Software

In practice — medical research context

When this role applies

Encoding

Use in your systems

<role vocab="credit"
      vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/credit"
      vocab-term="Software"
      vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/credit/roles/software" />

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "DefinedTerm",
  "@id": "https://casrai.org/credit/roles/software",
  "name": "Software",
  "identifier": "https://casrai.org/credit/roles/software",
  "description": "Programming, software development; designing computer programs; implementation of the computer code and supporting algorithms; testing of existing code components.",
  "inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/credit",
  "url": "https://casrai.org/credit/roles/software",
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "bibliographicCitation": "CASRAI Editorial Board (2026). Software — CRediT contributor role (v2022.1). CASRAI. https://casrai.org/credit/roles/software",
  "citation": "https://casrai.org/credit/citation",
  "dateModified": "2022-08-01",
  "version": "2022.1",
  "inLanguage": "en",
  "audience": {
    "@type": "Audience",
    "audienceType": "Researchers, editors, publishers, librarians"
  }
}

<contributor sequence="additional" contributor_role="author">
  <given_name>Jane</given_name>
  <surname>Doe</surname>
  <ORCID>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-XXXX-XXXX</ORCID>
  <credit_roles>
    <credit_role vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/credit/roles/software">Software</credit_role>
  </credit_roles>
</contributor>

Identifiers

Persistent identifiers

Frequently asked

Common questions about Software

What does the "Software" CRediT role mean?

Programming, software development; designing computer programs; implementation of the computer code and supporting algorithms; testing of existing code components.

How do I cite "Software" in an author contribution statement?

Per ANSI/NISO Z39.104-2022, list the contributor's name followed by their CRediT role(s). Example: "A. Smith — Software". You can add an optional degree qualifier (lead / equal / supporting) when several authors share a role. See CASRAI's author-statement guidance at https://casrai.org/credit/for-authors for templates and worked examples.

What is the canonical machine-readable URI for "Software"?

The canonical URI is https://casrai.org/credit/roles/software. Use this in JATS XML (vocab-term-identifier), Crossref deposits (credit_role), JSON-LD (sameAs), and any system that stores contributor metadata. CASRAI's encoding guides cover JATS, Crossref Schema 5.5, and JSON-LD at https://casrai.org/credit/jats and https://casrai.org/credit/json-ld.

Can one author hold "Software" plus other CRediT roles?

Yes — CRediT roles are not mutually exclusive. A single contributor typically holds 3–4 roles. The optional "lead / equal / supporting" qualifier clarifies the contributor's relative responsibility within each role they share with others.

Cite this role

Cite the Software role

These citations reference this specific role page as a standards-body definition aligned with ANSI/NISO Z39.104-2022. For guidance on citing CRediT generally, the underlying standard, or worked statement examples, see How to cite CRediT.

CASRAI Editorial Board (2026). Software — CRediT contributor role (v2022.1). CASRAI. https://casrai.org/credit/roles/software

CASRAI Editorial Board. Software — CRediT contributor role [Internet]. CASRAI; 2026 [cited 2026]. Version v2022.1. Available from: https://casrai.org/credit/roles/software

CASRAI Editorial Board. 2026. "Software — CRediT contributor role." Version v2022.1. CASRAI. https://casrai.org/credit/roles/software.

@misc{casrai_credit_software_2026,
  author       = {{CASRAI Editorial Board}},
  title        = {{Software — CRediT contributor role}},
  year         = {2026},
  version      = {v2022.1},
  publisher    = {CASRAI},
  howpublished = {\url{https://casrai.org/credit/roles/software}},
  note         = {Aligned with ANSI/NISO Z39.104-2022. Licensed CC-BY 4.0.}
}

Notable examples

Papers exemplifying the Software role

These published papers demonstrate the Software CRediT role in practice. Each example links to its DOI and explains why the role applies.

1. Example 1 of 4

   Basic Local Alignment Search Tool

   Altschul, S. F., Gish, W., Miller, W., Myers, E. W., & Lipman, D. J. · 1990 · Journal of Molecular Biology · vol. 215 · pp. 403-410

   DOI: 10.1016/S0022-2836(05)80360-2

   The BLAST paper bundles methodology and software. Its software contribution — the implementation that turned the heuristic into a usable, fast tool — is what every biologist actually cites. BLAST is the canonical CRediT Software case: programming and implementation of computer code that made an algorithm operational for an entire research community.

2. Example 2 of 4

   TensorFlow: Large-Scale Machine Learning on Heterogeneous Distributed Systems

   Abadi, M., Agarwal, A., Barham, P., Brevdo, E., Chen, Z., Citro, C., et al. · 2016 · arXiv · vol. 1603.04467

   DOI: 10.48550/arXiv.1603.04467

   The TensorFlow white paper describes the design and implementation of an industrial-scale ML framework. Its CRediT profile is overwhelmingly Software: the programming, code design, and implementation of a system that subsequently anchored a generation of ML research. Software contributions like this are core scientific output and CRediT exists in part so they can be properly attributed alongside methodology and conceptualization.

3. Example 3 of 4

   Array Programming with NumPy

   Harris, C. R., Millman, K. J., van der Walt, S. J., Gommers, R., Virtanen, P., Cournapeau, D., et al. · 2020 · Nature · vol. 585 · pp. 357-362

   DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2649-2

   NumPy is the foundation of the scientific Python ecosystem. The paper documents the software design — the n-dimensional array, broadcasting rules, the C-level ABI — and its evolution. The contribution profile of the core authors is dominated by CRediT Software: programming, software development, and testing of code components that underpin much of contemporary computational science.

4. Example 4 of 4

   SciPy 1.0: Fundamental Algorithms for Scientific Computing in Python

   Virtanen, P., Gommers, R., Oliphant, T. E., Haberland, M., Reddy, T., Cournapeau, D., et al. · 2020 · Nature Methods · vol. 17 · pp. 261-272

   DOI: 10.1038/s41592-019-0686-2

   SciPy is a 20-year software project sustained by a distributed contributor community. The Nature Methods paper makes that work formally citable — and its CRediT profile is overwhelmingly Software, with substantial Project Administration and Methodology contributions. It is a paradigm example of why CRediT Software exists as a named role in the taxonomy.

Examples curated by the CASRAI editorial board. Inclusion is illustrative of the role, not an endorsement of methodology or claims. Pre-CRediT-era papers are flagged illustrative.

Translations

Available in

The canonical, normative version of Software is this English page (ANSI/NISO Z39.104-2022). Community-drafted translations are available below for working reference; the English text prevails in case of any divergence.

• English (canonical)en-GB
• Logiciel(Français)fr
• Programación(Español)es
• Software(Português)pt-BR
• 软件(中文)zh
• ソフトウェア(日本語)ja

All translations are community drafts. CRediT has not been officially translated by NISO.

Dictionary

Related CASRAI Dictionary terms

The Software role connects to these CASRAI Dictionary terms — the controlled-vocabulary concepts a contributor in this role typically works with. Each links to its canonical definition with worked examples and machine-readable encodings.

Adoption

Who collects Software — by publisher

The Software role is collected by the major publishers that have adopted CRediT portfolio-wide. See how each implements the taxonomy in their submission systems:

Related

Continue with CRediT