Time to launch: Making the "Standard Template for the Efficient Development of Research Software" accessible

Abstract

As research software is becoming increasingly fundamental in almost all scientific domains, its development and maintenance is of significant importance for scientists. Currently, scientists often lack the profound knowledge and tools to develop and maintain this software throughout its often long lasting life cycle. To promote high-quality software, adequate support, and appropriate recognition of research software engineering (RSE) as academic achievement, the deRSE e. V. and GI e. V. developed a template guideline as a basis for discussion and adoption. This template serves as a foundation for adopting best RSE practices by German universities and research institutions, and providing adequate support to researchers and research software engineers. At the time of writing the template is in the approval process. The goals of the guidelines are (1) ensuring support and investments in RSE in Germany, and thus improving research software in several aspects; (2) providing a foundation for RSE recognition and RSE contributions as academic achievements. It is now time for universities and research institutions to adopt and adapt these variant-rich guidelines, and for the community to put them into practice. In this session, we strive for strategies on (A) how to incentivize the adoption at the institutional level, and (B) how to make the guidelines accessible to all involved stakeholders, including researchers and research software engineers developing the research software. The BoF session will start with an introduction to these guidelines and other similar efforts. We will proceed with group work in breakout sessions on incentives (A) and accessibility (B). The goal is to develop two dissemination roadmaps, (A) top-down (at the institutional level) and (B) bottom-up (at the work level). The session will also discuss tooling like an interactive web page for adapting the variant-rich template to institution-specific needs (A); a visual representation of specific chapters in terms of decision trees (A/B); a carpentries-style short introduction to the guidelines (B); or a tool that provides feedback if your research software adheres to the guidelines (B). As such, the BoF session is meant to gather input and supporters for putting the guidelines into practice in a collaborative effort. Feedback mechanisms on the guidelines after they have been incorporated at research institutions will be discussed at the end of the session.