Each work referred to by Joseph Needham and his collaborators was recorded on an individual bibliography card. From the start of the project Needham divided his bibliography into three parts. Bibliography A for 'Chinese Books Before +1800'; Bibliography B for 'Chinese and Japanese Books and Journal Articles Since +1800'; Bibliography C for 'Books and Journal Articles in Western Languages'.
The main sets of cards were kept in metal card cabinets and maintained throughout Needham's work on the volume. Sometimes separate sets of cards were created/ removed from the main sets for the creation of individual volumes, particularly where collaborators were involved.
Sets of duplicate 'ghost cards' were created and these have now been discarded.

The index cards have been re-housed in archive boxes and the metal cabinets were given to Ian Stonebridge, a local plumber, and George Tilling, a local mechanic and film extra in April 2021. Metal index card cabinets formerly containing SCC1/2/6/4 and SCC1/2/6/15-16 have been kept in the Needham Research Institute as examples.