IEEE style
How to cite a patent in IEEE style
Patents use official patent office country codes, filing vs issue dates, and unique patent numbers.
THE FORMAT
A patent in IEEE, at a glance
[#] A. B. Inventor, “Title of invention,” U.S. Patent x xxx xxx, Mon. DD, YYYY.
[4] N. Tesla, “System of alternating current power transmission,” U.S. Patent 381 968, May 1, 1888.
The polyphase AC transmission grid relies on [4].
In prose: Tesla patented the polyphase induction motor in [4].
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 patent
Elements to collect
- Inventor or inventors
- Year of patent issue
- Title of the invention
- Patent office (e.g., US Patent Office, European Patent Office)
- Patent number (e.g., U.S. Patent No. 10,945,678)
- URL or database source
Rules specific to this entry
- IEEE formats patent numbers without internal commas: “U.S. Patent 381 968” rather than “381,968”.
- The inventor name leads the entry with initials first, followed by the title of the invention in quotation marks.
- Include the issuing country/office and full issue date (month, day, year).
Building the entry, step by step
Collect the details
Before you format anything, gather every element IEEE needs for a patent: Inventor or inventors; Year of patent issue; Title of the invention; Patent office (e.g., US Patent Office, European Patent Office).
Build the references entry
Arrange those details in the IEEE order: [#] A. B. Inventor, “Title of invention,” U.S. Patent x xxx xxx, Mon. DD, YYYY.
Add the in-text citation
In the body of your paper, cite it as The polyphase AC transmission grid relies on [4]. — or work the same reference into your sentence as Tesla patented the polyphase induction motor in [4]..
Check it against the exceptions
IEEE formats patent numbers without internal commas: “U.S. Patent 381 968” rather than “381,968”.
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 patent in another style
Switching styles late in a draft is normal. Here is the same source formatted five other ways.
Questions about IEEE and patents
What if the patent 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 patent?
Inventor or inventors, Year of patent issue, Title of the invention, and the rest of the elements listed above. Patents use official patent office country codes, filing vs issue dates, and unique patent numbers.
Is there anything unusual about a patent in IEEE?
IEEE formats patent numbers without internal commas: “U.S. Patent 381 968” rather than “381,968”.
What else catches people out here?
The inventor name leads the entry with initials first, followed by the title of the invention in quotation marks.
Can I reformat this patent 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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Copyeditor eliminates fragmented tab-switching by unifying structured drafting, multi-style citation generation, academic tone refinement, and cryptographic process verification in one workspace.
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