Before the implementation of the 1987 standard, Chinese academic publications lacked a unified system for citing references. This fragmentation led to significant difficulties in information retrieval, cross-disciplinary communication, and international academic exchange. As China began to re-engage with the global scientific community in the late 20th century, the need for a standardized "academic language" for documentation became an urgent priority for the State Bureau of Technical Supervision. Core Principles of the 1987 Standard

The GB7714-87 standard stipulates the basic elements to be included in citations and references, as well as their formats. This includes:

The standard required clear identification of the document type (e.g., [J] for journals, [M] for monographs, [C] for conference proceedings), a feature that significantly improved the clarity of reference lists.