Open Research Software

What is open research software?

We’re mainly talking about open-source software, which fits into the wider open research agenda, including:

• open source code
• open data
• open access publications

In each of these cases, “open” means:

• publicly available
• with an open license, means you are free to:
  • use
  • share, distribute
  • modify
• and typically mean that you must:
  • acknowledge
  • make any modifications freely available too

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Why write and publish open research software?

It’s good practice 21st century science:

New demo: finding stop #hotspots in urban street networkshttps://t.co/CAFeKmZ47O#MovingPandas meets #OSMnx & #PySAL Spaghetti

Hat tips to @gboeing, @sreyog, @darribas, jGaboardi pic.twitter.com/nKFdGdyLo1

— Anita Graser (@underdarkGIS) October 11, 2020

More examples of how Science should be in the XXI Century: get a paper out, add a Github repo w/ all the stuff that went into it. The paper is the sales pitch, the real stuff happens in code! https://t.co/mIHnmuImbH

— Dani Arribas-Bel (@darribas) October 12, 2020

After 2 years in review + 4 sets of revisions for 2 journals, this paper on #openaccess transport models is finally published 🎉

Paper (open access): https://t.co/Zm8Qq8uHiV
Case study: https://t.co/xvJ6uAcrVN
Conclusion: publicly funded models should be accessible + open pic.twitter.com/4n9mZ16Zas

— Robin Lovelace (@robinlovelace) October 14, 2020

Research software is a public good - especially if publicly funded:

research data is a public good produced in the public interest and should be made freely and openly available with as few restrictions as possible in a timely and responsible manner

— Guide to EPSRC policy, Software Sustainability Institute

Potentially enabling better science and policy:

• open data and open code is available for scrutiny
• “many eyes make all bugs shallow”
• leverage point in planning systems (Lovelace et al 2020)

Collaboration and credit:

• get credit, and credit contributors
• avoid reinventing wheels - use open libraries
• enable collaboration - contribute/receive contributions

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How to write, publish and maintain open research software

Practical level

• Get started with GitHub
• Choose a license

Make code citable

• Software archive with DOI
• Software journals

Overview of Good-enough practices

• write a README, document the “why”
• make the license explicit
• keep track of changes in version control
• use version numbers to communicate bigger changes
• be ready to deprecate or mark it as “done”