Defining the role of open source software in research reproducibility

TL;DR

This paper explores how open source software practices can enhance research reproducibility by fostering transparency, trust, and collaborative learning, drawing lessons from open source communities and theories of digital communication.

Contribution

It proposes a new perspective on open source software's role in research reproducibility, emphasizing its collaborative and trust-building aspects beyond licensing.

Findings

Open source practices promote transparency and trust in research.

Community engagement in open source fosters effective collaborative learning.

Reproducibility benefits from open source's culture of sharing and collective problem-solving.

Abstract

Reproducibility is inseparable from transparency, as sharing data, code and computational environment is a pre-requisite for being able to retrace the steps of producing the research results. Others have made the case that this artifact sharing should adopt appropriate licensing schemes that permit reuse, modification and redistribution. I make a new proposal for the role of open source software, stemming from the lessons it teaches about distributed collaboration and a commitment-based culture. Reviewing the defining features of open source software (licensing, development, communities), I look for explanation of its success from the perspectives of connectivism -- a learning theory for the digital age -- and the language-action framework of Winograd and Flores. I contend that reproducibility engenders trust, which we routinely build in community via conversations, and the practices of open source software help us to learn how to be more effective learning (discovering) together, contributing to the same goal.