Citation And Attribution

April 20, 2026 ยท View on GitHub

This page explains how we hope people cite and acknowledge AutoFigure.

This document is intentionally gentle:

  • it is a request for fair academic attribution
  • it is not an extra restriction added to the software license
  • it is not legal advice

Short version

If AutoFigure materially helps a paper, report, benchmark write-up, demo, or public figure artifact, please:

  1. cite the AutoFigure paper
  2. disclose meaningful AI assistance honestly
  3. avoid presenting AI-generated figures as fully manual if that would mislead readers

If you only used AutoFigure in a minor operational way, such as launching a local script, browsing files, or testing a setup, citation is usually not necessary.

When we strongly encourage citation

Citation is strongly encouraged when AutoFigure materially contributes to work such as:

  • generating publication figures from text descriptions
  • extracting methodology from papers and producing draft figures
  • iterative figure refinement or evaluation that meaningfully shapes a public artifact
  • benchmarks, demos, or case studies that materially depend on AutoFigure outputs

The practical rule is simple:

  • if AutoFigure changed the substance, speed, or shape of the published figure or research artifact in a meaningful way, please cite it

When citation is usually not necessary

Citation is usually unnecessary when AutoFigure was used only as:

  • a local launcher
  • a terminal convenience layer
  • a setup helper without material figure or research contribution
  • a one-off operational utility

Preferred citation

Paper link:

  • https://openreview.net/forum?id=5N3z9JQJKq

BibTeX:

@inproceedings{
zhu2026autofigure,
title={AutoFigure: Generating and Refining Publication-Ready Scientific Illustrations},
author={Minjun Zhu and Zhen Lin and Yixuan Weng and Panzhong Lu and Qiujie Xie and Yifan Wei and Sifan Liu and Qiyao Sun and Yue Zhang},
booktitle={The Fourteenth International Conference on Learning Representations},
year={2026},
url={https://openreview.net/forum?id=5N3z9JQJKq}
}

Suggested acknowledgment text

If AutoFigure materially assisted the project, a short acknowledgment like the following is usually enough:

We used AutoFigure to assist parts of the figure-generation workflow, including selected drafting, refinement, and/or evaluation of scientific illustrations. Final scientific claims, reported results, and publication decisions remain the responsibility of the human authors.

You can shorten or adapt this wording to match venue norms.

AI assistance disclosure

We strongly encourage clear disclosure when AutoFigure contributed to:

  • figure generation
  • figure drafting or refinement
  • prompt design for published visuals
  • benchmark or demo outputs that showcase generated figures

The disclosure does not need to overstate use. It should simply help readers understand where meaningful AI assistance existed.

FigureBench note

If your public benchmark or dataset usage materially depends on FigureBench, we also encourage citing the FigureBench dataset record used in your work when applicable.

Not a license condition

This citation guidance does not change the repository software license.

In particular:

  • it is not a new license condition
  • it does not terminate your software rights if you forget to cite
  • it is a community and academic attribution request, not a software-usage gate