Improve Citations: REFERENCES.md & CITATION.cff

by Natalie Brooks 48 views

Hey guys! Let's dive into how we can seriously level up our project's academic citation game. We're talking about making it super easy for researchers to cite our work, boosting our project's visibility, and just generally making things more professional. This guide will walk you through moving our references to a dedicated REFERENCES.md file, adding machine-readable citation metadata with CITATION.cff, and a bunch of other cool stuff.

Overview: Why This Matters

So, why are we doing this? Academic citations are crucial for recognizing the impact and contribution of our work in the research community. By improving our project's citation infrastructure, we're making it simpler for academics to cite us correctly and completely. This not only gives us proper credit but also increases the discoverability of our project in academic databases and search engines. Plus, let's be honest, it just looks more professional, right?

Here’s the plan:

  1. Move references from the README.md to a dedicated REFERENCES.md file.
  2. Add machine-readable citation metadata via CITATION.cff. This is a big deal because it allows tools and platforms to automatically generate citations in various formats.
  3. Ensure references use permanent DOI links. This is super important for long-term accessibility and verifiability.
  4. Make references discoverable through RustDoc. This integrates our citations directly into our project's documentation.
  5. Register the project in academic repositories like Zenodo. This gives us a DOI (Digital Object Identifier), which is like a permanent ID for our project.

This might seem like a lot, but trust me, it's totally worth it!

Background: The Current Situation

Right now, all our academic references are chilling inside the README.md file. This makes the README a bit bulky and doesn't give academic users the kind of machine-readable metadata they're used to. We want to fix this by:

  • Creating a dedicated bibliography file that can pull double duty.
  • Using the machine-readable citation format (CITATION.cff) for GitHub's citation feature. This makes it incredibly easy for people to cite us directly from GitHub.
  • Integrating with academic repositories for DOI minting. A DOI is a permanent identifier, which is essential for academic citations.
  • Improving discoverability through RustDoc. This means our citations will be right there in our documentation.

Tasks: Let's Get to Work!

Alright, let's break this down into actionable steps. We've got six main tasks ahead of us, each with its own set of sub-tasks. Don't worry, we'll tackle them one by one.

1. Extract References to REFERENCES.md

First up, we're going to extract all those references from our README.md and give them a new home in a REFERENCES.md file. This is like decluttering our living room and giving our books their own shelf.

  • Create REFERENCES.md at repo root: This is where the magic will happen. We'll create a new file named REFERENCES.md in the root directory of our repository.
  • Move all reference entries from README.md (lines 75-102) to REFERENCES.md: Cut and paste, baby! We're moving all those reference entries to their new home.
  • Update README.md with a link to REFERENCES.md: We'll add a link in our README.md so people know where to find the references. Something like, "For a full list of references, see REFERENCES.md."
  • Add YAML front matter to REFERENCES.md for dual-purpose usage: YAML front matter allows us to include metadata at the beginning of the file, which can be used by various tools. This is super handy for making our references usable in different contexts.
  • Structure with both "References" and "Bibliography" sections: We'll organize our REFERENCES.md with clear "References" and "Bibliography" sections. This helps keep things tidy and makes it easier for users to find what they need.

2. Standardize References with Permanent Links

Next, we're going to make sure all our references are squeaky clean and use permanent links. This is like ensuring all our book titles are written in the same font and that we have a stable way to find them.

  • Verify all DOI links are using https://doi.org/ format: We'll make sure all our DOI links are in the correct format. This is the standard way to link to DOIs.
  • Replace any unstable URLs with DOI links: If we have any URLs that might break over time, we'll replace them with DOI links. DOIs are permanent, so this ensures our references stay accessible.
  • Validate each DOI resolves correctly: We'll double-check that all our DOI links actually work. No one wants a broken link!
  • Format references consistently (e.g., IEEE or ACM style): We'll pick a citation style (like IEEE or ACM) and make sure all our references follow it. This makes our citations look professional and consistent.

3. Add CITATION.cff for Machine-Readable Citation

Now, we're going to add a CITATION.cff file. This is where the magic of machine-readable citations happens. It's like having a special code that tells citation tools exactly how to cite our project.

  • Create CITATION.cff at repo root: We'll create a new file named CITATION.cff in the root directory of our repository. This is a standardized format for citation metadata.
  • Add citation instructions to README.md: We'll add a section to our README.md explaining how to cite our project, pointing users to the CITATION.cff file. This makes it super easy for people to cite us correctly.

4. Integrate with RustDoc

We're going to integrate our references directly into our RustDoc documentation. This means that when people are browsing our documentation, they'll see our citations right there. Talk about convenient!

  • Modify src/lib.rs to include REFERENCES.md in generated docs: We'll tweak our src/lib.rs file to include the contents of REFERENCES.md in our generated documentation.
  • Add citation section linking to CITATION.cff: We'll add a special citation section in our docs that links directly to our CITATION.cff file.
  • Verify cargo doc renders references properly: We'll run cargo doc to make sure everything looks good and our references are showing up correctly.

5. Register in Academic Repositories

Let's get our project officially registered in academic repositories like Zenodo. This is like getting an official ID card for our project in the academic world.

  • Set up Zenodo integration with GitHub repository: We'll set up Zenodo to automatically create DOIs for our project whenever we make a release.
  • Create a release tag to trigger DOI minting: We'll create a new release tag in our repository, which will tell Zenodo to mint a DOI for us.
  • Update CITATION.cff and README.md with the minted DOI: We'll add the new DOI to our CITATION.cff and README.md files. This ensures our DOI is always visible and accessible.
  • Consider adding ORCID information for the author: We might also consider adding ORCID information for the author(s) of the project. ORCID is a unique identifier for researchers, which helps ensure they get proper credit for their work.

6. Update Documentation Guidelines

Finally, we need to update our documentation guidelines to reflect our new citation and reference practices. This is like adding a new chapter to our project's manual.

  • Add "Citation and References" section to CONTRIBUTING.md: We'll add a section to our CONTRIBUTING.md file explaining how to update references and citations.
  • Document the process for updating references and citation metadata: We'll provide clear instructions on how to add new references, update existing ones, and keep our CITATION.cff file up-to-date.
  • Add CI validation for YAML validity in CITATION.cff: We'll add a check to our continuous integration (CI) pipeline that ensures our CITATION.cff file is valid YAML. This helps prevent errors and ensures our citation metadata is always correct.

Benefits: What We Gain

So, what's the payoff for all this work? Well, a lot actually!

  • Academic Users: It becomes super easy for academics to cite our work in their papers and research. This means more visibility and recognition for our project.
  • Discoverability: Our project will be better indexed by academic search engines. This makes it easier for people to find our work.
  • Professional: We'll be following best practices for scientific software. This makes our project look more professional and trustworthy.
  • Maintenance: Our README.md will be cleaner and more focused on usage. This makes it easier for new users to get started with our project.
  • Standards Compliance: We'll be supporting GitHub's citation feature and academic workflows. This makes our project more integrated with the academic community.

Acceptance Criteria: How We Know We're Done

Okay, so how do we know when we've successfully completed all these tasks? Here are the acceptance criteria:

  • README.md references section replaced with link to REFERENCES.md
  • REFERENCES.md contains all existing references with permanent DOI links
  • CITATION.cff validates with cffconvert tool
  • RustDoc includes references section
  • Project has a DOI from Zenodo or similar repository
  • CONTRIBUTING.md documents the citation/reference maintenance process

If we can check all these boxes, we'll know we've done a stellar job of enhancing our project's academic citation infrastructure. Let's get to it, guys!