How to format your references using the IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering. For a complete guide how to prepare your manuscript refer to the journal's instructions to authors.

Using reference management software

Typically you don't format your citations and bibliography by hand. The easiest way is to use a reference manager:

Paperpile	The citation style is built in and you can choose it in Settings > Citation Style or Paperpile > Citation Style in Google Docs.
EndNote	Find the style here: output styles overview
Mendeley, Zotero, Papers, and others	The style is either built in or you can download a CSL file that is supported by most references management programs.
BibTeX	BibTeX syles are usually part of a LaTeX template. Check the instructions to authors if the publisher offers a LaTeX template for this journal.

Journal articles

Those examples are references to articles in scholarly journals and how they are supposed to appear in your bibliography.

Not all journals organize their published articles in volumes and issues, so these fields are optional. Some electronic journals do not provide a page range, but instead list an article identifier. In a case like this it's safe to use the article identifier instead of the page range.

A journal article with 1 author

[1]

D. Butler, “Developing world gets patent aid,” Nature, vol. 415, no. 6872, p. 563, Feb. 2002.

A journal article with 2 authors

[1]

P. Martin and S. M. Parkhurst, “Development. May the force be with you,” Science, vol. 300, no. 5616, pp. 63–65, Apr. 2003.

A journal article with 3 authors

[1]

M. Kaul, G. A. Garden, and S. A. Lipton, “Pathways to neuronal injury and apoptosis in HIV-associated dementia,” Nature, vol. 410, no. 6831, pp. 988–994, Apr. 2001.

A journal article with 4 or more authors

[1]

K.-I. Takemaru, S. Yamaguchi, Y. S. Lee, Y. Zhang, R. W. Carthew, and R. T. Moon, “Chibby, a nuclear beta-catenin-associated antagonist of the Wnt/Wingless pathway,” Nature, vol. 422, no. 6934, pp. 905–909, Apr. 2003.

Books and book chapters

Here are examples of references for authored and edited books as well as book chapters.

An authored book

[1]

B. A. French, Chronicles Through the Centuries. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 2016.

An edited book

[1]

P. Raghavendra, S. Raskhodnikova, K. Jansen, and J. D. P. Rolim, Eds., Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques: 16th International Workshop, APPROX 2013, and 17th International Workshop, RANDOM 2013, Berkeley, CA, USA, August 21-23, 2013. Proceedings, vol. 8096. in Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 8096. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer, 2013.

A chapter in an edited book

[1]

A. van Barneveld and P. A. Ertmer, “Implementing Problem-Oriented Pedagogies in Engineering Education: Examination of Tensions and Drivers,” in Educational Media and Technology Yearbook: Volume 38, M. Orey, S. A. Jones, and R. M. Branch, Eds., in Educational Media and Technology Yearbook. , Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2014, pp. 47–67.

Web sites

Sometimes references to web sites should appear directly in the text rather than in the bibliography. Refer to the Instructions to authors for IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering.

Blog post

[1]

J. Fang, “Cockatoos Can Draw Conclusions Too,” IFLScience. Accessed: Oct. 30, 2018. [Online]. Available: https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/cockatoos-can-draw-conclusions-too/

Reports

This example shows the general structure used for government reports, technical reports, and scientific reports. If you can't locate the report number then it might be better to cite the report as a book. For reports it is usually not individual people that are credited as authors, but a governmental department or agency like "U. S. Food and Drug Administration" or "National Cancer Institute".

Government report

[1]

Government Accountability Office, “Air Traffic Control: Challenges Facing FAA’s Modernization Program,” U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, T-RCED-92-34, Mar. 1992.

Theses and dissertations

Theses including Ph.D. dissertations, Master's theses or Bachelor theses follow the basic format outlined below.

Doctoral dissertation

[1]

Y. Sanchez, “Effectiveness of parent-child interaction therapy for Latino families: A secondary analysis of existing data,” Doctoral dissertation, California State University, Long Beach, Long Beach, CA, 2012.

News paper articles

Unlike scholarly journals, news papers do not usually have a volume and issue number. Instead, the full date and page number is required for a correct reference.

New York Times article

[1]

G. Vecsey, “Fans Voice Frustration, But Mets Leave It Behind,” New York Times, p. B15, Apr. 06, 2010.

In-text citations

References should be cited in the text by sequential numbers in square brackets:

This sentence cites one reference [1].
This sentence cites two references [1], [2].
This sentence cites four references [1], [2], [3], [4].

About the journal

Full journal title	IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering
ISSN (print)	0098-5589
Scope	Software