# Citing Technical Standards (DIN, ISO, IEEE) — the source type no style guide explains > Citing DIN, ISO, EN and IEEE standards correctly: number, edition date, publisher, drafts and withdrawn standards — with APA, Harvard and IEEE examples and the mistakes that cost marks in engineering theses. Acurio · 2026-08-10 · Citing standards, DIN, ISO, IEEE, Engineering thesis, Citation Business theses on quality management, engineering bachelor projects on mechanical design, IT security audits that lean on ISO 27001 — the moment your source is a standard, the citation form goes sloppy. Neither the APA Style Guide nor the usual German or English handbooks cover standards systematically, even though in technical work a quarter of the references may be to standards. This guide collects the rules per issuer, with concrete examples and the mistakes that reliably get flagged in marking. ## Why standards are a special case A standard is not a scholarly publication. There is no author, no chapters in the usual sense, almost never a DOI, and the "publisher" is a standardising body such as DIN, ISO or IEEE. But standards are not statutes either: they are published under private copyright and sold through commercial channels. Citing one like a statute ("§ 1 ISO 9001") signals to the marker that you have never handled the technical literature cleanly. The three basic principles: 1. **Full number with edition date** — `DIN EN ISO 9001:2015-11`, never just `ISO 9001`. 2. **Name the issuer** — DIN, ISO, IEC, IEEE, ASTM, VDI. Not "Beuth Verlag" (that is the distributor). 3. **In the bibliography** — unlike statutes, every cited standard gets its own bibliography entry. ## Reading the number `DIN EN ISO 9001:2015-11` looks cryptic but is a clean sign system: - **DIN** — the standard applies in Germany (Deutsches Institut für Normung). - **EN** — it is harmonised as a European Standard (CEN, CENELEC or ETSI). - **ISO** — the origin is an international standard. - **9001** — the catalogue number. - **2015** — year of the current edition. - **11** — month of the German edition (November 2015). Pure ISO edition of the same standard: `ISO 9001:2015`. Pure European edition: `EN ISO 9001:2015`. This distinction is not pedantry — the international version and the national adoption can differ in preface, annexes and translation. ### Other issuer codes you will meet - **IEC** — International Electrotechnical Commission (electrical engineering). - **IEEE** — Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (US, IT/electrical). - **ASTM** — American Society for Testing and Materials (materials, US). - **BSI** — British Standards Institution (`BS`, `BS EN`, `BS EN ISO`). - **ANSI** — American National Standards Institute (US umbrella). - **VDI** — Verein Deutscher Ingenieure (Germany, guidelines with quasi-normative status). - **VDE** — Verband der Elektrotechnik (Germany, often published in parallel with DIN EN). - **SN / SIA / VSS** — Swiss standards bodies (Schweizerische Normen-Vereinigung / architects and engineers association / road engineering). - **ÖNORM** — Austrian standards (Austrian Standards International). ## Citing in APA 7 The APA Style Guide treats standards as "reports". The template: **Issuer. (Year). Title (Standard number:edition). Publisher. URL.** Example: > International Organization for Standardization. (2015). *Quality management systems — Requirements* (ISO 9001:2015). https://www.iso.org/standard/62085.html For a German adoption sold via Beuth: > Deutsches Institut für Normung. (2015). *Qualitätsmanagementsysteme — Anforderungen* (DIN EN ISO 9001:2015-11). Beuth Verlag. In-text short reference: > (DIN EN ISO 9001, 2015) If you cite the same standard repeatedly, use the short form from the second reference on — the standard itself is not abbreviated the way an author's surname would be. ## Citing in Harvard Author-date style. The issuer stands in the author slot like a corporate author: > DIN (2015) *Qualitätsmanagementsysteme — Anforderungen (DIN EN ISO 9001:2015-11).* Berlin: Beuth Verlag. In-text: > (DIN, 2015, clause 4.2) Note: `clause` (or `section`), not `page`, when you point to a rule in the body of the standard. Standards are structured by clauses, and the numbering is the actual reference. ## Citing in IEEE The dominant format in engineering work: > [1] International Organization for Standardization, *Quality Management Systems — Requirements*, ISO 9001:2015, Sep. 2015. With multiple issuers (typical for harmonised standards): > [2] IEEE Standards Association, *IEEE Standard for Ethernet*, IEEE 802.3-2018, Aug. 2018. [Online]. Available: https://standards.ieee.org/standard/802_3-2018.html In-text with square brackets: > As required in [1, clause 7.1.5], … ## Citing in Chicago (Notes-Bibliography) In the footnote: > 1. International Organization for Standardization, *Quality Management Systems — Requirements*, ISO 9001:2015 (Geneva: ISO, 2015). In the bibliography: > International Organization for Standardization. *Quality Management Systems — Requirements*. ISO 9001:2015. Geneva: ISO, 2015. ## Citing in ISO 690 ISO's own citation standard. Very similar to Harvard, with a fixed order: > DIN DEUTSCHES INSTITUT FÜR NORMUNG. *Qualitätsmanagementsysteme — Anforderungen (ISO 9001:2015)*. German and English version EN ISO 9001:2015. Berlin: Beuth, 2015. ## Special cases that keep coming back ### Drafts Drafts are citable when your point is about a not-yet-adopted rule. Prefixes: - `E DIN` — German draft. - `prEN` — draft European Standard. - `ISO/CD` — Committee Draft. - `ISO/DIS` — Draft International Standard. - `ISO/FDIS` — Final Draft International Standard. Example: > E DIN 820-1:2019-03, *Standardization work — Part 1: Principles* (draft). Berlin: Beuth Verlag. Say in running text that it is a draft — and whether your claim relies on the draft alone or holds for the eventually adopted standard as well. ### Withdrawn standards Older standards remain citable when your subject is historical (a test rig built to the 2010 edition, say). Mark it: > DIN 820-1:2010-05 (withdrawn). Add the successor standard as well when your claim is meant to apply today. ### Multi-part standards Many standards are split into parts: `DIN EN ISO 9001-1`, `-2`, `-3` and so on. Cite the relevant part, not the whole series: > DIN EN ISO 14001-1:2015-11. If you mean the whole series, say so: `DIN EN ISO 14001 (series)`. ### Amendments and corrigenda Suffixes such as `A1`, `A2` (amendment) and `Cor 1`, `Cor 2` (corrigendum) flag later additions: > ISO 9001:2015/Cor 1:2016 (Corrigendum 1 to ISO 9001:2015). Whoever cites the corrected passage must also cite the corrigendum — otherwise the reference is imprecise. ### Internal cross-references Standards constantly refer to other standards ("normative references" in the front matter). A `cited in` reference is allowed, but the cited standard should have been read in the original: > ISO 14001:2015 in conjunction with ISO 9001:2015 (clause 6.1.4 there). Passing on a cross-reference without reading the referenced standard is risky: almost every point that fails in engineering vivas concerns wrongly copied cross-references. ## Where to source standards legally Most standards are **paid**. In Germany and much of Europe, the university library almost always has a **Perinorm** subscription (DIN, ISO, VDI, IEC and many more) — the default route. Alternatives: - **DIN Media / Beuth Verlag** — individual purchase, roughly €100–300 per standard. - **iso.org** — individual purchase for ISO standards (in CHF). - **IEEE Xplore** — for IEEE standards (institutional access, usually through the university). - **BSI Knowledge** — the British Standards catalogue. - **VDI Guidelines** — paid via VDI Verlag, except older ones with a "public domain" note. - **Statutory adoption** — occasionally a standard becomes part of a statute by reference (building codes, for instance); only then is it freely inspectable. When you cite a standard via a database, name the database and the access date — the standard keeps its number, but the retrieval path becomes verifiable. ## The typical mistakes **1. Missing edition date.** `ISO 9001` without `:2015` is imprecise — the standard exists in several editions, and your claim only holds for one of them. **2. Publisher instead of issuer.** "Beuth Verlag, 2015" is the distribution source. The issuer is DIN, ISO or IEEE, and that belongs in the author slot. **3. Pages instead of clauses.** Standards are cited by clause (`clause 6.1.4`), not by page number. Page numbers are specific to the printed edition. **4. Standard confused with guideline.** DIN standards are normative (in the commercial sense), VDI guidelines are advisory, ISO/IEC TR (Technical Reports) are informative. Introducing a VDI guideline as a "DIN standard" is a substantive error, not just a citation one. **5. Draft and adopted standard mixed up.** `prEN 12345:2019` and `EN 12345:2020` are two different documents. What holds for one does not automatically hold for the other. **6. Withdrawn standard without a marker.** Citing DIN 820 from 2010 because your test rig was built to that edition is fine — but "(withdrawn)" must be visible; otherwise it reads as though you overlooked the current version. **7. `ISO 9001` with a slash instead of a colon.** `ISO 9001/2015` is legacy notation and wrong. The colon separates number and edition year: `ISO 9001:2015`. ## How Acurio checks standards references In a bachelor thesis on manufacturing engineering, 40 references may point to DIN and ISO standards. A single wrongly copied clause — 6.1.4 instead of 7.1.4 — fundamentally changes what you claim about a test procedure. These mix-ups are the most expensive kind in technical work: the examiner opens Perinorm, cannot find the cited passage, and you lose marks where the underlying substance was fine. [Acurio](https://acurio.ch/) reads the standards you upload (PDFs from your Perinorm or Beuth access) and checks whether your claim in the text matches the claim in the cited clause. The form of your citation (DIN EN ISO 9001:2015-11 or DIN EN ISO 9001, 2015) stays your call — the substantive correctness is what the tool takes over. That way you catch mix-ups and misreferences before they surface in the defence. ## Pre-submission checklist - [ ] **Full number with edition date?** `DIN EN ISO 9001:2015-11`, not `ISO 9001`. - [ ] **Issuer named?** DIN, ISO, IEEE — not just "Beuth". - [ ] **Clause instead of page?** `clause 6.1.4`, not a page number. - [ ] **Drafts marked as such?** `E DIN`, `prEN`, `ISO/DIS`. - [ ] **Withdrawn standards flagged?** `(withdrawn)`. - [ ] **Every cited standard in the bibliography?** Unlike statutes, standards get an entry. - [ ] **Verified in substance?** Does the named clause actually say what you claim. Acurio does that step for you. Citing standards cleanly shows in your first footnote that you understand the difference between a textbook and a regulating document. Citing them cleanly **and correctly** wins you the marks that others lose to swapped clause numbers and stale editions. ## Frequently asked questions ### Do standards belong in the bibliography? Yes. Standards are ordinary sources and get a full entry in the reference list — unlike statutes. The confusion is common: DIN, ISO and EN are published under private copyright, not by a legislature, and are cited like technical books. ### What does the date after the number mean (e.g. DIN EN ISO 9001:2015-11)? That is the edition. `2015-11` means published November 2015. The date is mandatory — the same number often exists in several editions, and your claim is only valid for the one you actually read. ### How do I cite a draft standard? Use the prefix: E DIN 820-1:2019-03 (German draft), prEN 12345:2019 (European draft), ISO/DIS 9001:2014 (Draft International Standard). State in the text that it is a draft — drafts are citable but not binding. ### What about withdrawn standards? They remain citable, but the withdrawal must be visible: `DIN 820-1:2010-05 (withdrawn)`. If a claim only holds under the withdrawn edition, you must explain why the successor is not the right reference. ### Do I need to name Beuth Verlag as publisher? For APA and Harvard, yes — Beuth is the publisher, DIN is the institution. For IEEE the number plus issuer is enough. If you accessed the standard via Perinorm or DIN Media online, add the database and the access date. ### How do I cite an ISO standard adopted as a DIN standard? With the combined number: `DIN EN ISO 9001:2015-11`. This is an ISO standard (9001) adopted as a European standard (EN) and introduced as a German standard (DIN). The edition date refers to the German edition; clarify in the text which version you actually mean. --- Source: https://acurio.ch/en/blog/citing-standards-din-iso-ieee