There are many reference styles that uses footnotes or number refering back to the bibliography, such as Oxford and Chicago.
Example text:
This text[1] is the beginning of something new[2] [3]. So that’s it [4] [5].
[1] (Monbiot 2011)
[2] (Öquist and Benner 2012, p. 4-8)
[3] (Walters 2007)
[4] (De Bellis 2009)
[5] (Webber and Johnston 2006)
Bibliography:
De Bellis, Nicola. 2009. Bibliometrics and citation analysis : from the Science citation index to cybermetrics. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press.
Monbiot, George. 2011. The Lairds of Learning, 110829 2011 [cited 111109 2011]. Available from http://www.monbiot.com/2011/08/29/the-lairds-of-learning/.
Walters, W. 2007. "Google Scholar coverage of a multidisciplinary field." Information Processing & Management no. 43 (4):1121-1132. doi: 10.1016/j.ipm.2006.08.006.
Webber, S , and B Johnston. 2006. "Working towards the information literate university." In Information literacy: recognising the need, edited by G Walton and A Pope, 47-58. Oxford: Chandos.
Öquist, Gunnar, and Mats Benner. 2012. Fostering breakthrough research: A comparative study. In Akademirapport, edited by Fredrik All: Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien.
(This Bibliography is created in EndNote by using the output style Chicago 16th B)