IEEEtran.cls
The official IEEE LaTeX document class. One file, three modes (conference, journal, transactions). Free download, pre-loaded in our IEEE templates.
What is IEEEtran.cls?
IEEEtran.cls is the official LaTeX document class published by the IEEE for formatting papers in IEEE style. It produces the two-column layout, Times-style fonts, numbered citations [1], and section headings in roman numerals that every IEEE conference and journal expects.
One class file handles three different paper types via document-class options: conference papers, journal articles, and IEEE Transactions. You don't need different .cls files for each — just change the option.
Quick start
% Conference paper
\documentclass[conference]{IEEEtran}
% IEEE Transactions / journal
\documentclass[journal]{IEEEtran}
% Default (general IEEE format)
\documentclass{IEEEtran}
\usepackage{cite} % numeric citations
\usepackage{amsmath,amssymb} % math
\usepackage{graphicx} % figures
\begin{document}
\title{Your Paper Title}
\author{
\IEEEauthorblockN{First Author}
\IEEEauthorblockA{Department, University \\
City, Country \\
Email: author@domain}
}
\maketitle
\begin{abstract}
Your abstract here.
\end{abstract}
% ... your paper ...
\bibliographystyle{IEEEtran}
\bibliography{references}
\end{document}The three modes explained
[conference]— IEEE conference proceedings format. Tighter margins, no page numbers (proceedings compiler adds them), single-line author block. Use this for ICASSP, INFOCOM, ICRA, IROS, GLOBECOM, etc.[journal]— IEEE Transactions format. Larger margins, page numbers, formal title block with biographies. Use for IEEE Transactions on X (Communications, Signal Processing, Information Theory, etc.).- (no option) — Default IEEE format. Mid-way between conference and journal. Use when you're unsure or for arXiv preprints.
Bibliography (IEEEtran.bst)
Pair IEEEtran.cls with IEEEtran.bst for the matching bibliography style:
\bibliographystyle{IEEEtran}
\bibliography{references} % references.bibThis produces the [1] J. Smith, "Title," Conf., 2024. format. For biblatex users, the equivalent is \usepackage[backend=biber,style=ieee]{biblatex}.
Common mistakes
- Loading
geometryorfancyhdr. IEEEtran handles all page layout — these packages override it and produce broken output. - Wrong author block syntax. Use
\IEEEauthorblockN{}for the name and\IEEEauthorblockA{}for the affiliation. Plain\author{}works but doesn't look IEEE-correct. - Mixing class options. Don't pass
[conference,journal]— pick one. Combining them is undefined behavior. - Missing the period after author initials. IEEE convention is "J. Smith," not "J Smith."
Related IEEE resources
Frequently Asked Questions
IEEEtran.cls is the official LaTeX document class published by the IEEE for formatting papers in IEEE style. It produces the two-column layout with Times-style font, [1]/[2] numbered citations, and section headings in roman numerals (I, II, III) that IEEE conferences and transactions require. One class file handles conference papers, journal articles, and IEEE Transactions formats via class options.
The official source is the IEEE author center (template page) or CTAN (https://ctan.org/pkg/ieeetran). Most TeX Live and MiKTeX installations include it pre-installed. TypeTeX bundles the latest IEEEtran.cls in our IEEE templates — open the template and the class file is already on your project's path.
Set it as the document class: \documentclass[conference]{IEEEtran} for conference papers, \documentclass[journal]{IEEEtran} for transactions, or \documentclass[]{IEEEtran} for general IEEE format. Make sure IEEEtran.cls is in the same directory as your main.tex (or somewhere on TEXINPUTS).
The 'conference' option produces a tighter layout used for IEEE conference proceedings — slightly smaller margins, no page numbers (added by the proceedings compiler), and a different title block. The 'journal' option (or default) produces the IEEE Transactions layout — larger margins, page numbers included, and a more elaborate title and author block. Always check the conference's call for papers to know which to use.
IEEEtran.bst is the BibTeX style file that produces IEEE-formatted citations and reference lists ([1] John Smith, 'Title,' Conf., 2024). Use it with \bibliographystyle{IEEEtran}. It must be in your project directory or on BIBINPUTS. For biber/biblatex users, ieee.bbx provides the same style.
IEEEtran handles authors automatically. In your .bib entry use 'author = {First Last and Second Author and Third One}'. The 'and' separator is BibTeX standard. The IEEEtran.bst style abbreviates first names ('J. Smith') and uses 'et al.' for 6+ authors, matching IEEE conventions.
Check three things: (1) you passed the right option (conference, journal, or none); (2) you're using the latest IEEEtran.cls (some old templates ship 1.x; current is 1.8b+); (3) you don't have conflicting packages like geometry or fancyhdr that override the IEEEtran defaults. Remove geometry and fancyhdr from your preamble — IEEEtran handles all page layout itself.
Yes. arXiv accepts IEEEtran-formatted source. Submit your main.tex along with IEEEtran.cls (or rely on arXiv's TeX Live which has it). Use the \documentclass[journal]{IEEEtran} mode for arXiv preprints — it produces a self-contained paper layout that's most readable for arXiv-only readers.
Yes — TypeTeX maintains a Typst port that produces visually equivalent output to IEEEtran.cls. The advantage is 10x faster compilation, useful when iterating on figures and equations close to a deadline. Submit the rendered PDF to IEEE the same way.