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How to manually equalize columns in an IEEE paper if using BibTex?


IEEE conference publications in two-column format require authors to manually equalize the lengths of the columns on the last page of the final submission. I have typically done this by inserting a \newpage where necessary -- which usually ends up being somewhere amidst my (manually entered) references.

However, I have recently begun using BibTeX to manage references, and have now run into a problem: my last page contains only a few (generated) references, and I can't figure out how to manually equalize the columns.

The last page is the tail end of what is generated by:

\bibliographystyle{IEEEtran}
\bibliography{IEEEabrv,library}

Any ideas on how I can equalize the columns while continuing to use BibTeX?


Solution

  • I went back to RTFM again, and it turns out this is addressed right in "How to Use the IEEEtran LaTeX Class" by Michael Shell (maintainer). Section XIV notes that IEEEtran helpfully provides the \IEEEtriggeratref{} command for just this purpose. By default, it fires a \newpage at the given BibTeX reference number. You can even change the command to fire with \IEEEtriggercmd{}.