Style of inline citations (numeric)

In the paper that I am writing using LaTeX, I have several sentences like:

However, in \cite{aa2014} only a small uncertainty has been introduced ...

Or,

According to \cite{ab2014}, ...

Because I am forced to using numerical references, the result is respectively:

However, in⁴ only a small uncertainty has been introduced ...

According to⁸, ...

I don't like this style of citations so I am looking for improvements. I have been able to rewrite some of the sentences so that I can put the citation at the end of the sentence, but this does not always seems to be a good idea. Are there better options?

Answer

I agree that sentences like

According to⁸

are horrible to read, although I recall seeing them a couple of times. A possible solution is to add author names:

According to Alice and Bob⁸

However, in Alice et al.⁴ only a small uncertainty has been introduced ...