The Helmholtz Research Software Directory - Yet another place to put your code?

Quick answer: yes. But there is more to it and with this blog post we would like to motivate you to consider listing your research software there.

So, what is the Helmholtz Research Software Directory or RSD in short? It is an HIFIS easy-to-use service platform where researchers can present and promote their research software. Software entries are enriched by descriptions, a citations list and other mentions, associations to projects and organisations or contributors. Many of these things happen automatically. You don’t even have to write new text to describe your software, if you already have something like a README your repository.

But still, why? You have your own repository, maybe even a website to show your code. Your community and maybe your colleagues (or your boss even?) know what you are doing there. Isn’t this enough?

We think that when it comes to research software as an output of our everyday work, it is never enough. We need to talk about our software and we need to show it. Wherever we can. To as many people as possible. Software does not get the attention it deserves, given its impact on our research and given the time we spend to make it work (well).

But aside from this more abstract reason, here are a couple of practical ones:

• The RSD tries to keep track of mentions of your software in research papers, provided you have a suitable DOI attached to it (e.g., via Zenodo). Nice!
• Several initiatives take this directory as their source for research software related activities: the Helmholtz Software Award, the Helmholtz Codes Workshop, the JuRSE Code of the Month. And there may be more around the corner.
• At some point Helmholtz will take research software seriously, also in our Program-oriented Funding (PoF) programs and reporting. New Key Performance Indicators are nearly there and their evaluation is best done through the RSD.

And yes, maybe someone sees your software there and thinks: “Hey, great, this is exactly what I need!”. The RSD is a great place to advertise what great software Helmholtz researchers are working on. Being part of this is very simple: your Helmholtz ID allows you to log in, and from there it’s just a form to fill. It takes you barely 10 minutes to get started, maybe another 20 to make it look great, but that’s it. So, don’t hesitate: make your software show up there and talk about it.

Author: Robert Speck