CITATION.cff file

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A CITATION.cff file can be added to your GitHub repository to describe the software after it is preserved in Zenodo.

Note: If your repository also contains a .zenodo.json file, Zenodo will only use the .zenodo.json metadata and ignore the CITATION.cff entirely. However, we still recommend having a CITATION.cff file because GitHub uses it to display a citation suggestion on your repository page, making it easier for others to cite your software.

Looking forward: Zenodo's long-term preference is for open metadata formats like CITATION.cff to eventually make the .zenodo.json format unnecessary. We hope to see the Citation File Format evolve in two directions:

• Broader metadata support: Adoption of widely-used metadata attributes such as funding information.
• Extension mechanisms: Support for platform-specific extensions that would allow services like Zenodo to utilize custom attributes (such as specifying Zenodo communities).

Create a CITATION.cff file

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Currently Zenodo implements a subset of the CITATION.cff schema, find an example with all the fields that are supported below:

cff-version: 1.2.0
title: "Memory bus simulation scripts"
version: 1.8.0
license: "MIT"
type: software
abstract: "These are the scripts used to simulate a memory bus"
message: "If you use this software, please cite it as below."
authors:
  - given-names: Josiah
    family-names: Carberry
    affiliation: Brown University
    orcid: "https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1825-0097"
keywords:
  - computer science
  - psychoceramics
  - journaling filesystems

Validate a CITATION.cff file

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A CITATION.cff can be validated using tools such as cff-convert. Even though this is not maintained by Zenodo, we use it to validate our users' files and it is also recommended by the Citation File Format.

Instructions on how to install and execute the tool can be found on their repository:

• How to install
• How to use