To promote and facilitate scientific reproducibility, Episciences now makes it easier to link an article to a dataset or software. The author submitting a document to a journal can now add the identifier provided by the platform where the data or software is stored. This facilitates access to these resources both for peers evaluating submissions and for readers if the article is published.
One fundamental aspect of the openness of science is the close link between scientific publications and associated research data. This link is essential for the transparency, reproducibility, and the overall progress of science. Episciences responds to this dynamic by inviting authors to supplement the submission of their document with a link to the dataset and/or software used in their work.
First, of course, it is necessary to deposit these resources in a dedicated repository that provides an identifier. In fact, it is this identifier that serves as the linchpin for creating the link. The citation metadata of the resource is automatically retrieved by Episciences to be displayed during the peer review process and, if the article is accepted for publication, on its page on the journal’s website. The metadata of the published article’s DOI will also include the data identifier, enhancing its discoverability.
The link to the source code is based on the service provided by Software Heritage, the open infrastructure for archiving and referencing software, which provides the SoftWare Hash IDentifiers (SWHID) already known to users who deposit their source code in HAL.
A European Project
The implementation of interoperability with Software Heritage is part of the European project FAIRCORE4EOSC, which aims to develop and produce the basic components for the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). One of these components is the development of tools and services for archiving, referencing, describing and citing research software based on SWHID, and the CodeMeta specification that standardize the exchange.
A previous post presented another European project, OpenAire Nexus, in which Episciences also participated. It enables the automatic enrichment of article metadata through interoperability. Episciences can now provide the link between the publication and the research data and software to feed other data producers.