How to cite CleanFigure

Citing the tool in your methods or figure legend helps readers reproduce your figures and helps other researchers find it. Replace the access date with the day you made your figure.

Citation

APA

CleanFigure. (2026). CleanFigure: Publication-ready research figures [Web application]. https://cleanfigure.com

Vancouver

CleanFigure: publication-ready research figures [Internet]. 2026 [cited YYYY Mon DD]. Available from: https://cleanfigure.com

BibTeX

@misc{cleanfigure2026,
  title        = {CleanFigure: publication-ready research figures},
  year         = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://cleanfigure.com}},
  note         = {Accessed: YYYY-MM-DD}
}

A DOI for citing a specific version is coming soon.

Suggested methods text

Alluvial diagrams

The alluvial diagram was created with CleanFigure (https://cleanfigure.com).

PRISMA flow diagrams

The study selection process is reported in a PRISMA 2020 flow diagram (Page et al., 2021), created with CleanFigure (https://cleanfigure.com).

Also cite the PRISMA statement, which the flow diagram template is licensed from:

Page MJ, McKenzie JE, Bossuyt PM, et al. The PRISMA 2020 statement: an updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews. BMJ 2021;372:n71. doi:10.1136/bmj.n71

Forest plots and meta-analysis

Effect sizes were pooled using inverse-variance random-effects meta-analysis with the DerSimonian–Laird estimator of between-study variance. Heterogeneity was assessed with the Chi² test and the I² statistic. Forest plots were created with CleanFigure (https://cleanfigure.com).

References for the methods:

DerSimonian R, Laird N. Meta-analysis in clinical trials. Controlled Clinical Trials 1986;7(3):177–188.
Higgins JPT, Thompson SG. Quantifying heterogeneity in a meta-analysis. Statistics in Medicine 2002;21(11):1539–1558.
For standardised mean differences: Hedges LV. Distribution theory for Glass's estimator of effect size and related estimators. Journal of Educational Statistics 1981;6(2):107–128.

If you use the R code exported by a tool, also cite the R packages it uses (ggalluvial or metafor), as shown by citation("package") in R.