An environment for sustainable research software in Germany and beyond: Current state, open challenges, and call for action
Creators: name: Anzt, Hartwig
name: Bach, Felix
name: Druskat, Stephan
name: Löffler, Frank
name: Loewe, Axel
name: Renard, Bernhard Y.
name: Seemann, Gunnar
name: Struck, Alexander
name: Achhammer, Elke
name: Aggarwal, Piush
name: Appel, Franziska
name: Bader, Michael
name: Brusch, Lutz
name: Busse, Christian
name: Chourdakis, Gerasimos
name: Dabrowski, Piotr Wojciech
name: Ebert, Peter
name: Flemisch, Bernd
name: Friedl, Sven
name: Fritzsch, Bernadette
name: Funk, Maximilian D.
name: Gast, Volker
name: Goth, Florian
name: Grad, Jean-Noël
name: Hegewald, Jan
name: Hermann, Sibylle
name: Hohmann, Florian
name: Janosch, Stephan
name: Kutra, Dominik
name: Linxweiler, Jan
name: Muth, Thilo
name: Peters-Kottig, Wolfgang
name: Rack, Fabian
name: Raters, Fabian H.C.
name: Rave, Stephan
name: Reina, Guido
name: Reißig, Malte
name: Ropinski, Timo
name: Schaarschmidt, Joerg
name: Seibold, Heidi
name: Thiele, Jan P.
name: Uekermann, Benjamin
name: Unger, Stefan
name: Weeber, Rudolf
Publisher: name: London : F1000 Research Ltd
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: Academic Software
subject: Research Software
subject: Software Infrastructure
subject: Software Licensing
subject: Software Training
subject: Sustainable Software Development
subject: Dewey Decimal Classification::600 | Technik::610 | Medizin, Gesundheit

description: Research software has become a central asset in academic research. It optimizes existing and enables new research methods, implements and embeds research knowledge, and constitutes an essential research product in itself. Research software must be sustainable in order to understand, replicate, reproduce, and build upon existing research or conduct new research effectively. In other words, software must be available, discoverable, usable, and adaptable to new needs, both now and in the future. Research software therefore requires an environment that supports sustainability. Hence, a change is needed in the way research software development and maintenance are currently motivated, incentivized, funded, structurally and infrastructurally supported, and legally treated. Failing to do so will threaten the quality and validity of research. In this paper, we identify challenges for research software sustainability in Germany and beyond, in terms of motivation, selection, research software engineering personnel, funding, infrastructure, and legal aspects. Besides researchers, we specifically address political and academic decision-makers to increase awareness of the importance and needs of sustainable research software practices. In particular, we recommend strategies and measures to create an environment for sustainable research software, with the ultimate goal to ensure that software-driven research is valid, reproducible and sustainable, and that software is recognized as a first class citizen in research. This paper is the outcome of two workshops run in Germany in 2019, at deRSE19 - the first International Conference of Research Software Engineers in Germany - and a dedicated DFG-supported follow-up workshop in Berlin.