In order to implement dominant-pole placement by means of auto-tuning scheme, an implicit model reference adaptive system (IMRAS) is presented in this paper. Some issues regarding auto-tuning for dominant-pole placement based on the proposed IMRAS are discussed. The proposed auto-tuning scheme is illustrated on four types of linear models. Simulation results show that dominant poles can be placed near the desired ones which are assigned in the dominant-pole-based reference model. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.