Welcome to the FAIRsoft Research Quality Indicators repository. This repository hosts the specification of various indicators that measure and evaluate the quality of research software. These indicators are designed to be automatically evaluated and have been utilized both in academic publications and within the broader software observatory ecosystem.
The indicators are detailed in the docs/indicators directory in Markdown format. Each indicator includes:
- Name: The title of the indicator.
- What does it measure?: The aspect of software quality being measured.
- Why is it important?: The relevance of the metric to overall software quality.
- How is it measured?: Methodology used to evaluate the metric.
- Type of software it applies to: Classifications of software the indicator is applicable to.
- Weight: The importance of the indicator in the overall evaluation.
These indicators are crucial for developers, researchers, and analysts interested in assessing the quality of software in a structured and quantifiable manner.
The contents of this repository are used to render an MkDocs page, which serves as a user-friendly web interface to view the indicators. Visit our MkDocs page to see the indicators presented in a well-organized format.
We actively encourage community contributions to evolve and refine these indicators. Please refer to the CONTRIBUTING.md file for guidelines on how to propose changes, discuss improvements, and submit patches.
Use the repository's issue tracker and discussions feature to suggest enhancements, ask questions, and connect with other community members. Your input helps make these indicators more robust and applicable across different contexts.
The indicators have been employed in academic research and are part of a larger effort to standardize the assessment of software quality. They are designed to be automatically evaluated, ensuring consistency and objectivity in results.
The indicators have been integrated into the software observatory framework, where they help monitor and analyze software quality across various projects and platforms.