diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
index 5e2fdd8a..d5286f63 100644
--- a/.pre-commit-config.yaml
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -26,3 +26,8 @@ repos:
     rev: "2.2.4"
     hooks:
       - id: pyproject-fmt
+  # validates CITATION.cff file formatting expecations
+  - repo: https://github.com/citation-file-format/cffconvert
+    rev: b6045d78aac9e02b039703b030588d54d53262ac
+    hooks:
+      - id: validate-cff
diff --git a/CITATION.cff b/CITATION.cff
index be0a6e61..485fa641 100644
--- a/CITATION.cff
+++ b/CITATION.cff
@@ -86,6 +86,6 @@ authors:
 title: "Reproducible image-based profiling with Pycytominer"
 # This version is updated using `cz bump` command
 version: "1.2.0"
-license: BSD 3-Clause License
+license: BSD-3-Clause
 repository-code: "https://github.com/cytomining/pycytominer"
 doi: 10.48550/arXiv.2311.13417