEEE Editorial Style Manual puts commas and periods inside quotation marks and only colons and semicolons outside. A title that ends with a question mark keeps the comma as well, so it ends ?,” in the reference.
- How do you write a DOI in IEEE style?
- As lowercase doi:, a space, and the DOI, after the date: …, Oct. 2011, doi: 10.1109/TBME.2011.2158315. The reference still ends with a period. If you also give a URL, the DOI comes first and the URL last, and a reference that ends with a URL takes no final period.
- How are months abbreviated in IEEE references?
- To three letters with a period — Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., Jun., Jul., Aug., Sep., Oct., Nov., Dec. — with May written in full, as in every example in the 2025 IEEE Reference Guide. Two months for one issue are joined with a slash: Jul./Aug. If your journal’s template uses a different form, follow the template.
- Should an IEEE reference list be in alphabetical order?
- No. References are numbered in the order they are first cited in your text, and the list runs in that numerical order. A list in A–Z order of author is usually an APA or Harvard list numbered afterwards; the checker flags five or more entries in exact alphabetical order.
- Is my reference list uploaded anywhere?
- No. The checker runs entirely in your browser; nothing you paste is sent to a server or stored.