Publish and share open research software

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Have you built a tool to analyse research data? Perhaps you have some unique code or script that is necessary to replicate the findings in your publication. These are considered research software and are viewed as important research outputs. As a result, publishing and sharing software you create means getting recognition for your work.

Publish and share open research software introduces you to the benefits of openly sharing your research software. 

  1. Publishing research software
  2. Prepare your software or code for publication
  3. Where to publish research software
  1. Choose a license for your software or code
  2. Cite your own software
  3. Help and more information

3. Where to publish research software

Deposit the version of the software you are publishing into a long-term repository so it is indexed, discoverable and accessible. Consider publishing a Software Tool Article about the open research software you have developed.

Long term repositories

Use a long term repository in addition to working in your development environment and your version control systems. Think of it like this:

  1. Develop and make code open in a code repository
  2. Deposit versions in a long-term data repository for publication
  3. Describe your software in a software article.

Select a long-term repository that:

  • includes metadata that is searchable and indexable  
  • offers a DOI for each version of the software (as defined by the creator)  
  • enables software citation  
  • provides a choice of open, standard software licenses  
  • will be maintained and secure for the long term.   

in line with FAIR research software principles.

Choose a repository

UQ repositories

UQ researchers can use UQ Research Data Manager (UQRDM) and UQ eSpace to store, publish and describe your software.

These systems can be used for all research software you create, but work best for simple software projects or script used for analysis, that do not require ongoing maintenance or versioning.

  • UQRDM (UQ login required) - store and work on code. Integrated workflows for publishing to eSpace and linking publications, data and software.
  • UQ eSpace - publish your software along with metadata, digital object identifier (DOI), and add a license to your software.

See Publish a dataset with UQRDM and UQ eSpace for more information. 

Open software repositories

The following repositories are suitable for publishing research software, and often link to code versioning tools. Use these tools if your code will be further developed or maintained in the future:

Deposit a copy of your software

Follow the instructions for your repository to upload a copy of your software files and complete the required metadata. 

You may also include a link to your code repository, such as GitHub.

Cite your software

Always reference/cite each of these locations in your publications so readers can find all the relevant information, and correctly cite your work.

See Cite your own software for more information.

Software Tool Articles 

Another way to publish and share your code is a software tool article. It is an article that describes a novel tool that has been developed for research.

These articles allow you to detail the code, methods and analysis and outline how to maximise the tool’s potential. 

The Software Sustainability Institute publishes a list of journals that publish software and software tool articles.