Daina Bouquin
Head Librarian, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Daina Bouquin
daina.bouquin@cfa.harvard.edu
even if you don't write "copyright" anywhere
There are a few exceptions to that rule:
Only the copyright owner can give legal permission for others to copy, modify, or distribute the work.
Unfortunately, no. Copyright law is very specific.
Implied licenses are difficult to establish.
Note: Creative Commons Licenses are not intended to be used on code.
Free Redistribution
Source Code
Derived Works
No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups
No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavors
License Must Not Be Specific to a Product
(how it's distributed doesn't matter)
Open Source Licenses have many qualities, but these are the ones I usually remind people of:
We wrote a guide about all of this!
Think of this as being the difference between a Google Doc and a hardcover book.
The Google Doc is constantly changing and the document's URL can break (404 errors).
Unambiguous way to point at a specific thing in a specific place at a specific time.
Where the thing you are pointing at is at a specific time.
Identifier
DOI
URI
Bibcode
arXiv ID
ISBN
Publications have identifiers
Locator
URL
(you need to archive your code to create an identifier)
* and add the file to your repo*
Instantly gives you the "Cite this repository" button!
Open access journal
Peer review for your code
Short paper about the code
Links directly to the archived code
Aim for open access journals
Make sure your software paper has a citation to your archived code in the references section
Cite software DOIs whenever you can find them
If software authors want you to cite a paper,
cite the paper and the software DOI
By Daina Bouquin
A brief introduction to software publishing. Presentation given to interns participating in the 2022 SAO/UMass Latino Initiative Program at the Center for Astrophysics.
Head Librarian, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics