Become a Contributor
From writing new functions to finding bugs in the code, contributors across the world help make PlantCV better, building tools for themselves and for the scientific community.
PlantCV thrives on community contributions, and we welcome a wide range of materials from developers, researchers, and plant scientists. Your contributions not only enhance the functionality of PlantCV but also provide valuable resources to the plant phenotyping community. If you are interested in contributing to PlantCV, please see:
Getting Started as a Contributor
Check our Contribution Guide for detailed instructions.
Browse open issues on our GitHub repository to find tasks that match your interests and skills.
Join our community discussions to share ideas and get feedback.
Submit a pull request with your contribution.
Remember, contributions of all sizes are valuable. Whether you are fixing a typo in the documentation or developing a complex new module, your input helps make PlantCV a more robust and useful tool for the entire plant science community.
Types of Contributions
Code: New analysis modules, improvements to existing functions, or bug fixes.
Documentation: Enhancements to user guides, tutorials, or API documentation.
Example Notebooks: Jupyter notebooks demonstrating specific use cases or workflows.
Test Data: Sample images or datasets for testing and validating PlantCV functions.
User Cases: Descriptions of how you’ve applied PlantCV in your research.
Tutorials: Step-by-step guides for specific analyses or experimental setups.
Translations: Help make PlantCV documentation accessible to individuals
Why Contribute?
Contributing to PlantCV offers numerous benefits:
Gain Visibility: Showcase your work to a broad audience of plant scientists and developers.
Demonstrate New Tools: Use PlantCV as a platform to introduce and validate new analysis techniques.
Enhance Your Skills: Improve your programming, documentation, and collaboration abilities.
Shape Your Skills: Influence the direction of plant phenotyping software development.
Build Your Network: Connect with other researchers and developers in the field.
Improve Reproducibility: Help standardize plant phenotyping methods across the community.
Career Development: Contributions to open-source projects are increasingly valued in academic and industry settings.
Referencing your Contributions to PlantCV
If you have contributed to PlantCV, we strongly encourage you to highlight your involvement in your professional documents and publications. Here is how you can reference your contributions:
Linking Your GitHub Username
All contributors to PlantCV are recognized in our Contributors section on GitHub. To ensure your contributions are properly attributed:
Visit the PlantCV Contributors page.
Locate your GitHub username in the list of contributors.
In your CV, resume, or professional profiles, you can link directly to this section and highlight your specific contributions with your username.
Example:
“Contributor PlantCV, an open-source plant phenotyping software package. [Link to Contributors section]
Citing Your PlantCV-related Publications
If you have authored or co-authored publications related to PlantCV:
Cite these publications in your work as you would any other academic reference.
When describing your role in PlantCV development, mention both your code contributions and related publications.
Example:
“Contributed to PlantCV development, including [specific feature or module]. This work resulted in [Publication Citation].
In Grant Applications and Reports
When referencing your PlantCV contributions in grant applications or reports:
Describe your specific contributions to the project.
Link to your GitHub profile and the PlantCV Contributors page.
Cite any relevant publications.
Highlight the impact of your contributions on the broader scientific community.
By properly referencing your contributions, you not only showcase your work but also help demonstrate the collaborative nature and broad impact of the PlantCV project.