Digital sovereignty in the age of software forges: Why preserving source code matters

Software Heritage collects publicly available source code from numerous software projects and tracks their ongoing development.

In an era dominated by software forges, control over source code has become a matter of scientific and digital sovereignty. Software now underpins nearly every stage of research, from data collection and simulation to analysis and validation. When source code is unavailable, unstable, or lost, scientific results become harder to verify, reproduce, and build upon.

Preserving source code ensures that research remains understandable, reproducible, and reusable over time.