ISO 690 Referencing in Google Docs: Complete 2026 Guide

ISO 690 trips people up in a way most other citation styles don't: it's not one system, it's two. The International Organization for Standardization built ISO 690 to cover both a numeric citation system and an author-date system, and it leaves the choice up to the institution — or the writer. If you've been handed "use ISO 690" with no further instructions, that ambiguity is usually the first problem to solve, not the formatting.

This guide covers both systems, how to set each one up cleanly in Google Docs, and how to build a reference list that won't get flagged for inconsistency — which is the most common way ISO 690 papers lose points.

1. Pick a System — and Stick to It

ISO 690 gives you two valid ways to cite sources. Mixing them in the same paper is the single biggest mistake reviewers flag, so decide before you write a word of the body.

• Numeric system: Each source gets a number in square brackets the first time it's cited — [1] — and that number is reused every time the source appears again. The reference list is ordered by citation number, not alphabetically.
• First element and date (author-date): Citations look like (Nakamura, 2024) or (World Health Organization, 2023). The reference list is alphabetized by author surname or organization name, similar to Harvard or APA.

Engineering, computer science, and physical sciences departments lean toward the numeric system because it keeps in-text citations short in equation-heavy writing. Humanities, social sciences, and many European universities default to author-date because it identifies the source without forcing readers to flip pages. If your assignment brief doesn't specify, ask — and if you genuinely can't ask, numeric is the safer default for technical subjects, author-date for everything else.

2. Document Setup in Google Docs

ISO 690 doesn't mandate a specific font or margin the way MLA or APA do — it's a referencing standard, not a full manuscript style. In practice, most institutions layer it on top of their own formatting rules, so check your assignment brief first. If nothing is specified, these defaults read as professional and are safe almost everywhere:

1. Font: Times New Roman or Calibri, 11–12 pt.
2. Margins: 1 inch (2.54 cm) on all sides via File > Page setup.
3. Line spacing: 1.15 or 1.5 — go to Format > Line & paragraph spacing.
4. Page numbers: Insert > Page numbers, bottom center or top right.

None of this is ISO 690-specific, so don't spend more time on it than the assignment brief asks for. The parts that actually get graded are the in-text citations and the reference list.

3. In-Text Citations

Numeric system

• First mention: Recent trials show measurable improvement [1].
• Repeated mention: The same source, cited again later, keeps the same number — [1] — it never gets renumbered.
• Multiple sources at once: [1, 3, 7] or a range like [4–6].
• Specific page: Some departments allow a page reference — [1, p. 42] — check your style sheet.

In Google Docs, don't manage numeric citations by hand once a paper has more than a handful of sources. Keep a running list as you write, and if you insert a new source early in the paper, every number after it has to shift — a Find & Replace pass before submission catches most renumbering errors.

Author-date system

• Standard: (Nakamura, 2024)
• Author named in the sentence: Nakamura (2024) found that adoption rates doubled.
• Two authors: (Diallo and Ferreira, 2023)
• Three or more authors: (Petrov et al., 2022)
• Organization as author: (World Health Organization, 2023)
• No date available: (Nakamura, n.d.)

Both systems require every in-text citation to have a matching reference list entry, and every reference list entry to be cited at least once in the body. Before submitting, do a pass specifically to check that count — it's the fastest way to catch an orphaned source or a citation you forgot to add to the list.

4. Building the Reference List

Start the list on a new page — use Insert > Break > Page break rather than pressing Enter repeatedly. Title it References or Bibliography depending on what your institution asks for, centered or left-aligned to match the rest of your headings.

• Numeric system: entries appear in the order they were first cited — [1] first, [2] second, and so on. Don't alphabetize.
• Author-date system: entries are alphabetized by the first element — usually the author's surname, or the organization name if there's no individual author.

A typical ISO 690 entry includes, in order: author (surname, initials), title (italicized for standalone works), edition if not the first, place of publication, publisher, and year. Online sources add the medium designation and access information:

Note the surname-first, all-caps convention for authors — a distinctive ISO 690 habit that separates it from APA or MLA at a glance. Apply a hanging indent so multi-line entries stay visually distinct: highlight the list, go to Format > Align & indent > Indentation options, and set Special indent to Hanging at 0.5".

5. Common Mistakes

6. Final Submission Pass

Before you export, run through the paper once specifically looking for referencing, not content. It's easy to fix a typo while proofreading and miss that the citation two lines down still points to the old source number.

• Confirm every in-text citation uses the same system throughout
• Cross-check that every citation has a matching reference list entry, and vice versa
• Verify numeric citations are still in the correct order after any late edits
• Check that alphabetized author-date entries are actually in alphabetical order
• Export as File > Download > PDF Document (.pdf) and skim the reference list one more time

ISO 690's flexibility — two valid systems, room for institutional variation — is exactly what makes it easy to get subtly wrong. A quick reference-specific pass at the end catches almost everything a grader would flag.

One More Thing: Make the Writing Sound Like You

Getting the references right doesn't help if the prose around them reads like it came out of an AI writing tool. International programs increasingly run submissions through AI detectors alongside plagiarism checks, and a clean reference list won't offset flagged writing.

AuraWrite AI rewrites AI-drafted text so it reads like your own writing — preserving your argument, terminology, and citations — while bringing the AI detection score back down to human range. Humanize the draft first, then apply the ISO 690 formatting above to the cleaned-up text.

Conclusion

ISO 690 isn't harder than other citation styles — it just makes you choose. Decide between the numeric and author-date system before you write, apply it consistently, and build the reference list to match: citation order for numeric, alphabetical for author-date. Do a dedicated referencing pass before you submit, since drift is the most common way ISO 690 papers lose marks.

Get the system right once, and every citation after that is just following the pattern.

Last updated: July 31, 2026