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GSoC @ JabRef e.V.

JabRef's participation in GSoC

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GSoC @ JabRef e.V.

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Introduction

Google Summer of Code is a global, online program that brings new contributors into open source software organizations. See GSoC - how it works

JabRef e.V. has been a Google Summer of Code 2019, 2021, 2022, 2024, and 2025 mentoring organization (completed).

About JabRef

JabRef is a powerful, open source, cross-platform citation and reference management tool designed to help researchers stay organized and efficient. With JabRef, you can effortlessly collect, organize, and manage your literature sources, giving you more time to focus on what truly matters: your research.

By contributing to JabRef, you contribute to advancing global research. Trusted by over 10,000 researchers worldwide, JabRef plays a vital role in shaping the future of academic and scientific discovery. Your skills and creativity can help push the boundaries of what JabRef can achieve.

Built in Java, JabRef is designed with a strong emphasis on high-quality, modern, and maintainable code. As a contributor, you’ll have the opportunity to enhance your technical skills, deepen your understanding of Java development, and learn best practices in open source collaboration. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced developer, working on JabRef will help you grow as a programmer while making a meaningful impact on a tool that supports researchers around the globe.

Want to work with us?

We are passionate about open source and pride ourselves on fostering collaboration within a diverse and inclusive community. JabRef is dedicated to providing a welcoming environment for newcomers to open source, making it an ideal starting point for anyone motivated and eager to contribute. With four successful years of Google Summer of Code (GSoC) participation, we’ve achieved significant milestones in enhancing JabRef as a user-friendly research tool.

Each project has been a meaningful step toward empowering researchers worldwide. As a GSoC participant with JabRef, you’ll have the opportunity to grow your technical skills, coding expertise, and open source experience. Beyond the invaluable learning, participants receive a stipend from Google and gain access to a global professional network that can open doors for their future.

Based on the nature of the project, we are looking for candidates with an interest in research. Are you already drafting a proposal for your PhD thesis? Great! Are you currently pursuing a Master’s degree and still undecided about your next steps? That is also welcome. Even if you are simply exploring research as a possible path, we would be glad to hear from you.

See our project-idea tag. We would love to hear your own ideas as well!

In addition to the Google Summer of Code requirements for a proposal, proposals for JabRef:

  • must be your own work,
  • must show that you are familiar with programming in general and know Java,
  • must show that you also know how to use Git and CLI utils.

We strongly encourage you to contribute to JabRef before GSoC begins or before submitting your proposal. Please take a look at the good first issues and try to solve one or two of them. This will help you become familiar with our codebase, tooling, and contribution workflow. Prior contributions are an important positive signal during proposal evaluation and help us understand how you approach real-world development tasks within the project.

Our final selection decisions are based on a holistic evaluation that includes:

  • the quality and clarity of your final PDF proposal,
  • our interactions with you during the application period, reflecting how you communicate, your level of engagement, and your willingness to learn,
  • and your previous contributions to JabRef, as described above.

Start with our Application for GSoC page.

How to Contribute

Contribution to JabRef is described in our contributing guidelines.

Please read this document thoroughly, as it explains our workflows, coding standards, and review process. Following these guidelines helps avoid common mistakes, makes your contributions easier to review, and ensures that your work integrates smoothly with the project. Students who skip this step often face delays or frustration, so investing a bit of time upfront will save you and the mentors considerable effort.

Getting help

We are happy to support you as you contribute to JabRef or work on your GSoC proposal. JabRef has a large and active community, including maintainers, contributors, and other members, who can provide guidance when needed. Following these practices helps your questions get answered efficiently and keeps the community productive:

  • Be polite and patient. Community members and mentors have their own schedules and may not respond immediately.
  • Check if your question has been asked before and do some research.
  • Provide enough context and details: explain what you tried, what worked or didn’t, and any relevant information.

Depending on the situation:

  • For questions about JabRef in general or about some GSoC project idea: ask publicly, so others can benefit.
  • For questions about your own proposal: ask your possible mentors directly.

Community etiquette

Everyone in the community has to be polite and respectful, and consider everyone else a member of a team and not a competitor.

One should be considerate to everyone else’s time. We would like to have quality discussions, and not answer questions that are already documented, or available on DeepWiki or GitHub. This doesn’t mean you can’t ask questions, but a clueless user and a lazy developer are two different things.

Tell things as you see them. Be polite, but don’t sugar coat it. You don’t have to apologize every time you make a mistake; but avoid repeating it again.

Important Notice about GSoC:

Before the program officially opens for applications, please do not ask questions about GSoC timelines, requirements, or selection processes. These details are not yet finalized, and we cannot provide guidance before the official announcement.

You are, however, encouraged to contribute to JabRef at any time: fix issues, propose ideas, participate in discussions, and explore the codebase. It is also fine to discuss features or technical ideas that may later become GSoC projects, but only as standalone technical discussions — please do not link them to GSoC planning, proposals, or selection questions.

Right fit

When we start interacting with you during the application period, we have several ways to see if you are the right fit; see how you compare to our perfect student;

  • you are patient to apply every suggestion during a pull request review,
  • you care about our project beyond the specific task you are working on; you care about changes to documentation, tests, releases, issues, etc,
  • your conversation with us is more than the topic you are working on, but flows naturally to any topic,
  • you are able to have a proper technical discussion; and understands the value of the discussion in itself,
  • you don’t just say yes and do something because a mentor says so,
  • you are interested in our community and follow our code of conduct and guidelines,
  • you keep working with our community even if you are not accepted,
  • you have contributed to our project before the application period,
  • you can engage in tight feedback loops around design discussions in proposal drafts,
  • you don’t remain ignorant of our software or what our project does,
  • you always write in public, and never write to a mentor in private unless the mentor has asked for that,
  • you work on a project our community needs, regardless of your personal interests,
  • you don’t just fix issues, but you also get involved in other people’s work.

Cheating

When we suspect cheating we are to report it to the GSoC coordinator. We have a list of behaviors we look for. We don’t make that list available.

Your proposal, source code and other submissions must be your own work, and not the work of others. Except where the work of others is minimal, and duly credited and quoted. See Cheating.

We consider mindless usage of AI an attempt to impersonate someone you are not, and classify it as cheating too.

Thanks for reading all the way to the end!

Acknowledgements

This page is heavily inspired by Sugar Lab’s GSoC repository. This page includes text by @quozl from a work-in-progress document shared among mentors of several organizations, titled “Tips for finding the right GSoC student for your org”. Thank you for sharing!

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