In research works, authors use various sources of information to substantiate or explain their thoughts: works of other researchers, publications in journals, electronic resources, and other materials. All assertions and statements made by the author must be based on evidence, thus, any fact or finding authored by someone else requires a reference and the source used must be indicated. (Furthermore, insufficient references to other publications in the databases of many international scientific journals, such as Web of Science and Springer, may reduce the author's chances of being published.) However, it should be remembered that it is important for the author to be concise, to refer only to relevant sources (the scientific level of the research is not raised by referring to the works of other authors developed during their master's or doctoral studies).

A citation is a brief form of reference that is inserted into the text either in parentheses or as a note marked with an index superscript numeral immediately after a quote or paraphrased statement by another author. The citation identifies the source and specifies the exact location of the used information in the source.

A bibliographic reference is a description of a source constructed in a particular style that allows the source to be identified and describes it in detail. References are usually arranged in the form of a list at the end of the article or the entire work. The list of bibliographic references allows to determine the theoretical basis of the research, as well as is useful for further research.

The quality of the scientific work in equal measure is confirmed by the content of the text and the citation culture, consistent presentation of citations and bibliographic reference list – accurate spelling of surnames, names of institutions, sources used, as well as systematic use of punctuation and technical characters.

The University of Latvia Press respects the authors’ choice of citation style and bibliographic references; however, these must be accurate and applied consistently.