FAIR Research Software:
A road towards open & sustainable research


Dr David Wilby (he/him)
RSE Team, The University of Sheffield
rse.shef.ac.uk | davidwilby.dev


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FAIR Research Software:
A road towards open & sustainable research

Who am I?

And why should I be talking about this?

Wilby & Roberts (2017) J. Exp. Bio.

I’ve made all the mistakes

Wilby et al. J. R. Soc. Interface (2015) doi:10.1098/rsif.2015.0591
  • ☠️ No code whatsoever, just equations
  • ☠️ Some supplementary data in some unknown format..
  • 😲 Some data shared

Wilby & Roberts J. Exp. Biol (2017) doi:10.1242/jeb.152918
  • ☠️ No code whatsoever, just equations

    • and bespoke code written in MATLAB (v8.3; MathWorks, Natick, MA, USA). 🤦

  • ☠️ No data shared at all

How do we do better?

What is software?

https://twitter.com/DrDavidWilby/status/1542047893510656000

and “Research Software”?

“source code files, algorithms, scripts, computational workflows and executables that were created during the research process or for a research purpose.”

Barker et al. Scientific Data 9:622 (2022) “Introducing the FAIR Principles for research software” DOI: 10.1038/s41597-022-01710-x

Research software is important

Do you use research software?

How important is research software to your work?

1 “Not at all”, to 5 “Vital”

Bob Turner & Paul Richmond, University of Sheffield RSE Team github.com/RSE-Sheffield/sssurvey rse.shef.ac.uk/sssurvey

Do you develop software as part of your research?

Bob Turner & Paul Richmond, University of Sheffield RSE Team github.com/RSE-Sheffield/sssurvey rse.shef.ac.uk/sssurvey

The Turing Way project illustration by Scriberia. Used under a CC-BY 4.0 licence. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3332807

Findable

Software, and its associated metadata, is easy for both humans and machines to find.

  1. Software is assigned a globally unique and persistent identifier
    1. Components of the software representing levels of granularity are assigned distinct identifiers.
    2. Different versions of the software are assigned distinct identifiers.
  2. Software is described with rich metadata.
  3. Metadata clearly and explicitly include the identifier of the software they describe.
  4. Metadata are FAIR, searchable and indexable.

Barker et al. Scientific Data 9:622 (2022) “Introducing the FAIR Principles for research software” DOI: 10.1038/s41597-022-01710-x

Findable

Software, and its associated metadata, is easy for both humans and machines to find.

  1. Software is assigned a globally unique and persistent identifier
    1. Components of the software representing levels of granularity are assigned distinct identifiers.
    2. Different versions of the software are assigned distinct identifiers.
  2. Software is described with rich metadata.
  3. Metadata clearly and explicitly include the identifier of the software they describe.
  4. Metadata are FAIR, searchable and indexable.

Barker et al. Scientific Data 9:622 (2022) “Introducing the FAIR Principles for research software” DOI: 10.1038/s41597-022-01710-x

Photo by Andriyko Podilnyk on Unsplash

Accessible

Software, and its metadata, is retrievable via standardised protocols.

  1. Software is retrievable by its identifier using a standardised communications protocol.
    1. The protocol is open, free, and universally implementable.
    2. The protocol allows for an authentication and authorization procedure, where necessary.
  2. Metadata are accessible, even when the software is no longer available.

Barker et al. Scientific Data 9:622 (2022) “Introducing the FAIR Principles for research software” DOI: 10.1038/s41597-022-01710-x

Photo by Jonatan Pie on Unsplash

Interoperable

Software interoperates with other software by exchanging data and/or metadata, and/or through interaction via application programming interfaces (APIs), described through standards.

  1. Software reads, writes and exchanges data in a way that meets domain-relevant community standards.
  2. Software includes qualified references to other objects.

Barker et al. Scientific Data 9:622 (2022) “Introducing the FAIR Principles for research software” DOI: 10.1038/s41597-022-01710-x

Photo by Sebastian Latorre on Unsplash

Reusable

Software is both usable (can be executed) and reusable (can be understood, modified, built upon, or incorporated into other software).

  1. Software is described with a plurality of accurate and relevant attributes.
    1. Software is given a clear and accessible license.
    2. Software is associated with detailed provenance.
  2. Software includes qualified references to other software.
  3. Software meets domain-relevant community standards.

Barker et al. Scientific Data 9:622 (2022) “Introducing the FAIR Principles for research software” DOI: 10.1038/s41597-022-01710-x

Photo by Karsten Winegeart on Unsplash

FAIR4RS4Humans

  • Put your code out in the open
  • Include metadata
  • Use non-proprietary tools/formats
  • Create persistent identifiers (eg DOIs)
  • Design code to be sustainable and reproducible

Also see: fair-software.eu 🔥

Why?

We aspire to open research culture that values a diverse range of contributions and adheres to the FAIR principles to enable the results of our research to be of maximum benefit to society (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable), whilst also respecting circumstances that limit data sharing (for example, due to issues of privacy, non-consent, contractual agreements, legislation or practicality).

University of Sheffield, Statement on Open Research

https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/openresearch/university-statement-open-research

Why?

Better Science through Better Data 2017 (#scidata17) scribe images. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.5558653.v1

  • Accelerate research
  • Increase citation
  • Reduce duplication of effort
  • Transparency - easier finding of errors

Barriers to FAIR4RS

  • fear of prejudice
    • important to create a positive culture
  • fear of ‘theft’
    • licensing and citation
  • technical and time barriers
    • support is available!
    • only need to learn once
  • non-commercialisable?
    • open source and commercialisation are compatible
    • greater impact through open source

Better Science through Better Data 2017 (#scidata17) scribe images. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.5558653.v1

Resources & References

How do we do it?…

slides: davidwilby.dev/opensourcefair4rs - improve this talk! github.com/davidwilby/opensourcefair4rs