Citations & References

The bibtex entries for PyAutoLens and its affiliated software packages can be found here, with example text for citing PyAutoLens in .tex format here format here and .md format here. As shown in the examples, we would greatly appreciate it if you mention PyAutoLens by name and include a link to our GitHub page!

PyAutoLens is published in the Journal of Open Source Software and its entry in the above .bib file is under the citation key pyautolens. Please also cite the MNRAS AutoLens papers (https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/452/3/2940/1749640 and https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article-abstract/478/4/4738/5001434?redirectedFrom=fulltext) which are included under the citation keys Nightingale2015 and Nightingale2018.

You should also specify the non-linear search(es) you use in your analysis (e.g. Dynesty, Emcee, PySwarms, etc) in the main body of text, and delete as appropriate any packages your analysis did not use. The citations.bib file includes the citation key for all of these projects.

Jax-Zero-Contour

If you use the zero-contour method for critical curve and caustic computation (the default in visualize/general.yaml via critical_curves_method: zero_contour), please cite the Jax-Zero-Contour package by Coleman Krawczyk:

@software{coleman_krawczyk_2025_15730415,
  author       = {Coleman Krawczyk},
  title        = {CKrawczyk/Jax-Zero-Contour: Version 2.0.0},
  month        = jun,
  year         = 2025,
  publisher    = {Zenodo},
  version      = {v2.0.0},
  doi          = {10.5281/zenodo.15730415},
  url          = {https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15730415},
}

The package is available at https://github.com/CKrawczyk/Jax-Zero-Contour and archived at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15730415.

NUFFTax

If you fit interferometer datasets on the JAX path, the non-uniform FFT is performed by nufftax, a pure-JAX NUFFT implementation by the GragasLab team. Please cite the package:

@software{nufftax,
  author = {Gragas and Oudoumanessah, Geoffroy and Iollo, Jacopo},
  title  = {nufftax: Pure JAX implementation of the Non-Uniform Fast Fourier Transform},
  url    = {https://github.com/GragasLab/nufftax},
  year   = {2026},
}

nufftax’s algorithm is based on FINUFFT (Flatiron Institute); the upstream paper should also be cited:

@article{finufft,
  author  = {Barnett, Alexander H. and Magland, Jeremy F. and af Klinteberg, Ludvig},
  title   = {A parallel non-uniform fast Fourier transform library based on an
             'exponential of semicircle' kernel},
  journal = {SIAM J. Sci. Comput.},
  volume  = {41},
  number  = {5},
  pages   = {C479--C504},
  year    = {2019},
}

The package is available at https://github.com/GragasLab/nufftax.

Dynesty

If you used the nested sampling algorithm Dynesty, please follow the citation instructions on the dynesty readthedocs.

Mass Models

If you use decomposed mass models (e.g. stellar mass models like an Sersic or dark matter models like an NFW) please cite the following paper https://arxiv.org/abs/2106.11464 under citation key Oguri2021. Our deflection angle calculations are based on this method.

If you specifically use a decomposed mass model with the gNFW please cite the following paper https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/488/1/1387/5526256 under citation key Anowar2019.

Science Papers

The citations.bib file above also includes my work on using strong lensing to study galaxy structure. If you’re feeling kind, please go ahead and stick a citation in your introduction using citep{Nightingale2019} or [@Nightingale2019] ;).