<i>publCIF</i>: software for editing, validating and formatting crystallographic information files

<jats:p><jats:italic>publCIF</jats:italic>is an application designed for creating, editing and validating crystallographic information files (CIFs) that are used in journal publication. It validates syntax and dictionary-defined data attributes through internal routines, and also provides a web interface to the<jats:italic>checkCIF</jats:italic>service of the International Union of Crystallography (IUCr), which provides a full crystallographic analysis of the structural data. The graphical interface allows users to edit the CIF either in its `raw' ASCII form (using a text editor with context-sensitive data validation and input facilities) or as a formatted representation of a structure report (using a word-processing environment), as well as<jats:italic>via</jats:italic>a number of convenience tools (<jats:italic>e.g.</jats:italic>spreadsheet representations of looped data). Beyond file and data validation,<jats:italic>publCIF</jats:italic>provides access to resources to facilitate preparation of a structure report (<jats:italic>e.g.</jats:italic>databases of author details, experimental data, standard references<jats:italic>etc</jats:italic>., either distributed with the program or collected during its use), along with tools for reference parsing, spell checking, structure visualization and image management.<jats:italic>publCIF</jats:italic>was commissioned by the IUCr, both as free software for authors and as a tool for in-house journal production; the tool for authors is described here. Binary distributions for Linux, MacOS and Windows operating systems are available.</jats:p>