The RIG gives archaeological context, readings, commentary, proposed translations, and images for each Gaulish inscription.
Exceptions to this system include RIG III A and RIG III B, the Coligny and Villards-d'Héria calendars, which take up their own volume; and the inscriptions on coins in RIG IV, which are just given numbers.
[1][2] The project was first announced by Paul-Marie Duval [fr] in 1959.
A number of supplements to the volumes have been published in Études celtiques.
[2][3] In 2020, a computerised version of the RIG was begun, the Recueil informatisé des inscriptions gauloises (RIIG).