Thank for the reply. For simplification I have shortened an article with 10's of references:

1. Introduction
Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.), belonging to the Lythraceae family, is a historic fruit that is indigenous to Central Asia and may be found in places like the Middle East, Iran, and Turkmenistan to northern India (1). P. granatum (Figure 1) is a fruit-bearing shrub or a small tree that grows up to 501507 m with very diverse varieties (2). Pomegranate and its components were found to have powerful antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antifungal, antibacterial, and antimicrobial effects, according to studies conducted in both in vitro and in vivo over the past few decades (1). In addition, some animal studies have shown that pomegranate may have anti-hypertensive and antiproliferative properties (3). Furthermore, pomegranate juice or extracts have been shown in multiple pre-clinical and clinical trials to have positive benefits on a number of disorders, including respiratory diseases (4), digestive problems (5), neurodegenerative diseases (6, 7), metabolic disorders (8, 9), cancer (3, 10), osteoarthritis (11), skin problems (11), etc.
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References
1. Zou X, Yan C, Shi Y, Cao K, Xu J, Wang X, et al. Mitochondrial dysfunction in obesity-associated nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: The protective effects of pomegranate with its active component punicalagin. Antioxid Redox Signal 2014; 21:1557-1570.
2. Holland D, Hatib K, Bar-Ya'akov I. Pomegranate: Botany, horticulture, breeding. 2009; 35:127-191.
3. Sharma K, Kesharwani P, Prajapati SK, Jain A, Jain D, Mody N, et al. An insight into anticancer bioactives from Punica granatum (pomegranate). Anti-Cancer Agents Med Chem 2022; 22:694-702.
4. Shaikh SB, Bhandary YP. Therapeutic properties of Punica granatum L (pomegranate) and its applications in lung-based diseases: A detailed review. J Food Biochem 2021; 45.
5. Alkhatib M, Fayad C, Badran A, Hamade K, Daou A, Baydoun E, et al. Preventive and therapeutic effects of Punica granatum (Pomegranate) in respiratory and digestive diseases: A review. Appl Sci 2022; 12.
6. Alami M, Benchagra L, Boulbaroud S, Ramchoun M, Khalil A, Fulop T, et al. Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) attenuates neuroinflammation involved in neurodegenerative diseases. Foods 2022; 11.
7. George N, AbuKhader M, Al Balushi K, Al Sabahi B, Khan SA. An insight into the neuroprotective effects and molecular targets of pomegranate (Punica granatum) against Alzheimer’s disease. Nutr Neurosci 2022.
8. Laurindo LF, Barbalho SM, Marquess AR, Grecco AIS, Goulart RA, Tofano RJ, et al. Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) and metabolic syndrome risk factors and outcomes: A systematic review of clinical studies. Nutrients 2022; 14.
9. Akaberi M, Boghrati Z, Sahebkar A, Emami SA. Therapeutic potential of Pomegranate in metabolic disorders. In: Sahebkar A, Sathyapalan T, editors. Natural Products and Human Diseases: Pharmacology, Molecular Targets, and Therapeutic Benefits. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2021. p. 421-440.
10. Johari AS, Zulkepli NA, Sarmoko S. Pomegranate (Punica granatum) derived phytochemical actions towards prostate cancer. Sci Eng Health Stud 2022; 16.
11. Mahdavi AM, Javadivala Z. Systematic review of the effects of pomegranate (Punica granatum) on osteoarthritis. Health Promot Perspect 2021; 11:411-425.



The macro must check to make sure that all numbered references from the end are used in the text beginning with(1). Next you can either refer to (1) or (2) but not (3) yet because they have to be sequentially in increasing order. The above article is acceptable because the sequence is:

(1)(2)(1)(3)(4)(5)(6,7)(8,9)(3,10)(11)(11)

however something like

(1)(2)(1)(4)(4)(5)(6,7)(8,9)(3,10)(11)(11)

wouldn't be acceptable, because it refers to 4 before 3 is used for the first time. Only those numbers that have already been used can be referenced again.

Thank you