As I make progress with my latest paper I wonder how I should/need to cite the fritzing schematics. I experienced that some developers ask to be cited in a specific way when using their software, even if it is a freeware.
As I don’t want to violate anybodys intellectual property or cite the wrong way, my question: Is there a need to cite the fritzing software within my paper if I use a picture of my schematic?
Hello,
If you want to cite Fritzing, there are a couple of academic papers. For example:
A. Knörig, R. Wettach, J. Cohen, Fritzing: A tool for advancing electronic prototyping for designers, in: Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Tangible and Embedded Interaction, 2009, pp. 351–358
I made a simulator which is already available in 0.9.10. I wrote an article about the simulator, which is available here. To cite that one: A. Faiña, Learning Hands-On Electronics from Home: A Simulator for Fritzing, Accepted in 25th International Conference Series on Climbing and Walking Robots (CLAWAR), 2022.
However, if you are just showing a diagram made in Fritzing: I would not cite Fritzing. If you want to be nice, you could write “schematic made in Fritzing”. Or use an image with the Fritzing logo.
From the FAQ:
“What about the circuits that I created with Fritzing?
First of all, you can do whatever you want with them. Only when you decide to publish images of the breadboard view on a website or in a book, we ask you to attribute us. Attribution can be as simple as “this image was created with Fritzing.” And if you think it turned out particularly nice, drop us a link/copy!”
So, only breadboard view images need attribution to comply with the copyright.
