Software Source Code IG Plenaries

Back to Plenary Participation

Group Session May 15, 2026

Aligning Research Software Communities, Infrastructures, and Institutions

Plenary: RDA 27th Plenary Meeting (P27)

Submitted by

Morane Gruenpeter

Meeting objectives

Session date and time: Breakout Session 4 – 15:30-17:00 BST, Wednesday, 7 October 2026

Collaborative session notes

This session will explore how research software practices can better connect with libraries, data stewardship services, Open Source Program Offices (OSPOs), Research Software Engineers (RSEs), universities, laboratories, repositories, and archival infrastructures to support sustainable and reproducible research. Discussions will focus on coordination between software repositories, archives, metadata, and preservation services, and institutional support structures in order to reduce duplication of effort, improve interoperability, and strengthen long-term stewardship of research software. Building on current efforts in EOSC, such as EVERSE and Opportunity Area OA7 on Research Software.

The session will also examine emerging challenges linked to AI-driven research workflows, including software traceability, provenance, reproducibility, and the preservation of computational environments and training pipelines. Participants will be invited to share needs, workflows, and use cases related to software preservation, citation, metadata management, reproducibility, and institutional support for research software.

Meeting presenters

Morane Gruenpeter (Software Heritage, EOSC OA7), EVERSE representative, Julia A Collins (CU/CIRES), Linda Angulo Lopez (CodeMeta, Software Heritage)

Meeting agenda

Introduction (10 min) – Overview of session objectives and relevance to RDA SSCIG, including an update on the maintenance of the FAIR4RS
Bridging RSE Communities and Institutions (30 min) – Lightning presentations and demonstrations of challenges and case studies on integrating grassroots RSE practices with institutional structures, OSPOs. (3 presentations: 5 min presentation + 5 min questions)
Working session, in small parallel groups to discuss (20 min):
- Reproducibility, AI Workflows, and Software Traceability: Working discussion on emerging challenges linked to AI-assisted research, computational provenance, software dependencies, training pipelines, and reproducibility practices.
- Institutional Support and OSPOs: Working discussion to explore how OSPOs, libraries, research offices, and data stewardship services can support sustainable and reproducible research software practices through coordination, governance, preservation, training, and long-term stewardship.
Cross-WG Collaboration Opportunities (15 min) – discussion on joining efforts with other Interest Groups and Working Groups, such as the Reproducibility Checklist WG, Complex Citation WG, and other initiatives.
FAQ (10 min) – Input from participants and ideas collection for IG next steps
Concluding Remarks (5 min) – Key takeaways and conclusion

Target audience

Open Science Project Offices (OSPOS), Research software engineers, data stewards, repository managers, and policy makers interested in reproducible research, sustainable software practices, and cross-domain collaboration. This session will particularly appeal to individuals involved in institutional software governance, RSE communities, and RDA working groups focusing on reproducibility and software sustainability.

Participants should familiarize themselves with current efforts in preserving source code (such as Software Heritage), describing software (e.g. CodeMeta), and citing software (the FORCE11 Software Citation Principles).

Group Activities and Scope

The SSCIG focuses on advancing sustainable research software practices, connecting grassroots RSE communities with institutional policies and infrastructure, and reducing duplication across repositories and archives. The group fosters collaboration between OSPOs, researchers, software engineers, and service providers to enhance reproducibility, long-term software stewardship, and interoperability in research ecosystems.

Additional links to informative material

[1] Research Data Alliance/FORCE11 Software Source Code Identification WG, Allen, A., Bandrowski, A., Chan, P., Di Cosmo, R., Fenner, M., Garcia, L., Gruenpeter, M., Jones, C. M., Katz, D. S., Kunze, J., Schubotz, M. & Todorov, I. T. (2020). Use cases and identifier schemes for persistent software source code identification (V1.1). Research Data Alliance. https://doi.org/10.15497/RDA00053

[2] European Commission. Directorate General for Research and Innovation. (2020). Scholarly infrastructures for research software: report from the EOSC Executive Board Working Group (WG) Architecture Task Force (TF) SIRS. Publications Office. https://doi.org/10.2777/28598

[3] Chue Hong, N. P., Katz, D. S., Barker, M., Lamprecht, A.-L., Martinez, C., Psomopoulos, F. E., Harrow, J., Castro, L. J., Gruenpeter, M., Martinez, P. A., Honeyman, T., Struck, A., Lee, A., Loewe, A., van Werkhoven, B., Jones, C., Garijo, D., Plomp, E., Genova, F., … WG, R. F. (2022). FAIR Principles for Research Software (FAIR4RS Principles) (1.0). https://doi.org/10.15497/RDA00068

Short Group Status

The Software Source Code IG was founded in 2017, following a BoF session at the 9th Plenary. Its activities include discussing software identification, management, sharing, discovery, archival, provenance, and metadata standards. Outputs include:

SCID WG (Software Source Code Identification WG): Completed with publication on identifier schemes for software source code [1] .
VP16-VP21 Sessions: Presentations and workshops on FAIR4RS, EOSC SIRS, reproducibility, GUIX, RSMD guidelines, and FAIR-IMPACT metrics [2] .
FAIR4RS WG: Joint initiative with ReSA and FORCE11, focusing on FAIR principles for research software [3] .

At P20, the SSCIG session emphasized policies and incentives for software source code recognition across international, national, and institutional levels. Activities identified incentives to drive software practice improvements.

At P21, the SSCIG session focused on sharing best practices for software source code archival, reference, description, citation, and metadata management. The session explored challenges and solutions around research software metadata, highlighted RSMD Guidelines and FAIR-IMPACT activities, and increased awareness of FAIR4RS and related community efforts supporting discoverability, accessibility, and reusability of research software.

At VP22, the SSCIG session focused on increasing the adoption of research software services and strengthening collaboration between infrastructures, tools, and research communities. The session highlighted practical solutions supporting sustainable and reproducible research software practices, while raising awareness of FAIR4RS and related community initiatives.

Estimate of the required venue room capacity

50-70

Applicable Pathways

Training, Stewardship, and Data Management Planning
Research Software
AI meets data: exploring use cases, applications and innovation

Avoid conflict with the following groups

FAIR for Machine Learning (FAIR4ML) IG
Complex Citation Implementation Interest Group (CCI IG)

What potential collaborations or synergies do you see between your Group/Birds of a Feather session topic and other RDA Groups or external organisations?

RDA Reproducibility Checklist Working Group
EOSC