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2007 IEEE Standards Style Manual (PDF version)
IEEE permission letters are given in Annex D of the 2007 IEEE Standards
Style Manual . Permission request letters and response letters are given for
material excerpted without change, and for material that is excerpted and
modified. The permission letters and response letters for both types of excerpts
are available as form letters. The form letters should be used to request
permission and to grant permission for use of copyrighted material in IEEE
drafts, and can be downloaded by clicking the following links:
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Permission Form Letters (excerpts without change)
IEEE
Permission Form Letters (excerpts with modifications)
A presentation on amendments and corrigenda is also available, and can be
downloaded by clicking the following link:
Presentation
on Amendments and Corrigenda
Published and distributed in May
2000
(Revised January 2007)
IEEE Standards Style Manual

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
3 Park Avenue,
New York, NY 10016-5997, USA
Copyright (c) 2008 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers,
Inc.
All rights reserved. Published 2008. Printed in the United States of
America.
Reproduction and distribution of this document in whole or in part by any
medium is permitted. Appropriate acknowledgment of the source and ownership of
the material must be made with any such reproduction and distribution.
Please note that this document may be revised from time to time. The
latest edition will be made available in electronic format at no charge. For
further information, contact the IEEE Standards
Department, 445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08855-1331, USA.
Abstract: Preferred editorial style for the preparation of proposed
IEEE standards is established. Many of the frequently asked questions about
writing drafts are answered. The optional and required contents of drafts are
described, and instructions on submitting drafts for IEEE-SA Standards
Board approval and publication are provided. This manual is not intended to
be a guide to the procedural development of standards.
Keywords: format, IEEE, IEEE Standards, style
Introduction
About this online version:
The 2007 revision of the IEEE Standards Style Manual has been developed
by the
Project
Editors in the IEEE
Standards Department to guide working groups in the preparation of proposed
IEEE standards. It answers many of the frequently asked questions about writing
and preparing drafts. It also describes the optional and required contents of
these drafts, and provides style instructions on submitting drafts for IEEE-SA Standards
Board approval and publication.
Note that in some cases it is necessary and appropriate to alter style to
accommodate special requirements. Standards developers should keep in mind that
flexibility is allowed, and that IEEE Standards
project editors are able to assist working groups in preparing drafts that
will suit their particular requirements.
This edition of the IEEE Standards Style Manual has been substantially
reordered and reorganized. For this reason, no change bars are used. In
addition, the growing use of electronic media has instantiated revisions to many
clauses of this manual.
Adobe®, Adobe Illustrator®, and FrameMaker® are registered trademarks of
Adobe Systems Incorporated.
AutoCAD® is a registered trademark of Autodesk,
Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.
Lotus 1-2-3® is a
registered trademark of Lotus Development Corporation.
Macintosh® is a
registered trademark of Apple Computer Inc.
Microsoft Excel®, Microsoft
Word®, MS-DOS®, and Visio® are registered trademarks of Microsoft
Corporation.
PaintShop™ Pro® is a registered trademark of Jasc Software
Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.
WordPerfect® is a
registered trademark of Corel Corporation.
Zip is a trademark of Iomega
Corporation.
- Overview
- Normative
references
- Responsibilities
of the working group chair and sponsor
- Items
to submit to the IEEE
- 4.1
- Editorial
requirements for submission
- 4.2
- Requirements
for the draft
- 4.2.1
- Draft
development
- 4.2.2
- Draft
copyright statements
- 4.2.3
- Draft
labeling
- 4.2.4
- Corrections
- 4.3
- Submission of
IEEE drafts to the IEEE-SA Standards Board
- Permissions
- 5.1
- General
- 5.2
- Excerpts of
copyrighted material from other organizations
- 5.3
- Adoption of
independently developed documents as potential IEEE standards
- Patents
- Trademarks
- Trial-Use
standards
- Front
matter
- 9.1
- Title
- 9.2
- Abstract and
keywords
- 9.3
- Introduction
and committee lists
- 9.4
- Acknowledgments
- 9.5
- Table
of contents
- Document
structure
- 10.1
- Normative
and informative clauses
- 10.2
- Order
of clauses
- 10.3
- Overview
- 10.3.1
- Structure
of the overview
- 10.3.2
- Scope
- 10.3.3
- Purpose
- 10.4
- Normative
references
- 10.4.1
- Citation
as a normative reference
- 10.4.2
- Structure
of the normative reference clause
- 10.4.3
- Style for
reference entries
- 10.5
- Definitions
- 10.5.1
- General
terminology usage
- 10.5.2
- Construction
of the definitions clause
- 10.6
- Acronyms
and abbreviations
- 10.7
- Annexes
- 10.7.1
- Order
- 10.7.2
- Normative
- 10.7.3
- Informative
- 10.8
- Index
- Numbering in
text
- 11.1
- Body
clauses
- 11.2
- Annexes
- 11.3
- Lists
- 11.4
- Exceptions
- Homogeneity
- Word
usage
- 13.1
- Shall
, should, may, and can
- 13.2
- That
and which
- 13.3
- Gender-Neutral
language
- 13.4
- Use
of the terms safe and safety
- 13.5
- Use
of the first-or second-person forms of address
- 13.6
- Abbreviations
and acronyms
- 13.7
- Hyphenation
- 13.8
- Capitalization
- 13.9
- Using
standard designations in text
- Quantities,
units, and letter symbols
- 14.1 General
- 14.2
- Numbers
- 14.3
- Metric
system
- 14.4
- Letter
symbols
- Tables
- 15.1
- Nomenclature
- 15.2
- Labeling
and presentation of tables
- 15.3
- Numbering
and capitalization
- 15.4
- Presentation
of data and table format
- 15.4.1
- Units of
measure
- 15.4.2
- Numerical
values
- 15.5
- Notes
and footnotes to tables
- 15.6
- Informal
tables
- Figures
- 16.1
- Creating
figures
- 16.2
- Numbering
and capitalization
- 16.3
- Notes
and footnotes to figures
- Mathematical
expressions
- 17.1
- Letter
symbols and units
- 17.2
- Numbering
of equations
- 17.3
- Presentation
of equations
- 17.4
- Quantity and
numerical value equations
- Notes,
footnotes, and examples
- 18.1
- Notes
- 18.2
- Footnotes
- 18.3
- Examples
- 18.4
- Warnings
and cautions
- Bibliography
- 19.1
- General
- 19.2
- Standards
- 19.3
- Articles in
periodicals
- 19.4
- Books
- 19.5
- Other
types of bibliographies
- 19.5.1
- Annotated
bibliography
- 19.5.2
- Articles
in corporate reports
- 19.5.3
- Articles
presented at conferences
- 19.5.4
- Government
publications
- 19.5.5
- Theses,
dissertations, and other unpublished works
- Revisions
- Amendments
and corrigenda
- 21.1
- General
- 21.2
- Numbering in
amendments and corrigenda
- 21.3
- Editorial
instructions
- 21.4
- Amendment
versus revision
- IEEE
standards and ISO, IEC, and ITU
- 22.1
- Preparing
for submissions
- 22.2
- Adoption of
ISO and IEC style requirements
- 22.3
- IEEE
adoption of ISO, IEC, ITU, or other international standards
Annexes
Annex A (informative) Bibliography
Annex B (informative) Example draft standard
Annex C (informative) Example amendment
Annex D (informative) Sample permission
letters for working groups
A
- abbreviations, 10.6
- abstracts and keywords, 9.2
- acknowledgment lists, 9.4
- acronyms, 10.6
- adoption of international standards, 22.3
- agreements with other organizations, 5.2
- amendments, 21, Annex C
- annex, 10.7, 11.2, Annex B
- informative, 10.7.3
- normative, 10.7.2
- organization and numbering, 10.7, 11.2
- style, 11.2
B
- balloting, 9.3
- bibliography, 19, Annex A, Annex B
- annotated, 19.5.1
- articles presented at conferences, 19.5.3
- books, 19.4
- corporate reports, 19.5.2
- general, 19.1
- government publications, 19.5.4
- periodicals, 19.3
- standards, 19.2
- theses, dissertations, and other unpublished works, 19.5.5
C
- can, 13.1
- cautions, 18.4
- committee lists, 9.3
- contents, 9.5
- copyright, 5.1, Annex D
- excerpts from other organizations, 5.1
- independently developed documents, 5.2
- sample permission letter, Annex D
- sample request for permission letter, Annex D
- copyright statements, 4.2.2
- copyrighted material, 5.1
- corrections, 4.2.4
- corrigenda, 21
D
- definitions, 10.5, 10.6, Annex B
- example definitions clause, 10.5.2
- supplementary, glossary, 10.5.1, Annex B
- designation, 4.2.3, 13.9
- draft, 4.2, 4.3
- corrections to, 4.2.4
- electronic submittal, 4.3
- example, Annex B
- labeling, 4.2.3
E
- editorial coordination, 4.1
- electronic submittal of draft, 4.3
- equations, 17
- format, 17.3
- numbering of, 17.2
- examples, 18.3
F
- figures, 16
- first-person form of address, 13.5
- footnotes, 15.5, 16.3, 18.2
- text, 18.2
- table, 15.5
- figure, 16.3
- front matter, 9
G
- gender-neutral language, 13.3
H
- hanging paragraphs, 11.1
- hyphenation, 13.7
I
- index, 10.8
- informal tables, 15.3
- informative annex, 10.7.3
- informative clauses, 10.1
- introduction, 9.3
- italics
- in math, 17.3
- with units, 14.3
L
- letter symbols, 14.4
- lists
- acknowledgment, 9.4
- committee, 9.3
- in text, 11.3
M
- mandatory coordination, 3
- mathematical expressions, 17
- may, 13.1
- metric units, 14.3
- must, 13.1
N
- normative annex, 10.8
- normative clauses, 10.1
- normative references, 10.4
- notes
- in figures, 16.3
- in sequence, 15.5, 16.3, 18.1
- in tables, 15.5
- in text, 18.1
- numbering system, 11
- exceptions, 11.4
O
- organization
- lists, 11.3
- text 11.1
- overview, 10.3
P
- patents, 6
- permissions, 5
- purpose, 10.3.3
R
- references, 10.4
- responsibilities, 3
- sponsor, 3
- working group chair, 3
- revisions, 20
S
- safe or safety, 13.4
- scope, 10.3.2
- second-person form of address, 13.5
- shall, 13.1
- should, 13.1
- SI units, 14.2
- special word usage
- can, 13.1
- may, 13.1
- safe, 13.4
- safety, 13.4
- shall, 13.1
- should, 13.1
- that, 13.2
- which, 13.2
- sponsor
- responsibilities of, 3
- style
- Adoption of ISO and IEC style requirements, 22.2
- general style issues, 22.2
T
- table of contents, 9.5
- tables, 15
- breaking of, 15.2
- column and line headings, 15.1
- identification of, 15.2
- informal, 15.6
- missing data, 15.4.2
- notes in, 15.5
- presentation of data, 15.4
- template, 4.1, 4.3
- text, numbering, 11
- that, 13.2
- title, 9.1
- trademarks, 7
- trial-use standards, 8
U
- units, 14
V
- variables, 17.3
W
- warnings, 18.4
- which, 13.2
- working group chair
- responsibilities of, 3
- working group roster, 9.3
Y
- you, 13.5
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