Sciunits: Reusable Research Objects

TL;DR

Sciunits are reusable, recomputable research objects that aggregate datasets, software, and provenance, enabling efficient sharing and reproduction of computational experiments across scientific domains.

Contribution

The paper introduces sciunits, a novel system for creating and sharing recomputable research objects with a Git-like client for efficient management.

Findings

Sciunits enable reproducibility with minimal storage overhead.

The system is effectively adopted in geosciences.

Sciunits facilitate easy sharing and recomputation of experiments.

Abstract

Science is conducted collaboratively, often requiring knowledge sharing about computational experiments. When experiments include only datasets, they can be shared using Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs) or Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs). An experiment, however, seldom includes only datasets, but more often includes software, its past execution, provenance, and associated documentation. The Research Object has recently emerged as a comprehensive and systematic method for aggregation and identification of diverse elements of computational experiments. While a necessary method, mere aggregation is not sufficient for the sharing of computational experiments. Other users must be able to easily recompute on these shared research objects. In this paper, we present the sciunit, a reusable research object in which aggregated content is recomputable. We describe a Git-like client that efficiently creates, stores, and repeats sciunits. We show through analysis that sciunits repeat computational experiments with minimal storage and processing overhead. Finally, we provide an overview of sharing and reproducible cyberinfrastructure based on sciunits gaining adoption in the domain of geosciences.