IEEE LaTeX template (IEEEtran conference)

The official IEEE conference template is the IEEEtran class, from CTAN or your conference. Scissor LaTeX has a free look-alike for drafting in your browser, with no account: start from the IEEE template, or write \documentclass[conference]{IEEEtran}, and two-column pages appear as you type. The same .tex compiles with the official class.

Open the IEEE template in the editor Free, in your browser, no account

The template

The IEEE conference template is a short wireless-communications paper with three authors, Index Terms, a log-scale pgfplots chart of bit error rates, a booktabs table and numbered references. Open the IEEE conference template in the editor to see all of it.

Turning it on

IEEEtran is a document class, so the switch is the first line:

\documentclass[conference]{IEEEtran}

Scissor LaTeX then uses the conference layout: Letter paper, two columns, Times-like text (TeX Gyre Termes, downloaded the first time), a large title across both columns, author blocks side by side, and no page numbers. Add a4paper to the options for A4. Without the conference option (for example \documentclass[journal]{IEEEtran}) the document gets the IEEE Transactions journal layout instead; see journal look-alike templates.

Author blocks, abstract and Index Terms

LaTeXCopyOpen in editor (opens in a new tab)

\documentclass[conference]{IEEEtran}
\usepackage{amsmath}

\title{Pilot Allocation for Dense Uplink Cells with 44 Antennas}
\author{\IEEEauthorblockN{Erika Mustermann}
\IEEEauthorblockA{\textit{Department of Electrical Engineering} \\
Example University\\
Musterstadt, Germany \\
erika.mustermann@example.org}
\and
\IEEEauthorblockN{John Doe}
\IEEEauthorblockA{\textit{Institute of Example Studies} \\
Exampleton, USA \\
john.doe@example.org}}

\begin{document}
\maketitle

\begin{abstract}
We assign pilot sequences to users so that contamination between neighbouring cells stays low,
and compare three schemes by simulation.
\end{abstract}

\begin{IEEEkeywords}
massive MIMO, pilot contamination, uplink
\end{IEEEkeywords}

\section{Introduction}
A base station with $M = 44$ antennas estimates each user's channel from a pilot.

\subsection{System model}
The received pilot signal is $\mathbf{y} = \sqrt{p}\,\mathbf{h} + \mathbf{n}$.
\end{document}

Problems tab: Layout in the style of the IEEE conference format (final mode). Not official. To compile elsewhere, add IEEEtran.cls from ctan.org/pkg/ieeetran.

Commands of the class

The layout also follows the IEEE conventions you would see in a real build:

• sections are numbered with Roman numerals ("I. Introduction"), subsections with letters ("A. System model");
• a reference to a subsection shows the full form, such as "Section I-A";
• figure captions read "Fig. 1." and go below the figure; table captions read "TABLE I" and go above;
• the abstract is a run-in paragraph in bold, starting with an italic "Abstract—".

Bibliography

The template uses \bibliographystyle{IEEEtran} with a .bib file, which Scissor LaTeX sets as numbered references in citation order. \usepackage{cite} is accepted, so \cite{a,b,c} works as usual. See bibliographies.

Wide figures and tables

In two columns, figure and table take one column. Use figure* or table* for a float that spans both columns, and give it [t] to put it at the top of the page, where IEEE papers usually have wide floats. Pictures inside figure* get the full text width. See floats.

What differs from IEEEtran

To submit, get IEEEtran.cls from CTAN (ieeetran), where the full class manual is too, or from your conference's template page. It is also part of TeX Live and MiKTeX. Your .tex file compiles with it unchanged. See conference look-alike templates for the other layouts.

Every example on this page is typeset by Scissor LaTeX when the site is built. Last updated 2026-11-06.