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Stellar designation in research papers must be precise, and the number of individual stars that could be mentioned in research is now very large, likely millions.
A few hundred stars have traditional names: those used in research typically are from writing in medieval Europe, often adapted from names from earlier cultures that wrote about stars, e.g., the Arab-speaking world, and ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt. Only a few of these names are likely used in research papers, generally those that are very widely known and for stars that have been of much research interest for over a century.
For stars studied in the early telescope age, which included less-prominent stars, Bayer designations, that consist of Greek letter followed by a constellation name are likely to be used, with a few particular stars generally designated by competing designation systems, such as Flamsteed. These were used in the 19th century, as well as an additional system for designating double stars (which were of considerable research interest): designators consisting of a Greek letter indicating its discoverer, followed by a number. Much larger general star catalogs were created in the latter half of the 19th and the early 20th centuries, providing designators still commonly used, particularly HD, HR, and BD.
In the middle 20th century, catalogs were made of nearby stars and stars with proper motion: Gliese (and GJ) and Luyten catalogs. More recently, there have been huge blind surveys that have cataloged many more stars: 2MASS and WISE. Particular catalogs were prepared for specific purposes, especially extra-solar planet detection, and their stellar designators are often seen in research, e.g., KIC, KOI, TOI. And some designators are used for particular specific kinds of stars: WR, WD, and PSR. Also, variable stars are of much interest, and their designators appear in current research. Among the most common designators seen in research:
| type of designation | examples |
| traditional name | Sirius, Betelgeuse |
| Bayer designation | Alpha Centauri, Epsilon Eridani |
| Flamsteed designation | 55 Cancri A |
| traditional double star designation (19th century discoverer codes) | β 860, Φ 332 |
| Bonner Durchmusterung Catalog (BD) | BD+47 2846, BD+36 2147 |
| Bright Star Catalog (HR) | HR 8799, HR 4796 |
| Henry Draper Catalog (HD) | HD 114762s, HD 133131 |
| Gliese Catalogue of Nearby Stars | GJ 1132 aka Gliese 1132 |
| Luyten Half-second Catalog | LHS 1140 |
| Two Micron All-sky Survey | 2M1207, 2MASS J07200325-0846499 |
| Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer | WISE 0855-0714, WISE 1506+7027 |
| Kepler Telescope | Kepler-79 |
| KIC (Kepler input catalog) | KIC 8462852 |
| KOI (Kepler object of interest) | KOI-571 |
| TOI (TESS object of interest) | TOI 700 |
| variable star designation | AB Pictoris, V339 Delphini |
| WR for Wolf-Rayet star | WR 104, WR 140 |
| WD for white dwarf | WD J0651+2844 |
| PSR for pulsar | PSR 1257+12, PSR J2145-0750 |
Designations including equatorial coordinate system are often cited with abbreviated coordinates, e.g., 2M1207 for 2MASS J12073346-3932539.
There are many more designators based upon surveys and catalogs that are used for stars: see examples in the "Catalogs/Surveys table".