CITATION.cff

CITATION.cff is a plain-text YAML file placed at the root of a repository that carries machine-readable citation metadata for software and datasets, written in the Citation File Format (CFF). It answers a simple but chronically ignored question for anyone reusing research code: how do I cite this properly? Authors, titles, versions, DOIs, and release dates live in one structured file that both humans and tools can read.

• YAML-based and human-readable - A single CITATION.cff at the repo root, easy to write by hand and to parse.
• Structured attribution - Authors, ORCID iDs, version, DOI, and release date in fixed, validated fields.
• Tooling and platform support - GitHub renders a “Cite this repository” button from it, and tools convert CFF to BibTeX, RIS, and CodeMeta.
• Software-first citation - Purpose-built for citing code and datasets, not just papers, closing a long-standing gap in scholarly credit.

In practice CITATION.cff turns a research API or open-source library into something that can be credited correctly and automatically. When a repository publishes one, citation managers, package registries, and discovery tools can extract attribution without a human transcribing it — the same machine-readable discipline that makes an openapi spec or a well-kept changelog valuable. For scientific and public-sector APIs especially, it is a low-cost signal that a project takes provenance and reproducibility seriously.