diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 76fa52b..5ebfa83 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -285,6 +285,8 @@ Issue and pull request templates are reported under `resources.templates` so tha
 
 When the citation file is a `CITATION.cff`, `resources.citation` also contains its title, authors, release, identifiers, and preferred citation. The existing `resources.metadata.citation` path is preserved. Human and Markdown output include a short citation summary; `--verbose` adds affiliations, repository URLs, licenses, keywords, and the abstract. Licenses declared in CFF are reported separately from the detected repository license.
 
+Citation discovery checks the repository root before `inst/`, the conventional R package location. An R-format `inst/CITATION` is reported by path under `resources.metadata.citation`.
+
 When the citation file is `CITATION.bib`, `resources.bibtex` lists its entries with type, key, title, authors, year, DOI, URL, version, journal or booktitle, publisher, volume, number, pages, eprint and source line. A `CITATION`, `CITATION.md` or `CITATION.txt` file is reported the same way when it contains a BibTeX entry. BibTeX entries in the README, whether in fenced code blocks, reStructuredText code directives or plain text, are reported in `resources.readme_bibtex`. Values are converted from TeX to plain Unicode, and author names are split into given names, particle, family names and suffix using BibTeX's rules, with braced organisation names reported as `name`. Malformed entries produce diagnostics with line and column and the rest of the file is still read. Human and Markdown output show the first entry of each source; `--verbose` lists every entry.
 
 When a project contains `codemeta.json`, `resources.codemeta` contains its name, description, software version, repository, licenses, keywords, programming languages, authors, CodeMeta context version, and validation diagnostics. The existing `resources.metadata.codemeta` path is preserved. Human and Markdown output show a short summary; `--verbose` adds the remaining extracted fields.
diff --git a/cmd/brief/citation_test.go b/cmd/brief/citation_test.go
index 2660f81..63885e2 100644
--- a/cmd/brief/citation_test.go
+++ b/cmd/brief/citation_test.go
@@ -58,6 +58,36 @@ func TestCitationCLI(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestCitationCLIInst(t *testing.T) {
+	root, err := filepath.Abs("../../testdata/r-citation-project")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	var report brief.Report
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(citationCLI(t, root, "--json"), &report); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if report.Resources == nil || report.Resources.Metadata["citation"] != "inst/CITATION" {
+		t.Fatalf("R citation path missing: %+v", report.Resources)
+	}
+	if report.Resources.Citation != nil || report.Resources.BibTeX != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("R citation treated as CFF or BibTeX: %+v", report.Resources)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestCitationCLIInstSkipped(t *testing.T) {
+	root := t.TempDir()
+	writeScanFixture(t, root, "README.md", "# Example R package\n")
+	writeScanFixture(t, root, "inst/CITATION", "bibentry(bibtype = \"Article\", title = \"Example\")\n")
+	var report brief.Report
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(citationCLI(t, root, "--json --skip inst"), &report); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if report.Resources != nil && report.Resources.Metadata["citation"] != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("skipped citation reported: %+v", report.Resources)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestCitationCLISchema(t *testing.T) {
 	root := t.TempDir()
 	var schema struct {
diff --git a/cmd/brief/resources_test.go b/cmd/brief/resources_test.go
index e188a46..7d0ac11 100644
--- a/cmd/brief/resources_test.go
+++ b/cmd/brief/resources_test.go
@@ -53,6 +53,10 @@ func TestScanResourceVariants(t *testing.T) {
 		{"accessibility similar names", []string{"ACCESSIBILITY.md.bak", "docs/Accessibility-Testing.md"}, "community", "accessibility", ""},
 		{"accessibility unrelated directory", []string{"src/ACCESSIBILITY.md"}, "community", "accessibility", ""},
 		{"accessibility absent", nil, "community", "accessibility", ""},
+		{"citation inst mixed case", []string{"inst/Citation.txt"}, "metadata", "citation", "inst/Citation.txt"},
+		{"citation root precedence", []string{"CITATION.txt", "inst/CITATION.cff"}, "metadata", "citation", "CITATION.txt"},
+		{"citation inst similar names", []string{"inst/CITATION.bak", "inst/CITATIONS", "inst/CITATION-guide.md"}, "metadata", "citation", ""},
+		{"citation unrelated directory", []string{"src/CITATION", "inst/doc/CITATION"}, "metadata", "citation", ""},
 	} {
 		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
 			root := t.TempDir()
diff --git a/knowledge/_shared/_resources.toml b/knowledge/_shared/_resources.toml
index 515d41a..0917dbc 100644
--- a/knowledge/_shared/_resources.toml
+++ b/knowledge/_shared/_resources.toml
@@ -182,6 +182,7 @@ name = "Citation"
 field = "citation"
 group = "metadata"
 patterns = ["citation.cff", "citation", "citation.bib", "citation.md", "citation.txt"]
+dirs = ["inst"]
 
 [[resources]]
 [resources.resource]
diff --git a/testdata/r-citation-project/DESCRIPTION b/testdata/r-citation-project/DESCRIPTION
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b6a59d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testdata/r-citation-project/DESCRIPTION
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+Package: example
+Title: Example Research Package
+Version: 0.1.0
+Description: An example R package with citation instructions.
+License: MIT
diff --git a/testdata/r-citation-project/inst/CITATION b/testdata/r-citation-project/inst/CITATION
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5dc2968
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testdata/r-citation-project/inst/CITATION
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+bibentry(
+    bibtype = "Article",
+    title = "An Example Research Method",
+    author = person("Alice", "Example"),
+    journal = "Example Journal",
+    year = "2024",
+    doi = "10.1234/example"
+)