diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index b469ba9934..3fa1e6141f 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -2,3 +2,5 @@ Thanks for considering contributing to Janeway!
 
 1. To report a bug please provide as much information as possible on the action you were undertaking. It would be preferable if we could have the stack trace for the error supplied.
 2. To suggest a new feature please describe it as in depth as possible, it will be considered and may be added to a future release of Janeway.
+3. When a commit addresses an issue reported in Github, please add a reference in the commit message (e.g `#123: Fixes 1245`)
+4. When a PR is expected to resolve an issue you can flag it as `closes #123` and the issue will be closed once the PR is merged into the main branch