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In the paper that I am writing using LaTeX, I have several sentences like:

However, in \cite{aa2014} only a small uncertainty has been introduced ...

Or,

According to \cite{ab2014}, ...

Because I am forced to using numerical references, the result is respectively:

However, in⁴ only a small uncertainty has been introduced ...

According to⁸, ...

I don't like this style of citations so I am looking for improvements. I have been able to rewrite some of the sentences so that I can put the citation at the end of the sentence, but this does not always seems to be a good idea. Are there better options?

Pietair
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    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because this is more appropriate for http://tex.stackexchange.com/ – mhwombat Apr 11 '15 at 18:02
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    @mhwombat, I don't think it is, because my question is only about the style of inline citations, not about the actual LaTeX code. – Pietair Apr 11 '15 at 18:32
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    If you're looking for a style suggestion, normally you use the style that the journal or conference you're submitting to prefers. In my field, CS, numbered citations usually appear in square brackets [5]. – mhwombat Apr 11 '15 at 18:38
  • It is not clear from your question if the superscript-style citation is required by the publisher or if it is a choice of yours. – Massimo Ortolano Apr 11 '15 at 18:44
  • The superscript-style citation is required by the publisher. However, I don't like sentences such as: "According to⁸, ..." . So I am asking for suggestions to improve this style of inline citations. – Pietair Apr 11 '15 at 18:48
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    @mhwombat: This question has nothing to do with LaTeX, and it is not more appropriate for TeX.SE. – Massimo Ortolano Apr 11 '15 at 18:57
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    @mhwombat: Also, even if this question were more appropriate for TeX.SE, it wouldn’t necessarily be off-topic here. – Wrzlprmft Apr 11 '15 at 19:28
  • Sorry, I misunderstood the question as asking for suggestions on which *.sty file to use. – mhwombat Apr 12 '15 at 05:07

1 Answers1

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I agree that sentences like

According to⁸

are horrible to read, although I recall seeing them a couple of times. A possible solution is to add author names:

According to Alice and Bob⁸

However, in Alice et al.⁴ only a small uncertainty has been introduced ...

Massimo Ortolano
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  • Thank you, that indeed seems a good solution. Is there a way to automate the inclusion of the author names? That is, can I use something like: According to \namesofauthors{aa2003} \cite{aa2003} – Pietair Apr 11 '15 at 21:09
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    @Pietair: that, yes, is a question for TeX.SE ;-) Anyway, the natbib package has the command \citeauthor for that purpose. – Massimo Ortolano Apr 11 '15 at 21:14