One of the core goals of Software Heritage is to support reproducible research, and to this end we provide two essential functionalities:
- a universal archive of software source code, because research software depends on a myriad software components, that need all be archived and referenced
- a uniform identifier schema that abstracts away the details of source code provenance and version control, based on intrinsic identifiers that are compatible with git commit hashes
A first set of guidelines is now available explaining how to leverage these core Software Heritage functionalities to archive and reference the source code of software in research articles and documentation:
- blog post with high level overview: https://www.softwareheritage.org/2019/08/05/saving-and-referencing-research-software-in-software-heritage/
- full detailed guidelines, with a running example and LaTeX snippets: https://annex.softwareheritage.org/public/guidelines/archive-research-software.pdf
This ought to be of particular interest to all the great people involved in the Artefact Evaluation Committees.
Do not hesitate in reading/using/spreading the word, and all feedback will be welcome