Guidelines for the Development and Distribution of Software at Forschungszentrum Jülich

Guidelines for the Development and Distribution of Software at Forschungszentrum Juelich

Checklist for the Distribution of Software Code

Publication/Dissemination of Software Code Decision Tree

We've created these tools to help you implement the guidelines. If you have any questions, get in touch with the JuRSE team.

Interactive Software Guideline Tool

About the Guidelines

A central component at Forschungszentrum Jülich
Software is a central component of academic research and is developed and used in the various institutes at Forschungszentrum Jülich. Software refers to all forms of program code and executable programs generated from it that are developed, provided, and distributed within the scope of activities at Forschungszentrum Jülich.

A framework
Until now, Forschungszentrum Jülich did not have a practical or secure framework within which employees could develop software. With these guidelines, Forschungszentrum Jülich now presents a document that aims to support the development, management, and impact of software that meets high quality standards. These guidelines are primarily aimed at all software developers and senior employees who are directly or indirectly involved in the development, management, and distribution of software at Forschungszentrum Jülich.

The Objectives
The objectives of the guidelines are to establish a tangible and sustainable use of programmed software at Forschungszentrum Jülich, to improve software quality, and to increase the appreciation of high-quality software. The professionalization in the field of software development thus generated will help to achieve a sustainable use of software and promote good scientific practice in terms of verifiability and reproducibility of research results.

Collaboration
In developing the guidelines, the folllowing frameworks were taken into account:
- the Regulations for Upholding Good Scientific Practice at Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, (intranet access only)
- the internal provisions of the directive “Publications by Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH”, (intranet access only)
- the “Guidelines for Handling Research Data at Forschungszentrum Jülich”, (intranet access only)
- the “Forschung und Innovation 2025” innovation strategy) (intranet access only)
along with external recommendations e.g.
- the “Checklist to Support the Helmholtz Centers in Implementing Policies on Sustainable Research Software” of the Helmholtz Association’s Open Science Working Group)

The draft is based on the “Model Policy on Sustainable Software at the Helmholtz Centers” of the Helmholtz Association’s Open Science Working Group and it has been adapted to the conditions and requirements of Forschungszentrum Jülich.

In order to take the most important aspects into account, the software guideline of the FZJ shows the most important measures and quality standards and provides an actionable and comprehensible framework for developers.

The publication of the guidelines can be found on JuSER.