templates/CITATION-template.cff at main · UC-OSPO-Network/templates · GitHub

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# CITATION.cff Template
#
# TODO: Rename this file to `CITATION.cff` (i.e. remove the "-template" reference).
# GitHub only shows the "Cite this repository" button for a file named exactly CITATION.cff in the repository root.
#
# The easiest way to create a CITATION.cff is cffinit, a web form that builds a valid file for you and explains each field as you go: https://citation-file-format.github.io/cff-initializer-javascript/
# You can also paste this file into cffinit to validate it once you've filled it in.
# If you prefer to write your own CITATION.cff manually, this template is for you! It requires editing before it's ready to use, and you can find a guide for using it on our website: https://ucospo.net/oss-resources/#template-guides. Please feel free to reach out to our Community Manager, Laura (lalangdon@ucdavis.edu), with any questions!
#
# Search this file for "TODO" to find the parts that need customizing. When you're done, delete the TODO comments.

cff-version: 1.2.0
message: "If you use this software, please cite it using the metadata from this file."

# TODO: Replace with your software's title.
title: "My Research Software"

# TODO: List everyone you'd like credited. `orcid` and `affiliation` are optional but strongly encouraged.
# Add or remove authors as needed. For an organizational author, use `name: "My Lab"` in place of given-/family-names.
authors:
  - given-names: "Ada"
    family-names: "Lovelace"
    orcid: "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000"
    affiliation: "University of California"
  - given-names: "Grace"
    family-names: "Hopper"

# TODO: The version this citation file describes. Update it with each release.
version: "1.0.0"

# TODO: The release date, in YYYY-MM-DD format.
date-released: "2026-01-01"

# TODO: Where the code lives, and (optionally) the project's homepage.
repository-code: "https://github.com/your-org/your-repo"
url: "https://your-project-homepage.example"

# TODO: Your project's SPDX license identifier (e.g. BSD-3-Clause, MIT, Apache-2.0). See https://spdx.org/licenses/ .
# This should match your LICENSE file.
license: "BSD-3-Clause"

# TODO (optional): A DOI for the software itself, e.g. one minted by Zenodo when you connect your repo and make a release.
# Delete this block if you don't have one yet.
identifiers:
  - type: doi
    value: "10.5281/zenodo.0000000"
    description: "The concept DOI for all versions of this software."

# TODO (optional): A short description and a few keywords help others find your work.
abstract: "One or two sentences describing what your software does."
keywords:
  - "research software"
  - "open source"

# TODO (optional): If there's a paper you'd rather people cite than the software itself, describe it here and CFF-aware tools will prefer it.
# Otherwise, delete this block.
preferred-citation:
  type: article
  title: "The paper describing this software"
  authors:
    - given-names: "Ada"
      family-names: "Lovelace"
  journal: "Journal of Open Source Software"
  year: 2026
  doi: "10.21105/joss.00000"