Iron (Fe)-doped indium tin oxide thin films (In 0.95 − x Fe x Sn 0.05 ) 2 O 3 at x = 0.00, 0.05, 0.10, and 0.15 were deposited onto glass substrates using an electron beam evaporation technique. The coated thin films were characterized by X-ray diffractometer (XRD), UV-VIS-NIR spectrophotometer, photoluminescence spectrophotometer, scanning electron microscope, and vibrating sample magnetometer to study their structural, optical, morphological, and magnetic properties, respectively. The crystallite size of the films increased from 18 to 30 nm with Fe concentration (x). The morphology showed the formation of nanorods. The bandgap of the films decreased from 3.94 to 3.81 eV. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) studies confirm the presence of Fe ions in two different oxidation states (Fe 2+ , Fe 3+ ). The magnetic studies revealed the paramagnetic behavior of the films at room temperature and at low temperature (5 K). The effective magnetic moment (μ eff ) of Fe-doped indium tin oxide thin films was calculated using Langevin theory of paramagnetism extending to Curie’s law. The effective magnetic moment (μ eff ) was increased on increasing the dopant concentration. © 2018, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.