A unified system for bibliographical references is described. The suggestions, which are in the main compatible with ISO DIS 690, allow the name/date (Harvard), the numeric-alphabetic or the sequential-numeric system to be used for references in scientific books and serials; an optional dual-access system is also outlined. The ‘master typescript’ system described allows numbers to be substituted for names/dates in the text when a paper is submitted to a publication that uses a numeric system. In reference lists, depending on what the author’s target publication requires, references must be arranged either alphabetically or sequentially, in the order of their citation in the text. In all lists, whether alphabetic or sequential, references should contain the same elements, arranged in the same order, as follows: Abel B C, Cain A D, Adam E, Eve A 1976 Bark thickness in apple trees. Tree J 12:90–99