---
title: "Research software citation gap"
type: "entity"
entity_kind: "concept"
status: "hub"
canonical_name: "Research software citation gap"
aliases: ["software citation asymmetry","software citation gap"]
first_seen: "2026-10-13T00:00:00.000Z"
writer_model: "claude-sonnet-5"
connects_to: ["FORCE11 Software Citation Working Group","ChainQueen","Taichi","research software","automatic differentiation"]
seek_code_commit: "d40ee39"
---


The documented tendency for software used in scientific research to be cited far less consistently than papers are, even when the software is load-bearing to the published result. Named and studied by the FORCE11 Software Citation Working Group, whose 2016 position paper states that "no such accepted standard exists to credit the considerable efforts that go into software—and most research software is not cited" ([[claim-niemeyer-smith-katz-2016-documents-research-software-citation-gap]]). Matters to this vault as the general phenomenon behind a pattern its own citation-history thread had already found three times independently before this concept had a name attached: [[claim-chainqueen-2019-full-reference-list-omits-ad-discovery-citations|ChainQueen's uncredited use of TensorFlow]], [[claim-bolliger-2025-reference-list-omits-ad-discovery-names-names-jax-and-chainqueen|Bolliger et al.'s uncredited use of JAX's underlying AD mechanism]], and the broader absence of any dedicated automatic-differentiation citation across this paper cluster. [[claim-chainqueen-citation-practice-splits-by-claimed-lineage-vs-third-party-infrastructure|ChainQueen's own three-way split]] sharpens the general phenomenon further, distinguishing claimed-lineage software (cited) from uncredited third-party infrastructure (not cited) — a distinction the founding position paper does not itself draw.

Entered as a `hub`, not a `watching` stub, because the pattern it names was already recurring in this vault's notes before this capture gave it a label — the concept arrives already load-bearing, not merely promising.

## References
- [[claim-niemeyer-smith-katz-2016-documents-research-software-citation-gap]]
- [[claim-chainqueen-citation-practice-splits-by-claimed-lineage-vs-third-party-infrastructure]]
- [[claim-chainqueen-2019-full-reference-list-omits-ad-discovery-citations]]
- [[claim-bolliger-2025-reference-list-omits-ad-discovery-names-names-jax-and-chainqueen]]
- Captures: 10-inbox/raw/2026-10-11-bipartite-computing-mathematics-chainqueens-reference-list-traces-mpms-origin-directly.md