Recommendations
- Funders should stimulate the documentation, licensing, open-source distribution, and accessibility of research software to enable the reproducibility of research outcomes.
- Funders should incentivize the reuse and improvement of existing research software.
- Funders should include research software in open science policies, following the principle ‘as open as possible, as closed as necessary’, to ensure it is a valuable and impactful research output.
- Funders should stimulate the development and maintenance of a research software ecosystem, including people, communities, and infrastructure, to ensure research software sustainability.
- Funders should share information about their investments and work in a coordinated manner, as the research software ecosystem exceeds institutional and national boundaries.
- Funders should ensure that funding instruments are fit for purpose for both sustainability and innovation, so that research software is both maintained and developed for the longer term, to encourage a healthy research software ecosystem.
- Funders should stimulate the training, hiring, and funding of both professional research and technical staff able to reuse, develop, and maintain sustainable research software.
- Funders should facilitate appropriate reward and recognition measures that enable career progression for all people involved in the creation and maintenance of research software.
- Funders should require citation practices for research software that recognise substantial contributors to all aspects of the software.
- Funders should encourage the responsible use of appropriate indicators to assess the degree of permanence, reusability, and impact of research software.
- Funders should explicitly consider the environmental and social impact of the use of research software.
- Funders should explicitly recognise that diversity, equity and inclusivity are significant factors in making research software sustainable.
Declaration text
Cite as:
Research Software Alliance. (2024). Amsterdam Declaration on Funding Research Software Sustainability (1.1). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13735888
Contributors
The Declaration is the product of the collective effort from many people, representing various organisations across the globe. You can find a list of contributing organsations and individuals in this document.
Who can sign?
The Declaration can be signed by individuals and organisations that support research software and/or the people who develop and maintain it. See our FAQ for more details.
The following organisations and individuals have already signed up. If you would like your organisation to be listed here, see how to get involved.
