Software development and handling research data in mathematics

Related guidelines:

Researchers document all information relevant to the production of a re- search result as clearly as is required by and is appropriate for the relevant subject area to allow the result to be reviewed and assessed. In general, this also includes documenting individual results that do not support the research hypothesis. The selection of results must be avoided. Where subject-specific recommendations exist for review and assessment, re- searchers create documentation in accordance with these guidelines. If the documentation does not satisfy these requirements, the constraints and the reasons for them are clearly explained. Documentation and re- search results must not be manipulated; they are protected as effectively as possible against manipulation.

An important basis for enabling replication is to make available the information necessary to understand the research (including the research data used or generated, the methodological, evaluation and analytical steps taken, and, if relevant, the development of the hypothesis), to ensure that citations are clear, and, as far as possible, to enable third parties to access this information. Where research software is being developed, the source code is documented.

As a rule, researchers make all results available as part of scientific/academic discourse. In specific cases, however, there may be reasons not to make results publicly available (in the narrower sense of publication, but also in a broader sense through other communication channels); this decision must not depend on third parties. Researchers decide autonomously – with due regard for the conventions of the relevant subject area – whether, how and where to disseminate their results. If it has been decided to make results available in the public domain, researchers describe them clearly and in full. Where possible and reasonable, this includes making the research data, materials and information on which the results are based, as well as the methods and software used, available and fully explaining the work processes. Software programmed by researchers them- selves is made publicly available along with the source code. Researchers provide full and correct information about their own preliminary work and that of others.

In the interest of transparency and to enable research to be referred to and reused by others, whenever possible researchers make the research data and principal materials on which a publication is based available in recognised archives and repositories in accordance with the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable). Restrictions may apply to public availability in the case of patent applications. If self-developed research software is to be made available to third parties, an appropriate licence is provided.

In line with the principle of “quality over quantity”, researchers avoid split- ting research into inappropriately small publications. They limit the repetition of content from publications of which they were (co-)authors to that which is necessary to enable the reader to understand the context. They cite results previously made publicly available unless, in exceptional cases, this is deemed unnecessary by the general conventions of the discipline.

Researchers back up research data and results made publicly available, as well as the central materials on which they are based and the research software used, by adequate means according to the standards of the relevant subject area, and retain them for an appropriate period of time. Where justifiable reasons exist for not archiving particular data, researchers explain these reasons. HEIs and non-HEI research institutions ensure that the infrastructure necessary to enable archiving is in place.

When scientific and academic findings are made publicly available, the research data (generally raw data) on which they are based are generally archived in an accessible and identifiable manner for a period of ten years at the institution where the data were produced or in cross-location repositories. This practice may differ depending on the subject area. In justified cases, shorter archiving periods may be appropriate; the reasons for this are described clearly and comprehensibly. The archiving period begins on the date when the results are made publicly available.

In mathematics, the service GitHub(externer Link) is widely used for software development, both for collaborative work on the software and for download by users. Zenodo(externer Link), an EU-funded repository at CERN, also offers useful facilities for storing software and research data in the field of mathematics, also offering an extended guarantee of retention.

Versioning of software, its appropriate documentation and the use of persistent identifiers are important with a view to ensuring the reproducibility of results.

When data is used in mathematics (in statistics, for instance), it often only serves to illustrate the mathematical procedures and methods that have been developed. These are frequently subject to quite easy public access or are in some cases artificially generated for this purpose. There may be exceptions in the case of cooperation with companies. Here, mostly alienated data is used, which then has to be documented. Open access to and persistent handling of data is regarded as necessary and indeed essential in mathematics.

In research projects in the field of mathematics, the mathematical results, the associated software (in the version used to achieve the results) and the required data should be considered as an integral whole and published as such.

Software development and handling research data in mathematics

Documentation

Providing public access to research results

Archiving

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Software development and handling research data in mathematics

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