The GSC uses the author-date system in the text to refer the reader to the References list at the end of the report, as in the following examples:

If possible, the text citations should be placed at a suitable break in a sentence, or at the end of a sentence. In the text, a series of reference citations are always listed in chronological order, for instance:

The accuracy of the References list is the author's responsibility, and so care should be taken when the report is being assembled to ensure that all references cited in the text are in the References list, are correct and complete, and that there are no other references in that list. Inaccurate or misquoted references may be taken by some readers as a reflection on the quality of research and reliability of the report.

All references cited in the References list of scientific reports must be accessible to the public. If the reference is, for example, an unpublished company report or government document that is generally not accessible, then it should be cited only within the body of the text. This applies, for example, to abstracts in the GSC Program with Abstracts for a Current Activities Forum or Minerals Colloquium.

Unpublished material (e.g. R.K. Smith, unpub. rept., 1976) or personal communications (e.g. T.L. Brown, pers. comm., 1994) or electronic communications with date (e.g. e-mail, download from WWW) should be identified as such in the text, but is not to be included in the References list. Theses are the exception to this and can be cited in the text and listed in the References section. Where the authors cite additional information of their own in their text, this can be referred to (e.g. Bell and McCallum, work in progress, 1994), but if they cite the unpublished work of others in the text, initials should accompany surnames (e.g. R.G. Anderson and M.L. Bevier, unpub. U-Pb data, 1993).

It is GSC policy not to cite manuscripts that are in preparation, either in the text or in the References list, that is, do not use '(Smith, in prep.)'. The work can, however, be cited in the text only as '(J. Smith, work in progress, 1994)'. Once a manuscript is accepted for publication, it can be cited in the text and References list as 'in press', but without a year of publication, for example, '(Smith, in press)'.

Reference to quoted material in the text must be accurate and should include an indication of the page or pages on which the quotation occurs in the original publication. Authors should also give the page references for specific points that are discussed, rather than frustrate the reader by providing only a general reference to an entire paper.

No reference citations are permitted in GSC abstracts or summaries.