Find and use open research software

As a researcher, you will likely use a range of tools and software programs to complete your research. You may need to investigate appropriate software to support your research, evaluate or even create software from scratch.

Research software

Research software are tools that can help you to conduct research and analysis, and software generated by researchers during the research process. Research software can be defined as: 

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

Defining Research Software: a controversial discussion

Research software includes:

  • integral software products
  • custom algorithms or software
  • source code of the software described in a manuscript
    • code that integrates with and builds on existing software
    • scripts that automate the execution of a series of tasks in a given run-time environment
  • executables, models, workflows or containers
  • software services.

Open-source and proprietary software

Software can be open source or proprietary. Open-source software allows you to:

  • use software, usually at no cost
  • study the code
  • modify the software
  • redistribute modified versions of the software.

It’s important to understand the key differences when considering open software for your research.

Proprietary software 

  • No access to source code.
  • More costly purchase or subscription
  • Request changes from the developer
  • Can be more user-friendly
  • More stable, ongoing defined support and maintenance

Open-source software 

  • Accessible source code
  • Lower cost or free
  • Permission to customise code in line with software license
  • Can be less user-friendly
  • May not be well supported or stable, and maintenance not guaranteed

Benefits of open software

You can use open research software (ORS) at any stage of your research. Using ORS provides benefits for improving efficiency and reproducibility through:

  • transparent data analysis processes
  • availability of tools to re-run the analysis
  • ability of users to analyse and evaluate the code
  • access to support from the software community
  • ability of users to build, extend, and re-purpose tools
  • cost effectiveness and accessibility.

Resources

Identifying the right software to use in your research can be challenging. You can: