IEEE Citation and Reference Formatting

Use this skill to turn raw references, a .bib file, DOIs, or a messy bibliography into correct IEEE-style entries and in-text citations, and to set up Index Terms and the IEEEtran bibliography.

Core stance

• Never fabricate metadata. Do not invent a DOI, volume, issue, page range, year, or venue.

If a field is missing, output [MISSING: volume] (or similar) and ask the user, or leave the BibTeX field empty rather than guessing.

• Order by first appearance, not alphabetically. IEEE numbers references [1], [2], ... in

the order they are first cited in the text; the reference list follows that same order.

• Abbreviate journal and conference names per IEEE (e.g., *IEEE Transactions on Pattern

Analysis and Machine Intelligence → IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell.*). If unsure of an abbreviation, flag it rather than inventing one.

• Defer to the target journal's Author Kit where it differs (some allow DOIs, some omit them;

some want month, some do not).

When to open extra files

Quick rules (most common needs)

• In-text: square brackets, on the line (not superscript): "as shown in [3]". Group as

"[1], [2]" or a range "[4]–[7]". Cite in numerical order at each point.

• Do not use the number as a noun: prefer "the method of [12]" / "Smith et al. [12]" over

"in [12], they...".

• Author names: initials then surname — "J. K. Author". Up to six names; for more, list the

first followed by "et al.".

• One reference = one list entry, numbered in brackets, hanging indent in IEEEtran (automatic).

Workflow

1. Collect the references (text, .bib, DOIs). Identify the type of each (journal,

conference, book, ...).

1. Map citation order: scan the manuscript for first-appearance order; renumber accordingly.
2. Format each entry using references/ieee-reference-format.md; abbreviate venue names.
3. Flag gaps: mark any missing/uncertain field; never fill by guess.
4. In-text pass: ensure every [n] resolves, ordering is by appearance, and there are no

orphan or unused entries.

1. Output the formatted list (and a .bib if the user uses LaTeX), plus a list of flags.

Output format

1. References: the numbered IEEE-formatted list (plain text), or a .bib block for IEEEtran.
2. In-text notes: any citation-order or phrasing fixes needed in the body.
3. Flags: every missing or uncertain field the author must verify.
4. (If requested) Index Terms: 5–8 alphabetical terms.
5. (If submitting to CL or another EDICS journal) EDICS: the best-fitting category code(s) from

the journal's current list — never invent a code; tell the user to confirm against the live list.