---
description: How to cite MatMelt in published work, and what else to cite alongside it.
---

# Citing MatMelt

If MatMelt contributes to work you publish, please cite it. The repository
ships a [Citation File Format](https://citation-file-format.github.io/) file,
`CITATION.cff`, which is the authoritative record of the title, authors and
version — GitHub reads it directly and offers a **Cite this repository** button
that converts it to BibTeX or APA on demand.

That conversion is deliberately not duplicated here: a hand-written BibTeX
entry on this page would be a second copy of the authors and version, and the
copy that drifts is always the one someone pastes into a paper.

## Cite the version you ran

Results depend on the version that produced them. Record it from the machine
that did the work:

```console
$ matmelt --version
```

Screening settings travel with the data as well: each `record.json` carries an
`_mcli.screen.settings` block naming the model, device, dtype, `fmax` and step
limit that produced the verdict, so a reviewer can see what was actually run
without taking your word for it. {doc}`how-to/export-results` covers getting
those records out.

## Cite the science too

MatMelt orchestrates other people's scientific software; it does not replace
it. A run that used the default funnel leaned on **SMACT** for charge-balanced
compositions, **PyXtal** for symmetry-constrained structure generation,
**MACE** and **ASE** for the relaxation and its verdict, and — if you enabled
the optional stage — **DFTB+** through **AiiDA**. Those projects ask to be
cited in their own right, and the citation each of them prefers is documented
on their own sites. {doc}`explanation/the-science` sets out precisely which of
them did what at each stage, which is also the honest basis for describing your
method.

## `CITATION.cff`

```{literalinclude} ../CITATION.cff
:language: yaml
```
