Making research software FAIR and citable

Abstract

There is growing acknowledgment that software constitutes a valid research output. As such, it must be made available under the FAIR Principles for Research Software (FAIR4RS). Software publication with rich metadata allows researchers to provide their software in such a way, thus enabling better reproducibility of research results obtained using software, more credit for research software creators through citation, and improved sustainability. Currently, FAIR software publication is not common practice due to a lack of incentives, of clearly defined processes, and of publication support through tools and infrastructures. This talk presents the context of, and practical approaches to, automated FAIR4RS software publication: improving citation metadata for research software with the Citation File Format, and automating software publication with rich metadata using the HERMES workflow for continuous integration systems.