diff --git a/CITATION.cff b/CITATION.cff
new file mode 100644
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/CITATION.cff
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+cff-version: 1.2.0
+message: "If you use GRADE in your research, please cite it as below."
+type: software
+title: "GRADE: Grounded Reasoning & Analysis for Data in Education"
+abstract: >
+  GRADE is an open benchmark that measures how accurately and usefully AI
+  systems analyze education program data. It evaluates models across five
+  tracks — grounded retrieval, trend interpretation, operational coaching,
+  equity and subgroup analysis, and research reasoning — using synthetic
+  fixture packs with deterministic ground truth. Scoring combines
+  deterministic fact-checking with cross-family LLM judging to eliminate
+  house-style bias.
+authors:
+  - name: "Pearl"
+    website: "https://tutorwithpearl.com"
+repository-code: "https://github.com/PearlEng/grade"
+url: "https://tutorwithpearl.com"
+license: Apache-2.0
+version: "0.1.0"
+date-released: "2026-06-12"
+keywords:
+  - benchmark
+  - education
+  - llm-evaluation
+  - ai-evaluation
+  - nlp
+  - grounding
+  - education-analytics
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
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--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -223,6 +223,40 @@ If you're a researcher, AI developer, or education technologist and want to disc
 
 ---
 
+## Citing GRADE
+
+If you use GRADE in your research, please cite the repository:
+
+```bibtex
+@software{pearl2026grade,
+  author       = {Pearl},
+  title        = {{GRADE}: Grounded Reasoning \& Analysis for Data in Education},
+  year         = {2026},
+  publisher    = {GitHub},
+  version      = {0.1.0},
+  url          = {https://github.com/PearlEng/grade},
+  note         = {Open benchmark for AI evaluation in education analytics}
+}
+```
+
+A Zenodo DOI for stable versioned citation will be added at the v0.1.0 release. Once available, prefer the DOI-based entry:
+
+```bibtex
+@software{pearl2026grade,
+  author       = {Pearl},
+  title        = {{GRADE}: Grounded Reasoning \& Analysis for Data in Education},
+  year         = {2026},
+  publisher    = {Zenodo},
+  version      = {0.1.0},
+  doi          = {10.5281/zenodo.XXXXXXX},
+  url          = {https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.XXXXXXX}
+}
+```
+
+GitHub also provides a formatted citation via the **Cite this repository** button in the sidebar (powered by [`CITATION.cff`](CITATION.cff)).
+
+---
+
 ## License
 
 Apache 2.0. See [LICENSE](LICENSE).