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Software Citation And Publication Tracking

This page is the maintainer-facing source of truth for how SpectralBridge should be cited, how associated publications are tracked, and how software release citations should relate to papers.

Review date: 2026-10-19

Current citation posture

The repository currently supports three different citation surfaces:

  1. CITATION.cff as the machine-readable repository citation source
  2. the README citation section as the user-facing summary
  3. the Zenodo DOI documentation in docs/dev/doi-zenodo.md

These are complementary and should stay aligned.

Preferred citation policy

When users publish work based on SpectralBridge, the preferred guidance is:

  1. cite the software release actually used
  2. cite any associated project publication or software paper when one exists
  3. cite relevant methods papers when a specific scientific method is central to the analysis

This keeps software credit, reproducibility, and scientific-method attribution separate but compatible.

Use the following wording as the default project guidance unless maintainers approve a different policy:

If you use SpectralBridge in research, cite the software release you used, any associated SpectralBridge publication or software paper, and relevant methods papers for the workflow components your analysis depends on.

CITATION.cff is the intended machine-readable citation source, but currently contains provisional team authorship. Its schema validity does not establish author approval. The 12-person paper list and organizational package metadata must be reconciled by the authors before publication; do not copy the placeholder team name as a finalized personal author list.

Versioned release citation policy

Current policy:

  • users should cite the specific release they used whenever possible
  • CITATION.cff should match the current intended repository release metadata
  • Zenodo DOI handling should be verified separately for each release
  • the README badge must not imply that an older archived DOI automatically covers the current package version

Until a maintainers-approved post-rename SpectralBridge Zenodo release record is confirmed, repository text should distinguish between:

  • the historical archived DOI
  • the current package version
  • any future concept DOI or latest-release DOI strategy

Associated publication tracker

This tracker is intentionally explicit about what is known and what still needs maintainer confirmation.

Item Status Notes
Primary software citation source Active CITATION.cff
Zenodo archived software record Active 10.5281/zenodo.11167877 for the pre-rename cross-sensor-cal release
Current SpectralBridge-specific Zenodo release record Needs verification See docs/dev/doi-zenodo.md and P27
Software paper sources Prepared draft Canonical paper and build instructions; preparation does not establish submission or acceptance
Canonical published paper citation Not confirmed Add an accepted/published citation only after verification
Associated project/manuscript list No additional published list verified Maintainers must supply stable references before adding publication claims
Publication sources Canonical paper directory Prepared sources and submission checklist; no acceptance implied

Software paper tracking

If the project is preparing or maintaining a software paper, track at least:

  • target venue
  • current status
  • canonical title
  • canonical author list
  • citation string once published
  • relationship between the paper and versioned software releases

The submission checklist records author actions, including consent, funding, conflicts and AI declarations. The source-format check cannot certify those decisions or JOSS acceptance.

Repository version 2.3.0rc1 and the 2026-10-13 RC audit are release preparation evidence. That audit describes its recorded revision and artifacts; it does not certify later working-tree changes or demonstrate a public release. See DOI status before citing an archive.

Maintainer update rules

Update this page when any of the following changes:

  • a software paper is submitted, accepted, or published
  • the preferred citation wording changes
  • the Zenodo DOI strategy changes
  • a current SpectralBridge release DOI is confirmed
  • the project wants to distinguish concept DOI vs version DOI citation policy

When updating this page, also review:

  • README.md
  • CITATION.cff
  • docs/dev/doi-zenodo.md
  • docs/dev/releasing.md
  • publication_checklist.md

What this page intentionally does not do

  • It does not invent publications that are not confirmed.
  • It does not replace CITATION.cff as the software metadata source.
  • It does not declare a DOI strategy that maintainers have not approved.

Publication evidence

For the historical manuscript evidence and complete SI, use the technical supplement. Current instructions and contracts remain in the workflow/reference pages.