Research Software Lifecycles and Stages

Abstract

Research software is usually developed by researchers themselves or by software developers working closely with researchers. It is typically developed to meet specific research needs. We develop and evaluate a comprehensive and flexible software lifecycle framework that reflects the unique challenges of research software. In review of related work on commercial and open-source software lifecycles, we observed limitations in addressing the heterogeneous, irregular development patterns, and longitudinal and cyclical nature of many research software projects. An initial model, which was based on case-study research of thirty-eight open-source projects was refined through collaborative discussion at a Dagstuhl seminar, introducing additional state transitions, and expanding details on blocked and active development stages for the specific context of research software. We highlight the overlap and extensions in the new model compared to prior literature and present the evaluation with the research software community. We derive the research software stages from our lifecycle model to categorise research software accordingly.