A sustainable infrastructure concept for improved accessibility, reusability, and archival of research software
Research software is an integral part of most research today and it is widely accepted that research software artifacts should be accessible and reproducible. However, the sustainable archival of research software artifacts is an ongoing effort. We identify research software artifacts as snapshots o...
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Main Authors | , , , , , , , , |
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Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
26.01.2023
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Research software is an integral part of most research today and it is widely
accepted that research software artifacts should be accessible and
reproducible. However, the sustainable archival of research software artifacts
is an ongoing effort. We identify research software artifacts as snapshots of
the current state of research and an integral part of a sustainable cycle of
software development, research, and publication. We develop requirements and
recommendations to improve the archival, access, and reuse of research software
artifacts based on installable, configurable, extensible research software, and
sustainable public open-access infrastructure. The described goal is to enable
the reuse and exploration of research software beyond published research
results, in parallel with reproducibility efforts, and in line with the FAIR
principles for data and software. Research software artifacts can be reused in
varying scenarios. To this end, we design a multi-modal representation concept
supporting multiple reuse scenarios. We identify types of research software
artifacts that can be viewed as different modes of the same software-based
research result, for example, installation-free configurable browser-based apps
to containerized environments, descriptions in journal publications and
software documentation, or source code with installation instructions. We
discuss how the sustainability and reuse of research software are enhanced or
enabled by a suitable archive infrastructure. Finally, at the example of a
pilot project at the University of Stuttgart, Germany -- a collaborative effort
between research software developers and infrastructure providers -- we outline
practical challenges and experiences |
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DOI: | 10.48550/arxiv.2301.12830 |