F1000Research
F1000Research
5 years ago

Four simple recommendations to encourage best practices in research software [version 1; referees: 2 approved]

Alejandra Gonzalez-Beltran, Horst Pichler, Yasset Perez-Riverol, Leyla Garcia, Björn Grüning, Allegra Via, Maria V. Schneider, Jon Ison, Bérénice Batut, David Mellor, Federico López Gómez, Martin Cook, Nathan S. Watson-Haigh, Victoria Stodden, Josep Ll. Gelpí, Petr Holub, Simon Gladman, Monther Alhamdoosh, Harry-Anton Talvik, Xiaochuan Wang, Mikael Borg, Philippa C. Griffin, Sonika Tyagi, Andrew Treloar, Montserrat González Ferreiro, Carole Goble, Radka Svobodová Vařeková, Ferran Sanz, Robert Pergl, Daniel S. Katz, Bernard Pope, Neil Chue Hong, Mateusz Kuzak, Michelle Barker, Brane Leskošek, Rob Hooft, Radosław Suchecki, Ilian Todorov, Salvador Capella-Gutierrez, Luis J. Oliveira, Maarten van Gompel, Jonas Hagberg, Rafael C. Jiménez, Daniel Vaughan, Madison Flannery, Steve Crouch, Rowland Mosbergen, Manuel Corpas, Nicola Mulder
Scientific research relies on computer software, yet software is not always developed following practices that ensure its quality and sustainability. This manuscript does not aim to propose new software development best practices, but rather to provide simple recommendations that encourage the adoption of existing best practices. Software development best practices promote better quality software, and better quality software improves the reproducibility and reusability of research. These recommendations are designed around Open Source values, and provide practical suggestions that contribute to making research software and its source code more discoverable, reusable and transparent. This manuscript is aimed at developers, but also at organisations, projects, journals and funders that can increase the quality and sustainability of research software by encouraging the adoption of these recommendations.

Publisher URL: https://f1000research.com/articles/6-876/v1

DOI: 10.12688/f1000research.11407.1

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