A Framework for Understanding Research Software Sustainability

Software sustainability relies on many different aspects: code quality and design, maintenance, governance, infrastructure, community engagement, and of course funding. Understanding what the requirements are for sustaining research software is often hampered because one size doesn’t fit all. This position paper submitted to the Collegeville Workshop 2021 proposes a framework for categorising the different types of research software, suggests how this framework can be used to identify good practice for each aspect, and proposes areas for future research.