Intro

When producing software, especially in the open-source space, it is common for articles to reference that work, much like how books or articles are cited in academic papers. GitHub provides a way for you to specify how you would like others to cite your work.

How

You need to include a CITATION.cff file on your repo

Example

The following example is shared on the reference documentation page.

cff-version: 1.2.0
message: "If you use this software, please cite it as below."
authors:
- family-names: "Lisa"
  given-names: "Mona"
  orcid: "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000"
- family-names: "Bot"
  given-names: "Hew"
  orcid: "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000"
title: "My Research Software"
version: 2.0.4
doi: 10.5281/zenodo.1234
date-released: 2017-12-18
url: "https://github.com/github-linguist/linguist"

What does this provide

When you add a CITATION.cff file to the default branch of your repository, a link is automatically added to the repository landing page in the right sidebar, with the label “Cite this repository.” This makes it easy for other users to cite your software project, using the information you’ve provided.

You could cite other resources like datasets for instance

NOTE: The file must exist on the root folder of your repository

Check the original article if you would like to know more.

References

• https://docs.github.com/en/repositories/managing-your-repositorys-settings-and-features/customizing-your-repository/about-citation-files
• https://citation-file-format.github.io/