add CITATION.cff guide

Author: LauraLangdon

oss-resources/index.md

@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ title: OSS Resources
 - [Contributing Template Guide](template-guides/contributing-guide.md)
 - [Code of Conduct Template Guide](template-guides/code-of-conduct-guide.md)
 - [License Template Guide](template-guides/license-guide.md)
+- [Citation Template Guide](template-guides/citation-guide.md)
 
 ## Education
 

oss-resources/template-guides/citation-guide.md

@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+---
+title: Citation Guide
+date: 2026-07-30
+description: "How to Make Your Software Citable with CITATION.cff"
+author: Laura Langdon
+---
+
+This guide accompanies our [CITATION.cff template](https://github.com/UC-OSPO-Network/templates/blob/main/CITATION-template.cff). Please refer to these [instructions for using the template](https://github.com/UC-OSPO-Network/templates#how-to-use-the-templates).
+
+When people build on your software in their own research, you want them to be able to cite it easily, consistently, and in a way that credits everyone who contributed. A `CITATION.cff` file is the simplest way to make that happen. It's a small, human- and machine-readable file (written in [YAML](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YAML)) that lives in the root of your repository and spells out exactly how you'd like your work cited. The format has a friendly canonical home at [citation-file-format.github.io](https://citation-file-format.github.io/), which is the best place to go for the full picture.
+
+Using this file has a couple of benefits:
+
+- GitHub reads it automatically: when a `CITATION.cff` is present, GitHub adds a "Cite this repository" button to your repo's sidebar that hands visitors a ready-made APA or BibTeX citation
+- Reference managers understand it: tools like [`cffconvert`](https://github.com/citation-file-format/cffconvert)—one of [many tools built to work with `CITATION.cff` files](https://github.com/citation-file-format/citation-file-format#tools-to-work-with-citationcff-files-wrench)—turn your file into BibTeX, RIS, CodeMeta, and other formats, so a citation flows straight into someone's paper with no retyping (and no transcription errors 😉)
+
+## Creating your file
+
+The easiest way—and the one we recommend—is [**cffinit**](https://citation-file-format.github.io/cff-initializer-javascript/), the web form linked from the site above. It walks you through the fields, builds a valid `CITATION.cff` for you, and makes it really hard to end up with a broken file.
+
+Would you rather write it by hand? Our [CITATION.cff template](https://github.com/UC-OSPO-Network/templates/blob/main/CITATION-template.cff) gives you a working starting point with `TODO` markers for the parts you fill in. Either way, the field reference below explains what everything means.
+
+## The essentials
+
+Four fields are required—here's what each one is for:
+
+- `cff-version`: which version of the Citation File Format you're using. Leave this as `1.2.0` unless you have a reason to change it.
+- `message`: the note tools show alongside your citation, e.g. "If you use this software, please cite it using the metadata from this file."
+- `title`: the name of your software.
+- `authors`: everyone you'd like credited. Each author gets `given-names` and `family-names`; adding an [ORCID](https://orcid.org/) and `affiliation` is optional but strongly encouraged, because it disambiguates people with common names. For an organization rather than a person, use `name: "My Lab"` instead.
+
+## Worth adding
+
+These ones aren't required, but they make your citation far more useful:
+
+- `version` and `date-released`: which version of your software this file refers to. Update these each time you cut a new release, so citations point at the right version.
+- `repository-code` and `url`: where the code lives and, optionally, the project's homepage.
+- `license`: your project's [SPDX license identifier](https://spdx.org/licenses/) (e.g. `BSD-3-Clause`). Make sure it matches your `LICENSE` file! (See our [License Guide](license-guide.md))
+- `identifiers`: a **DOI** gives your software a permanent, citable identifier. The usual route is to [connect your GitHub repo to Zenodo](https://docs.github.com/en/repositories/archiving-a-github-repository/referencing-and-citing-content), which mints a DOI automatically each time you make a release.
+- `abstract` and `keywords`: a sentence of description and a few keywords help others find and understand your work.
+
+## Citing a paper instead of the software
+
+Sometimes there's a journal article you'd rather people cite than the software itself. The `preferred-citation` block lets you describe that paper, and citation-aware tools will point people to it while still recognizing the software. The template includes a `preferred-citation` example you can fill in or delete.
+
+## Before you commit
+
+If you built your file with **cffinit**, it's already valid. If you edited the template by hand, give it a quick check—`cffconvert --validate` validates from the command line if you're using `cffconvert`, or you can paste the file into **cffinit**. A `CITATION.cff` with a typo will silently break the tools that read it, so it's worth the 30 seconds to validate!
+
+For the full specification and more advanced options (datasets, conference papers, multiple identifiers, and more), see the [Citation File Format documentation](https://citation-file-format.github.io/).