---
title: "Software Citation with CITATION.cff"
source: The Turing Way
source_url: https://github.com/the-turing-way/the-turing-way
licence: CC-BY-4.0
domain: data-and-analysis
subdomain: turing-way
date_added: 2026-04-25
---

(cm-citable-cff)=
# Software Citation with CITATION.cff

The [Citation File Format](https://citation-file-format.github.io) lets you provide citation metadata, for software or datasets, in plaintext files that are easy to read by both humans and machines.

```{figure} ../../../figures/recognition.*
---
name: recognition
width: 500px
alt: >
  Illustration by Scriberia for The Turing Way, highlighting the role of software citation in increasing recognition for developers.
  Two groups stand on separate pillars: researchers on a taller grey pillar and developers on a shorter green pillar labelled "CODE".
  Large black arrows labelled "software citation" point upward, lifting the developers.
  Above both groups is the word "RECOGNITION" in bold, with a glowing badge and green stars.
  A green arc connects the two pillars, suggesting a bridge of acknowledgement.
  Below, three figures sit at desks, representing the broader community.
---
Research software developers get recognition by making software citable. _The Turing Way_ project illustration by Scriberia. Zenodo. [http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3332807](http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3332807)
```

To provide this metadata, start by writing a `CITATION.cff` file and include it with your software or dataset.
A `CITATION.cff` file aggregates the information in a key-value format that can be easily interpreted and updated by humans, and easily parsed and converted with existing tools.

(cm-citable-cff-why)=
## Why Use `CITATION.cff`?

There are great advantages when using a `CITATION.cff` file for the citation information for your software!

It's easier for you:
When you host your software source code on GitHub and have a `CITATION.cff` in your repository, you can use the Zenodo-GitHub integration to automatically publish new releases of the software.
Zenodo will use the information from `CITATION.cff` and show it together with the publication.
You don't have to edit this information manually on Zenodo anymore.

```{figure} ../../../figures/software-credit.*
---
name: software-credit
width: 500px
alt: >
  Illustration by Scriberia for The Turing Way, highlighting the importance of giving software creators credit through the use of `CITATION.cff` files.
  On the right, a developer sits at a desk, writing code represented by binary and angled brackets.
  A pink path of code flows toward two people on the left.
  One person holds a large wallet labelled "Credits", while the other kneels and holds a magnifying glass that zooms in on the word "CFF" along the code path.
  A speech bubble above them reads, "More credits for the software creators!"
---
More credits for the software creators. _The Turing Way_ project illustration by Scriberia. Zenodo. [http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3332807](http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3332807)
```

It's easier for the users of your software:

1. They can directly use the citation information from `CITATION.cff` to cite your software.
2. If your source code is on GitHub, they will show the citation information in the sidebar as a formatted citation, and also in the BibTeX format.
Users can copy either, paste it into their manuscripts, and/or cite your software correctly.
3. If they use the Zotero reference manager, they can import the citation metadata directly from the `CITATION.cff` file in the GitHub repository to their reference manager.

(cm-citable-cff-how-to-create)=
## How to Create a `CITATION.cff` File

The `CITATION.cff` is a `YAML` file with its own schema definition.
The schema defines the rules for each field, and which fields are required and which ones are optional.
The user must follow these rules in order to create a valid `CITATION.cff` file.

A minimal example of a valid `CITATION.cff` file, that only contains the required keys, would look like this:

```yaml
authors:
  - family-names: Doe
    given-names: John
cff-version: 1.2.0
message: "If you use this software, please cite it using the metadata from this file."
title: "My research software"
```

However, adding more fields can help you create more descriptive metadata of your software.
The example below also provides important information of software such as version, release date, DOI, license, keywords.

```yaml
abstract: "This is my awesome research software. It does many things."
authors:
  - family-names: Doe
    given-names: John
    orcid: "https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8888-9999"
cff-version: 1.2.0
date-released: "2021-10-13"
identifiers:
  - description: "This is the collection of archived snapshots of all versions of My Research Software"
    type: doi
    value: 10.5281/zenodo.123456
  - description: "This is the archived snapshot of version 0.11.2 of My Research Software"
    type: doi
    value: 10.5281/zenodo.123457
keywords:
  - "amazing software"
  - research
license: Apache-2.0
message: "If you use this software, please cite it using the metadata from this file."
repository-code: "https://github.com/citation-file-format/my-research-software"
title: "My Research Software"
version: 0.11.2
```

The complete list of fields is described in the [CFF schema guide](https://github.com/citation-file-format/citation-file-format/blob/main/schema-guide.md).
In the next section, you can find out which tools can help you create and use the `CITATION.cff` file.

### Steps to Make Your Software Citable

To make your software citable, you need to follow the two steps below.

#### Step 1. Create a `CITATION.cff` File

There are two ways of creating a `CITATION.cff` file.

1. Use [cffinit](https://citation-file-format.github.io/cff-initializer-javascript/), a web application which guides you through the process of creating your citation file.
  The `cffinit` has a few advantages compared to manual editing such as

    - no need for installing extra tools;
    - no need for manual validation;
    - guidance for each fields;
    - visual feedback to indicate issues.

    We suggest using `cffinit` as it simplifies the creation and validation.
    For more details on using `cffinit` see {ref}`cm-citable-cffinit`.
2. Edit the file manually in your favorite code editor.
  The disadvantages of this method are installing the required tools on your system and doing the validation yourself.
  Also, the error messages of the validation can be relatively long and difficult to understand.
  Once you have a `CITATION.cff` file, it needs to be validated to make sure there are no issues.
  You can validate your `CITATION.cff` file on the command line with the [`cffconvert` Python package](https://pypi.org/project/cffconvert/).

    ```shell
    cd path/to/CITATION.cff
    cffconvert --validate
    ```

    If you prefer to use Docker, you can use the [`cffconvert` Docker image](https://hub.docker.com/r/citationcff/cffconvert):

    ```shell
    cd path/to/CITATION.cff
    docker run --rm -v ${PWD}:/app citationcff/cffconvert --validate
    ```

    If you get error messages, look for the relevant validation error and fix it.

```{note}
To make sure your GitHub repository always has a valid `CITATION.cff` file, you can use the [cff-validator](https://github.com/marketplace/actions/cff-validator) GitHub Action.
```

#### Step 2. Add Your `CITATION.cff` to a Public Code Repository

After creating a valid `CITATION.cff` file, you will need to add it to root of your code or data repository so that it can be easily found and cited.

(cm-citable-cff-updating)=
## Updating your `CITATION.cff` file

When you need to update your `CITATION.cff` file, for example to add an author or to change the information about releases, you will need to edit the file manually. It is recommended to update your `CITATION.cff` file before making a software release.

(cm-citable-cff-how-to-cite)=
## How to Cite Using `CITATION.cff`

If you have found software or datasets that contain a `CITATION.cff`, there are a few ways to obtain the reference information to cite them in your publication.

- You can use one of the tools, such as `cffconvert` command line program, to convert your `CITATION.cff` file to one of the [supported formats](https://github.com/citation-file-format/cff-converter-python#supported-output-formats), such as APA, BibTeX or EndNote.
- Alternatively, if the software or datasets you want to cite are available on GitHub, you can use GitHub's interface to copy the reference in either APA or BibTeX formats by clicking the "Cite this repository" button (see the green area in the image below).
For more details on software citation on GitHub please see [GitHub's guide on software citation](https://docs.github.com/en/repositories/managing-your-repositorys-settings-and-features/customizing-your-repository/about-citation-files).

```{figure} ../../../figures/github-cff-integration.*
---
name: github-cff-integration
alt: >
  Screenshot of a GitHub repository showing the automatic citation box generated from a `CITATION.cff` file.
  On the right, a dropdown labeled "Cite this repository" is expanded, displaying citation formats in APA and BibTeX.
  The APA citation is visible with author names listed, and a button below labeled "View citation file".
  This box appears in the repository sidebar beneath metadata such as license type and tags.
  The screenshot demonstrates how GitHub displays citation information when a `CITATION.cff` file is included.
---
"Cite this repository" automatically converts the `CITATION.cff` file to APA's and BibTex's format. The screen capture is from the [Citation File Format repository](https://github.com/citation-file-format/citation-file-format).
```

```{note}
"Cite this repository" button only appears when there is a `CITATION.cff` file in the repository.
```

(cm-citable-cff-available-tools)=
## Available Tools

Several tools exist to facilitate the creation and validation of `CITATION.cff` files, as well as the conversion to and from other formats.
The Citation File Format’s repository provides [a list of all known tools](https://github.com/citation-file-format/citation-file-format#tools-to-work-with-citationcff-files-wrench) for this.
