How to cite KiCad

Software
1

I want to include some schematics i created with KiCad, in my PhD thesis.
I’ll use a footnote with something like: “Designed with KiCad. Available at https://www.kicad.org/”

Is there any other recommended way for this?

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2

Looks fine to me. :+1:

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3

Interesting question. As far as I know the KiCad project doesn’t have any recommendation about that. The conventions should come from your academic environment.

4

I could be interested in that in the future, maybe someone from CERN could step in with some suggestion? i’m sure they have approached this issue already.

5

Strictly speaking you do not want a citation, that’s heavy stuff intended for published works, where the cited sources get their reputation enhanced if they have a lot of cites. You have to fill in a lot of fields, such as Author, Affiliation, Title, Year, Publisher, etc. This is just a note, and something as simple as what is suggested is adequate, indicating where people can find further information.

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6

It’s not uncommon for software projects to provide guidance for how to cite them (without requiring a citation). For example, here’s the numpy project’s page: NumPy - Citing NumPy

7

Thanks for all the answers. My conclusion is to stick to my current suggestion.

You have to fill in a lot of fields, such as Author, Affiliation, Title, Year, Publisher, etc. This is just a note, and something as simple as what is suggested is adequate, indicating where people can find further information.

Yes, i want to use a footnote and not a usual “publication” style reference.
As i’ve done with other software that i used for flowcharts creation, the footnotes are better and “easier to see” i think.

For example, here’s the numpy project’s page: NumPy - Citing NumPy

Yes, i know. I couldnt find any similar for KiCad.

8

I think @retiredfeline is ‘most correct’. Kicad isn’t doing any work or computations unless you are using the simulation engine. Otherwise, it is just a graphic program.

9

I used it to make my schematics, gerber files that I sent for PCB creation etc so this footnote is my “thank you” for this wonderful free program.

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