Best Practices for Replicability, Reproducibility and Reusability of Computer-Based Experiments Exemplified by Model Reduction Software

TL;DR

This paper proposes standards and best practices to enhance the replicability, reproducibility, and reusability of computer-based experiments, especially in scientific computing, through improved documentation and software publication guidelines.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive set of guidelines for setting up, maintaining, and publishing numerical experiments and research software to improve scientific rigor.

Findings

Established standards for documenting computational experiments

Demonstrated improved reproducibility with proposed practices

Promoted reusability of scientific computing software

Abstract

Over the recent years the importance of numerical experiments has gradually been more recognized. Nonetheless, sufficient documentation of how computational results have been obtained is often not available. Especially in the scientific computing and applied mathematics domain this is crucial, since numerical experiments are usually employed to verify the proposed hypothesis in a publication. This work aims to propose standards and best practices for the setup and publication of numerical experiments. Naturally, this amounts to a guideline for development, maintenance, and publication of numerical research software. Such a primer will enable the replicability and reproducibility of computer-based experiments and published results and also promote the reusability of the associated software.