How to Cite BioRender, Icons & Images in Your Paper

Using a tool or an icon library to build your figure is fine — but most come with licensing conditions, and getting attribution wrong can cause editorial headaches or even copyright problems. This guide explains how to cite and attribute the assets you use, from BioRender to Creative Commons icons, and how to keep a clean record.

Why attribution matters

Figures are part of the published record, and the icons, templates, and software you use to make them carry licences. Honouring those licences keeps you legally clear, respects the creators, and avoids awkward corrections. It takes a couple of minutes if you track it as you go and becomes painful only if you try to reconstruct it later.

Citing BioRender

BioRender requires a publication licence for any figure you use in a paper, generated through your (paid) account, plus a credit line — typically "Created in BioRender" with a link, placed in the figure legend or acknowledgements per the journal's style. Remember the free tier does not grant publication rights, so generate the licence before submitting.

Citing Creative Commons icons and images

Open libraries use different Creative Commons licences, and the requirement depends on which: CC0 needs no attribution at all; CC BY requires you to credit the creator, the work's title, the licence type, and ideally a link; some licences add non-commercial or share-alike conditions. Put the attribution in the figure legend or a dedicated acknowledgements line, and never assume "free" means "no conditions."

Citing software

It is good practice (and sometimes required) to mention the software used to create figures in your methods — for example, "Figures were created in Blender" or Inkscape, ChimeraX, and so on. Some tools request a specific citation; check their website. This also strengthens reproducibility.

Keep an attribution log

As you build a figure, keep a simple list: each asset, where it came from, its licence, and the attribution text required. When you assemble the final figure and write the legend, you can paste the credits in one go. This habit prevents the last-minute scramble of trying to remember which icon came from where.

When in doubt

Read the specific licence for each asset, follow your target journal's style for where credits go, and if a licence is unclear or restricts commercial use, choose a clearly-licensed alternative instead. The open-licence libraries in our free resources guide all state their licences clearly, which makes attribution straightforward.

Related reading: Best Free Scientific Illustration Resources and Figure Integrity: How to Avoid Image Manipulation.