Open Research Software and Open Source

Open research software, or open-source research software, refers to the use and development of software for analysis, simulation, visualization, etc. where the full source code is available. In addition, according to the Open Source Definition, open-source software must be distributed in source and/or compiled form (with the source code available in the latter case), and must be shared under a licence that allows modification, derivation, and redistribution.

Open up your source code

There are many compelling reasons to open up your source code, irrespective of whether you are a Postgraduate Researchers or the PI of a large grant.

  • If you are the PI of a large grant, you are probably handling tax payers’ money anyway, so returning value to them is a moral obligation which makes being open and honest with your results an ethical necessity of sorts.
  • Once your paper is accepted, it faces competition from hundreds of thousands of papers that are published around the same time in the same field. To make it stand out, you have to pay attention to the ecosystem around your research. Part of it is the ease of building on your results.
  • The easier it is for someone else to build on your results, the more impact the paper will have.
Ulster University image

How to open your source code

GitHub is a popular tool that allows version control: management and overall tracking of changes in a particular piece of software.  Services such as GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, and others provide an interface to the tool as well as remote storage services that can be used to maintain, share, and collaborate on research software.  Publicly shared software is not actually open source unless accompanied by a suitable licence, because by default software (along with any other creative work) falls under exclusive copyright to the creators, meaning no one else can use, copy, distribute, or modify your work.  For more information read the discussion on Licenses and Copyright.

Would you like to hear of experiences of other researchers in opening their code and software?

The UK Reproducibility Network have produced a video of members of the network sharing their experiences of open code and open software.  Watch the video for a useful introduction to open code and software and a discussion of the benefits, infrastructure and future and cultural change.

Further Resources on open code and software

Open Code and Software: a Primer from UKRN lists some general resources that may be of help to opening your code and software. The primer provides details of a number of popular systems for developing open code and creating a community of users.