Citations are not nouns

Citations should not be treated as nouns. Avoid writing sentences like this:

• It was shown in [1] that …
• For details, see [2].

When referring to general, well-known concepts from textbooks, including the authors’ names is unnecessary. For original contributions, it is appropriate to credit the person or group responsible.

While treating citations as nouns is allowed by IEEE, it is considered poor style. Many publishers, such as APA, Nature, and Oxford, discourage this practice.

Citation labels should not interrupt the flow of the text. The reader should be able to understand the content without needing to flip to the reference list. A good practice is to first write the text naturally, ensuring it flows well grammatically and syntactically, and then add the citations in the required format (e.g., superscripts).

Referencing styles should not dictate how the text is written. If citations are treated as nouns, the text may become unclear when switching to styles like Nature or Oxford, which use superscripts. For example, writing “In ³, a new scheme was introduced …” reads awkwardly and does not make sense.

Academics are divided on this issue. Some who argue against treating citations as nouns include:

• John Owens, quoting Mary-Claire van Leunen: “Brackets are not words. A bracketed number is just a pointer, not a word. Never, ever, use a bracketed number as if it were the name of an author or a work.”
• Dan Wallach