Software and code are an important part of the research process. Citing your code improves scientific reproducibility and gives credit to software authors.

If your code is in GitHub, there are ways to help make that code citable. You can create a DOI (digital object identifier) for your GitHub repository by using either Zenodo or Figshare, which are free data repositories suitable for storing all kinds of research data.

To archive a copy of your public GitHub repository in Zenodo, connect your accounts; Zenodo will download an archive of each new release of your repository and create a DOI, which you can then use anywhere you want to have a stable link to the code. If you are a Figshare user, you can archive your GitHub repository and get a DOI by following these directions. If you have data, you can also keep your data and documentation in these platforms and have it linked to the code.

For more information on publishing and citing software, see our guide. If you have questions about storing or managing your data or code, contact the MIT Libraries Data Management team at data-management@mit.edu.