> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.sharly.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Citing Sharly

> How to cite Sharly AI in your paper and disclose its use, with APA, BibTeX and the DOI.

Sharly is a research instrument, not a source. Cite it when it did work you report in your methods — screening literature, extracting data, content analysis in a review. Cite the documents you read, not Sharly, for the findings themselves.

## Cite Sharly

```text APA (7th ed.) wrap theme={null}
Macario, S. (2026). Sharly AI: an AI research assistant for source-grounded document analysis (Technical note, software version 2026.09). VOX AI Inc. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22803980
```

```bibtex BibTeX theme={null}
@techreport{macario_2026_sharly,
  author      = {Macario, Simone},
  title       = {Sharly AI: an AI research assistant for source-grounded document analysis},
  institution = {VOX AI Inc.},
  year        = {2026},
  type        = {Technical note},
  note        = {Software version 2026.09},
  doi         = {10.5281/zenodo.22803980},
  url         = {https://sharly.ai}
}
```

* In text: (Macario, 2026) · Sharly AI (Macario, 2026)
* The DOI above always resolves to the latest version of the note. To cite the exact version you used: [https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22803981](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22803981) (version 2026.09).
* The citation file for Zotero, Mendeley and EndNote is on the [citation page](https://sharly.ai/cite).

## Disclose your use of Sharly

Most journals and universities require authors to declare any use of AI tools. Adapt one of these two sentences; record the software version shown in the app.

```text Methods section wrap theme={null}
Documents were analysed with Sharly AI (VOX AI Inc., version 2026.09; Macario, 2026), which answers from passages retrieved from the uploaded documents and shows the source excerpt and page. All extracted statements were verified against the original sources.
```

```text AI-use statement wrap theme={null}
Sharly AI (VOX AI Inc.; Macario, 2026) was used to [summarise and cross-check sources] during this work. All citations were verified, and the author(s) take full responsibility for the content.
```

## Verify before you publish

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the cited excerpt and read the surrounding passage in the original document." />

  <Step title="Confirm that the passage supports the statement as you have worded it." />

  <Step title="Cite the original document, not Sharly, for the finding." />

  <Step title="Record the software version and the date you used." />

  <Step title="Disclose the use of the tool with one of the sentences above." />
</Steps>

A statement with no citation in Sharly is unsupported until you have located it in the source.

## Frequently asked

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Can I cite an AI tool?">
    Yes, as an instrument, the way you cite VOSviewer, NVivo or SPSS. Not as an author, and not as a source of facts.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Do journals allow this?">
    Most now require it. COPE and ICMJE state that AI tools cannot be listed as authors and that their use must be disclosed. The sentences above are written for that.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Which version should I cite?">
    The DOI above resolves to the latest version of the note. If your work depends on the exact behaviour you used, cite that version's DOI from the Zenodo record.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Is Sharly a source?">
    No. Sharly finds and extracts what your documents say. You verify the passage and cite the document.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## The technical note

The technical note describes Sharly as a research instrument: what it accepts, how documents are processed, how answers and citations are produced, the research workflows it supports, and its limitations. Reviewers and librarians can check it.

<Card title="Technical note on Zenodo" icon="file-lines" href="https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22803980">
  Macario, S. (2026). Technical note, software version 2026.09. CC BY 4.0.
</Card>

Eighteen published works from 2024 to 2026 refer to Sharly; the list is on the [citation page](https://sharly.ai/cite).