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Generate Citation File Format (cff) Metadata for R Packages
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ropensci/cffr
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cffr provides utilities to generate, coerce, modify and validateCITATION.cff files automatically forR packages, as well as toolsand examples for working with .cff more generally.
Citation File Format (CFF)(Druskat et al. 2021) (v1.2.0) are plaintext files with human- and machine-readable citation information forsoftware (and datasets). Code developers can include them in theirrepositories to let others know how to correctly cite their software.
This format is becoming popular within the software citation ecosystem.RecentlyGitHub,ZenodoandZoterohave included full support of this citation format (Druskat2021). GitHub support is of specialinterest:
— Nat Friedman (@natfriedman) July 27, 2021
SeeEnhanced support for citations onGitHub(Smith 2021) for more info.
The CodeMeta Project (Jones et al.2017) creates a concept vocabulary that can be used tostandardize the exchange of software metadata across repositories andorganizations. One of the many uses of acodemeta.json file (createdfollowing the standards defined on The CodeMeta Project) is to providecitation metadata such as title, authors, publication year, and venue(Fenner 2021). The packagescodemeta (Boettigerand Salmon 2021a) /codemetar (Boettiger and Salmon2021b) allows to generatecodemeta.json filesfrom R packages metadata.
cffr maximizes the data extraction by using both theDESCRIPTIONfile and theCITATION file (if present) of your package. Note thatcffr works best if your package passR CMD check/devtools::check().
As per 2025-03-23 there are at least 322 repos on GitHub usingcffr.Check them outhere.
Installcffr fromCRAN:
install.packages("cffr")You can install the developing version ofcffr with:
remotes::install_github("ropensci/cffr")
Alternatively, you can installcffr using ther-universe:
# Install cffr in R:install.packages("cffr",repos= c("https://ropensci.r-universe.dev","https://cloud.r-project.org"))
By default most often from within your package folder you’ll simply runcff_write(), that creates acff object, write it on aCITATION.cfffile and validates it on a single command:
library(cffr)# For in-development packagescff_write()#>#> CITATION.cff generated#>#> cff_validate results-----#> Congratulations! This .cff file is valid
However,cffr provides also custom print methods and mechanisms thatallows you to customize theCITATION.cff and integrate them in yourworkflows.
This is a basic example which shows you how to create acff object(see?cff for more info). In this case, we are creating acff objectfrom the metadata of thermarkdown package:
library(cffr)# Example with an installed packagetest<- cff_create("rmarkdown")
CITATION.cff forrmarkdown
cff-version: 1.2.0message: 'To cite package "rmarkdown" in publications use:'type: softwarelicense: GPL-3.0-onlytitle: 'rmarkdown: Dynamic Documents for R'version: '2.29'identifiers:- type: doi value: 10.32614/CRAN.package.rmarkdownabstract: Convert R Markdown documents into a variety of formats.authors:- family-names: Allaire given-names: JJ email: jj@posit.co- family-names: Xie given-names: Yihui email: xie@yihui.name orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0645-5666- family-names: Dervieux given-names: Christophe email: cderv@posit.co orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4474-2498- family-names: McPherson given-names: Jonathan email: jonathan@posit.co- family-names: Luraschi given-names: Javier- family-names: Ushey given-names: Kevin email: kevin@posit.co- family-names: Atkins given-names: Aron email: aron@posit.co- family-names: Wickham given-names: Hadley email: hadley@posit.co- family-names: Cheng given-names: Joe email: joe@posit.co- family-names: Chang given-names: Winston email: winston@posit.co- family-names: Iannone given-names: Richard email: rich@posit.co orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3925-190Xpreferred-citation: type: manual title: 'rmarkdown: Dynamic Documents for R' authors: - family-names: Allaire given-names: JJ email: jj@posit.co - family-names: Xie given-names: Yihui email: xie@yihui.name orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0645-5666 - family-names: Dervieux given-names: Christophe email: cderv@posit.co orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4474-2498 - family-names: McPherson given-names: Jonathan email: jonathan@posit.co - family-names: Luraschi given-names: Javier - family-names: Ushey given-names: Kevin email: kevin@posit.co - family-names: Atkins given-names: Aron email: aron@posit.co - family-names: Wickham given-names: Hadley email: hadley@posit.co - family-names: Cheng given-names: Joe email: joe@posit.co - family-names: Chang given-names: Winston email: winston@posit.co - family-names: Iannone given-names: Richard email: rich@posit.co orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3925-190X year: '2024' notes: R package version 2.29 url: https://github.com/rstudio/rmarkdownrepository: https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=rmarkdownrepository-code: https://github.com/rstudio/rmarkdowncommit: '2.29'url: https://pkgs.rstudio.com/rmarkdown/date-released: '2024-11-04'contact:- family-names: Xie given-names: Yihui email: xie@yihui.name orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0645-5666keywords:- literate-programming- markdown- pandoc- r- r-package- rmarkdownreferences:- type: book title: 'R Markdown: The Definitive Guide' authors: - family-names: Xie given-names: Yihui - family-names: Allaire given-names: J.J. - family-names: Grolemund given-names: Garrett publisher: name: Chapman and Hall/CRC address: Boca Raton, Florida year: '2018' isbn: '9781138359338' url: https://bookdown.org/yihui/rmarkdown- type: book title: R Markdown Cookbook authors: - family-names: Xie given-names: Yihui - family-names: Dervieux given-names: Christophe - family-names: Riederer given-names: Emily publisher: name: Chapman and Hall/CRC address: Boca Raton, Florida year: '2020' isbn: '9780367563837' url: https://bookdown.org/yihui/rmarkdown-cookbook- type: software title: 'R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing' notes: Depends url: https://www.R-project.org/ authors: - name: R Core Team institution: name: R Foundation for Statistical Computing address: Vienna, Austria year: '2025' version: '>= 3.0'- type: software title: bslib abstract: 'bslib: Custom ''Bootstrap'' ''Sass'' Themes for ''shiny'' and ''rmarkdown''' notes: Imports url: https://rstudio.github.io/bslib/ repository: https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=bslib authors: - family-names: Sievert given-names: Carson email: carson@posit.co orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4958-2844 - family-names: Cheng given-names: Joe email: joe@posit.co - family-names: Aden-Buie given-names: Garrick email: garrick@posit.co orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7111-0077 year: '2025' doi: 10.32614/CRAN.package.bslib version: '>= 0.2.5.1'- type: software title: evaluate abstract: 'evaluate: Parsing and Evaluation Tools that Provide More Details than the Default' notes: Imports url: https://evaluate.r-lib.org/ repository: https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=evaluate authors: - family-names: Wickham given-names: Hadley email: hadley@posit.co - family-names: Xie given-names: Yihui orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0645-5666 year: '2025' doi: 10.32614/CRAN.package.evaluate version: '>= 0.13'- type: software title: fontawesome abstract: 'fontawesome: Easily Work with ''Font Awesome'' Icons' notes: Imports url: https://rstudio.github.io/fontawesome/ repository: https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=fontawesome authors: - family-names: Iannone given-names: Richard email: rich@posit.co orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3925-190X year: '2025' doi: 10.32614/CRAN.package.fontawesome version: '>= 0.5.0'- type: software title: htmltools abstract: 'htmltools: Tools for HTML' notes: Imports url: https://rstudio.github.io/htmltools/ repository: https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=htmltools authors: - family-names: Cheng given-names: Joe email: joe@posit.co - family-names: Sievert given-names: Carson email: carson@posit.co orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4958-2844 - family-names: Schloerke given-names: Barret email: barret@posit.co orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9986-114X - family-names: Chang given-names: Winston email: winston@posit.co orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1576-2126 - family-names: Xie given-names: Yihui email: yihui@posit.co - family-names: Allen given-names: Jeff year: '2025' doi: 10.32614/CRAN.package.htmltools version: '>= 0.5.1'- type: software title: jquerylib abstract: 'jquerylib: Obtain ''jQuery'' as an HTML Dependency Object' notes: Imports repository: https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=jquerylib authors: - family-names: Sievert given-names: Carson email: carson@rstudio.com orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4958-2844 - family-names: Cheng given-names: Joe email: joe@rstudio.com year: '2025' doi: 10.32614/CRAN.package.jquerylib- type: software title: jsonlite abstract: 'jsonlite: A Simple and Robust JSON Parser and Generator for R' notes: Imports url: https://jeroen.r-universe.dev/jsonlite repository: https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=jsonlite authors: - family-names: Ooms given-names: Jeroen email: jeroenooms@gmail.com orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4035-0289 year: '2025' identifiers: - type: url value: https://arxiv.org/abs/1403.2805 doi: 10.32614/CRAN.package.jsonlite- type: software title: knitr abstract: 'knitr: A General-Purpose Package for Dynamic Report Generation in R' notes: Imports url: https://yihui.org/knitr/ repository: https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=knitr authors: - family-names: Xie given-names: Yihui email: xie@yihui.name orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0645-5666 year: '2025' doi: 10.32614/CRAN.package.knitr version: '>= 1.43'- type: software title: methods abstract: 'R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing' notes: Imports authors: - name: R Core Team institution: name: R Foundation for Statistical Computing address: Vienna, Austria year: '2025'- type: software title: tinytex abstract: 'tinytex: Helper Functions to Install and Maintain TeX Live, and Compile LaTeX Documents' notes: Imports url: https://github.com/rstudio/tinytex repository: https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=tinytex authors: - family-names: Xie given-names: Yihui email: xie@yihui.name orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0645-5666 year: '2025' doi: 10.32614/CRAN.package.tinytex version: '>= 0.31'- type: software title: tools abstract: 'R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing' notes: Imports authors: - name: R Core Team institution: name: R Foundation for Statistical Computing address: Vienna, Austria year: '2025'- type: software title: utils abstract: 'R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing' notes: Imports authors: - name: R Core Team institution: name: R Foundation for Statistical Computing address: Vienna, Austria year: '2025'- type: software title: xfun abstract: 'xfun: Supporting Functions for Packages Maintained by ''Yihui Xie''' notes: Imports url: https://github.com/yihui/xfun repository: https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=xfun authors: - family-names: Xie given-names: Yihui email: xie@yihui.name orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0645-5666 year: '2025' doi: 10.32614/CRAN.package.xfun version: '>= 0.36'- type: software title: yaml abstract: 'yaml: Methods to Convert R Data to YAML and Back' notes: Imports url: https://github.com/vubiostat/r-yaml/ repository: https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=yaml authors: - family-names: Garbett given-names: Shawn P - family-names: Stephens given-names: Jeremy - family-names: Simonov given-names: Kirill - family-names: Xie given-names: Yihui - family-names: Dong given-names: Zhuoer - family-names: Wickham given-names: Hadley - family-names: Horner given-names: Jeffrey - name: reikoch - family-names: Beasley given-names: Will - family-names: O'Connor given-names: Brendan - family-names: Warnes given-names: Gregory R. - family-names: Quinn given-names: Michael - family-names: Kamvar given-names: Zhian N. - family-names: Gao given-names: Charlie year: '2025' doi: 10.32614/CRAN.package.yaml version: '>= 2.1.19'- type: software title: digest abstract: 'digest: Create Compact Hash Digests of R Objects' notes: Suggests url: https://dirk.eddelbuettel.com/code/digest.html repository: https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=digest authors: - family-names: Eddelbuettel given-names: Dirk email: edd@debian.org orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6419-907X year: '2025' doi: 10.32614/CRAN.package.digest- type: software title: fs abstract: 'fs: Cross-Platform File System Operations Based on ''libuv''' notes: Suggests url: https://fs.r-lib.org repository: https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=fs authors: - family-names: Hester given-names: Jim - family-names: Wickham given-names: Hadley email: hadley@posit.co - family-names: Csárdi given-names: Gábor email: csardi.gabor@gmail.com year: '2025' doi: 10.32614/CRAN.package.fs- type: software title: downlit abstract: 'downlit: Syntax Highlighting and Automatic Linking' notes: Suggests url: https://downlit.r-lib.org/ repository: https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=downlit authors: - family-names: Wickham given-names: Hadley email: hadley@posit.co year: '2025' doi: 10.32614/CRAN.package.downlit version: '>= 0.4.0'- type: software title: sass abstract: 'sass: Syntactically Awesome Style Sheets (''Sass'')' notes: Suggests url: https://rstudio.github.io/sass/ repository: https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=sass authors: - family-names: Cheng given-names: Joe email: joe@rstudio.com - family-names: Mastny given-names: Timothy email: tim.mastny@gmail.com - family-names: Iannone given-names: Richard email: rich@rstudio.com orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3925-190X - family-names: Schloerke given-names: Barret email: barret@rstudio.com orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9986-114X - family-names: Sievert given-names: Carson email: carson@rstudio.com orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4958-2844 year: '2025' doi: 10.32614/CRAN.package.sass version: '>= 0.4.0'- type: software title: shiny abstract: 'shiny: Web Application Framework for R' notes: Suggests url: https://shiny.posit.co/ repository: https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=shiny authors: - family-names: Chang given-names: Winston email: winston@posit.co orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1576-2126 - family-names: Cheng given-names: Joe email: joe@posit.co - family-names: Allaire given-names: JJ email: jj@posit.co - family-names: Sievert given-names: Carson email: carson@posit.co orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4958-2844 - family-names: Schloerke given-names: Barret email: barret@posit.co orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9986-114X - family-names: Xie given-names: Yihui email: yihui@posit.co - family-names: Allen given-names: Jeff - family-names: McPherson given-names: Jonathan email: jonathan@posit.co - family-names: Dipert given-names: Alan - family-names: Borges given-names: Barbara year: '2025' doi: 10.32614/CRAN.package.shiny version: '>= 1.6.0'- type: software title: testthat abstract: 'testthat: Unit Testing for R' notes: Suggests url: https://testthat.r-lib.org repository: https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=testthat authors: - family-names: Wickham given-names: Hadley email: hadley@posit.co year: '2025' doi: 10.32614/CRAN.package.testthat version: '>= 3.0.3'- type: software title: tibble abstract: 'tibble: Simple Data Frames' notes: Suggests url: https://tibble.tidyverse.org/ repository: https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=tibble authors: - family-names: Müller given-names: Kirill email: kirill@cynkra.com orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1416-3412 - family-names: Wickham given-names: Hadley email: hadley@rstudio.com year: '2025' doi: 10.32614/CRAN.package.tibble- type: software title: vctrs abstract: 'vctrs: Vector Helpers' notes: Suggests url: https://vctrs.r-lib.org/ repository: https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=vctrs authors: - family-names: Wickham given-names: Hadley email: hadley@posit.co - family-names: Henry given-names: Lionel email: lionel@posit.co - family-names: Vaughan given-names: Davis email: davis@posit.co year: '2025' doi: 10.32614/CRAN.package.vctrs- type: software title: withr abstract: 'withr: Run Code ''With'' Temporarily Modified Global State' notes: Suggests url: https://withr.r-lib.org repository: https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=withr authors: - family-names: Hester given-names: Jim - family-names: Henry given-names: Lionel email: lionel@posit.co - family-names: Müller given-names: Kirill email: krlmlr+r@mailbox.org - family-names: Ushey given-names: Kevin email: kevinushey@gmail.com - family-names: Wickham given-names: Hadley email: hadley@posit.co - family-names: Chang given-names: Winston year: '2025' doi: 10.32614/CRAN.package.withr version: '>= 2.4.2'- type: software title: xml2 abstract: 'xml2: Parse XML' notes: Suggests url: https://xml2.r-lib.org repository: https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=xml2 authors: - family-names: Wickham given-names: Hadley - family-names: Hester given-names: Jim - family-names: Ooms given-names: Jeroen email: jeroenooms@gmail.com year: '2025' doi: 10.32614/CRAN.package.xml2We can validate the result usingcff_validate():
cff_validate(test)#> ══ Validating cff ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════#> ✔ Congratulations! This <cff> is valid
Check thedocsandvignette("cffr", package = "cffr") to learn how to work withcffobjects.
The easiest way for keeping youCITATION.cff file up-to-date is usingGitHub Actions. Usecff_gha_update()function to install a GitHubAction that would update yourCITATION.cff file on the followingevents:
- When you publish a new release of the package on your GitHub repo.
- Each time that you modify your DESCRIPTION or inst/CITATION files.
- The action can be run also manually.
cff_gha_update()#> Installing update-citation-cff.yaml on './.github/workflows'#> Adding .github to .Rbuildignore
See the example workflow filehere.
You can also use agit pre-commithook:
The
pre-commithook is run first, before you even type in a commitmessage. It’s used to inspect the snapshot that’s about to becommitted, to see if you’ve forgotten something, to make sure testsrun, or to examine whatever you need to inspect in the code. Exitingnon-zero from this hook aborts the commit, although you can bypass itwithgit commit --no-verify.
A specific pre-commit hook can be installed withcff_git_hook_install(). If you want to use a pre-commit hook, pleasemake sure you have thetestthat package installed.
Check the following articles to learn more aboutcffr:
- cffr: Create a CITATION.cff File for your RPackage
- How I Test cffr on (about) 2,000 Packages using GitHub Actions andR-universe
- citation (Dietrich and Leoncio 2022) includes afunction
r2cffthat creates aCITATION.cfffile (v1.1.0) using theinformation of yourDESCRIPTIONfile. It also provide minimalvalidity checks. - handlr (Chamberlain 2022): Tool for convertingamong citation formats, including
*.cfffiles. - codemeta (Boettiger and Salmon 2021a) /codemetar (Boettiger and Salmon 2021b)provides similar solutions for creating
codemeta.jsonfile, anotherformat for storing and sharing software metadata.
Hernangómez, D., (2021). cffr: Generate Citation File Format Metadatafor R Packages. Journal of Open Source Software, 6(67), 3900,https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.03900
A BibTeX entry for LaTeX users is:
@article{hernangomez2021,title ={{cffr}: Generate Citation File Format Metadata for {R} Packages},author ={Diego Hernangómez},year =2021,journal ={Journal of Open Source Software},publisher ={The Open Journal},volume =6,number =67,pages =3900,doi ={10.21105/joss.03900},url ={https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.03900}}
You can also use thecitation provided byGitHub, that is generated from theinformation of aCITATION.cff created withcffr. SeeAboutCITATIONfilesfor more info.
Boettiger, Carl, and Maëlle Salmon. 2021a.codemeta: A Smallercodemetar Package.https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=codemeta.
———. 2021b.codemetar: Generate ’CodeMeta’Metadata for R Packages.
Chamberlain, Scott. 2022.handlr: ConvertAmong Citation Formats.
Dietrich, Jan Philipp, and Waldir Leoncio. 2022.citation: Software Citation Tools.
Druskat, Stephan. 2021. “Making Software Citation Easi(er) - TheCitation File Format and Its Integrations.”https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5529914.
Druskat, Stephan, Jurriaan H. Spaaks, Neil Chue Hong, Robert Haines,James Baker, Spencer Bliven, Egon Willighagen, David Pérez-Suárez, andAlexander Konovalov. 2021. “Citation File Format.”https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5171937.
Fenner, Martin. 2021. “We Need Your Feedback: Aligning the CodeMetaVocabulary for Scientific Software with Schema.org.”https://doi.org/10.5438/a49j-x692.
Jones, Matthew B, Carl Boettiger, Abby Cabunoc Mayes, Arfon Smith, PeterSlaughter, Kyle Niemeyer, Yolanda Gil, et al. 2017.CodeMeta: AnExchange Schema for Software Metadata. KNB Data Repository.https://doi.org/10.5063/SCHEMA/CODEMETA-2.0.
Smith, Arfon. 2021. “Enhanced Support for Citations on GitHub.”https://github.blog/news-insights/company-news/enhanced-support-citations-github/.
All contributions to this project are gratefully acknowledged using theallcontributors packagefollowing theallcontributorsspecification. Contributions of any kind are welcome!
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roaldarbol | nfrerebeau | Pakillo |
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Generate Citation File Format (cff) Metadata for R Packages