Software Best Practices

To raise the quality and sustainability of research software

This study will promote the production, adopting, promoting and measuring information standards and best practices applied to software development life cycle. We have published four simple recommendations to encourage best practices in research software and the Top 10 metrics for life science software good practices. 

The next steps are to:

• Adopt, promote, and recognise these practices, by developing guidelines to help software developers to adopt and comply with the 4OSS recommendations
• Train and promote software best practices and the 4OSS
• Measure, recognise and  visualise adoption (longer term aim)
• To develop a software management plan template, connected to a concise description of the guidelines for open research software.
• Produce a white paper for the software development management plan for ELIXIR which can be consequently used to produce training material.
• We will work with the newly formed  ReSA (Research Software Alliance ) to facilitate adoption of this plan to the wider community.