IEEE style
How to cite a clinical trial registry in IEEE style
Trial registrations require official registry identifiers (NCT, EudraCT) and registration dates rather than standard publication volumes.
THE FORMAT
A clinical trial registry in IEEE, at a glance
[#] Sponsor Name, “Title of clinical trial,” ClinicalTrials.gov NCTxxxxxx, Year. Available: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCTxxxxxx
[4] Pfizer BioNTech, “Efficacy and safety of mRNA booster in pediatric cohorts,” EU Clinical Trials Register 2021-002148-12, 2022. Available: https://www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu/ctr-search/trial/2021-002148-12/DE
The pediatric trial data is logged in the EU register [4].
In prose: Pfizer BioNTech [4] registered the multicenter trial.
Copyeditor formats APA, MLA, Chicago and IEEE automatically — cite a source once and the references builds itself. See how citations work .
BEFORE YOU FORMAT
What IEEE needs from a clinical trial registry
Elements to collect
- Sponsor or principal investigator name
- Registration year
- Title of the clinical trial
- Registry name (ClinicalTrials.gov, EU Clinical Trials)
- Registry identifier number (e.g., NCT04368728)
- URL of the trial record
Rules specific to this entry
- IEEE formats clinical trial records by naming the sponsor or principal investigator first.
- The trial title is set in double quotation marks, followed by the official trial registration identifier number in plain text.
- Provide the database name (EU Clinical Trials Register or ClinicalTrials.gov) and the direct registration record URL.
Building the entry, step by step
Collect the details
Before you format anything, gather every element IEEE needs for a clinical trial registry: Sponsor or principal investigator name; Registration year; Title of the clinical trial; Registry name (ClinicalTrials.gov, EU Clinical Trials).
Build the references entry
Arrange those details in the IEEE order: [#] Sponsor Name, “Title of clinical trial,” ClinicalTrials.gov NCTxxxxxx, Year. Available: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCTxxxxxx
Add the in-text citation
In the body of your paper, cite it as The pediatric trial data is logged in the EU register [4]. — or work the same reference into your sentence as Pfizer BioNTech [4] registered the multicenter trial..
Check it against the exceptions
IEEE formats clinical trial records by naming the sponsor or principal investigator first.
IEEE RULES
The conventions behind every IEEE entry
IEEE Reference Guide is the authority. Where a journal or department publishes its own house rules, those win — check your submission guidelines before the references is final.
The rules that apply across every source — author order, capitalization, how the references is sorted, and where IEEE entries most often go wrong — are collected on the IEEE style guide.
The same clinical trial registry in another style
Switching styles late in a draft is normal. Here is the same source formatted five other ways.
Questions about IEEE and clinical trial registries
What if the clinical trial registry has no author?
Start the entry with the title and keep the number you already assigned it. A numeric references never re-sorts for a missing author, so the entry stays exactly where it is.
What do I need before I can cite a clinical trial registry?
Sponsor or principal investigator name, Registration year, Title of the clinical trial, and the rest of the elements listed above. Trial registrations require official registry identifiers (NCT, EudraCT) and registration dates rather than standard publication volumes.
Is there anything unusual about a clinical trial registry in IEEE?
IEEE formats clinical trial records by naming the sponsor or principal investigator first.
What else catches people out here?
The trial title is set in double quotation marks, followed by the official trial registration identifier number in plain text.
Can I reformat this clinical trial registry in another style later?
By hand, you would retype the entry — the element order, punctuation and italics all differ between styles. In Copyeditor, sources are stored as structured data, so switching between APA, MLA, Chicago and IEEE reformats every citation and the whole reference list at once.
Cite it once
and never reformat it again
Copyeditor keeps sources as structured data, so switching between APA, MLA, Chicago and IEEE reformats every citation and the whole references at once.
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