15–17 Sept 2025
CERN
Europe/Zurich timezone
You're staying longer in Geneva? We might have something for you: The CERN library, together with the Association of International Librarians and Information Specialists (AILIS), is organising a library science talk on the role of a research library supporting research data management: https://indico.cern.ch/event/1575822/

Advancing FAIR Principles for Research Software: Implementing a Machine Actionable Software Management Plan into DMP OPIDoR

-179
16 Sept 2025, 10:15
45m
80/R-001 Globe of Science and Innovation Ground Floor (CERN)

80/R-001 Globe of Science and Innovation Ground Floor

CERN

Demo Building the Digital Backbone: Open Science Infrastructures Demo Sessions

Speakers

Maria Grazia Santangelo (INRIA) Marie-Christine Jacquemot (CNRS - INIST)

Description

Software is one of the fundamental pillars of research, alongside publications and data. However, despite its essential contribution, research software remains difficult to discover, cite, and properly reference. While open-source practices are widely adopted in academia, they do not inherently ensure that software is easily findable or systematically documented - both of which are crucial for reproducibility, reuse, and long-term preservation. Due to the lack of proper mechanisms, software is frequently overlooked or poorly described in data management plans.
To address this gap, a dedicated template has been implemented in the well-established DMP tool - DMP OPIDoR (https://dmp.opidor.fr/) - to describe software, along with associated research data. Making the SMP machine-actionable and interoperable simplifies its maintenance throughout the research lifecycle and facilitates software tracking and documentation.
DMP OPIDoR enables the display of customizable templates aligned with institutional, disciplinary, and international guidelines, and supports best practices in data management through community-driven recommendations.
Our poster presents how this pioneering SMP template - in line with FAIR and machine actionable DMP principles - will promote good practices assuring source code quality. It encompasses the assignment of persistent identifiers, the use of software development platforms, the recognition of authors and contributors, as well as the need of a license.
In the long term, maSMP will enhance software documentation, referencing, and ultimately its discovery, reuse, and citation —helping software gain the first-class status it deserves in open science.

Tagline

Recognizing software as a first class research output: the implementation of a new Software Management Plan template fosters open science by promoting visibility, documentation, FAIR principles, and integration into digital research ecosystems.

Keywords Research Software, Software Management Plan (SMP), Open Science Infrastructure, Software dissemination

Authors

Presentation materials