Research institution policies to support research software

The combined ReSA and Research Data Alliance (RDA) Policies in Research Organisations for Research Software (PRO4RS) builds on the ReSA task force to collect institutional policies for further dissemination as examples and encouragement to increase the value of research software assets worldwide.

We collect policies around research software (or open source software) that govern the creation, maintenance, acquisition, use, distribution and management of software within their environment, as well as to recognise such work. Software policies might cover multiple aspects of management to ensure legal, ethical, and secure use of software, as well as the protection of intellectual property rights, and can discuss how software work is used in hiring, evaluation, and promotion. Sometimes research software is integrated into other policies, such as those focused on open science or research data. Useful resources on policies also include talks from the 2022 Science Europe Conference on Open Science by Neil Chue Hong, Implementation of policies on research software, and Michelle Barker, Landscape of policies around research software.

The ReSA collection on institutional policies to support research software is open for input of new policies. You can add your organisation’s policy to it via this form or through a comment in the google sheet. You can also engage by joining the Policies in Research Organisations for Research Software (PRO4RS) Working Group.

For information on national and international policies that support research software, refer to our listing on the Guidelines page and blog post.