Software without any commercial potential, which is developed exclusively by SDU-employees without the use of third-party components or -dependencies, and which is not developed as part of a collaboration agreement or subject to other terms, such as license terms, can be published or distributed by the Department as Open Source provided that you can answer "No" to all items on this Checklist.
Please ensure that the management of your Department has approved that the software has no commercial potential and can be made available on a non-commercial basis.
When distributing software according to this Checklist procedure, it is the responsibility of the Department to determine whether or not the software may be shared/published, including whether it can be published as Open Source software.
Additionally, it is the responsibility of the Department to ensure a clear disclaimer of liability when publishing software.
Commercial potential? ☐ Yes / ☐ No
Is there any potential for commercial use of the software? If there is no commercial potential of the software, please ensure documentation that your Department has approved (at appropriate management level) that that there is no commercial potential of the software and that the software may be shared or published, e.g. under an Open Source license.
If yes, SDU RIO must assess if the software can be published or made available in any other way. Please report your idea in this RIO template.
Is the software subject to any contract or licensing terms? ☐ Yes / ☐ No
Has the software been developed as part of a collaboration with a third party, e.g., under a collaboration agreement? Or is the software developed with funding from a grant, for which certain grant terms apply?
If yes to any of the above questions, there may be license conditions, rights options, or other terms that need legal review before the software is distributed. Therefore, please contact SDU RIO.
Is software developed with contributions from a student or any other “unofficial” third party? ☐ Yes / ☐ No
Who has contributed to the development of the software? Is it exclusively SDU-employees who have contributed to the development of the software? Or have external / third parties contributed to the development? Such third parties could, for example, be master’s or bachelor’s students, visiting/guest researchers, consultants, subcontractors or other collaboration partners (e.g. employees of a company or of another research institution).
If anyone who is not an employee of SDU has contributed to the development of the code, please seek legal advice from SDU RIO before publishing the software or otherwise making it available.
It is not necessary to contact SDU RIO in case you have already ensured sufficient clearance of any third party rights (e.g. by a student signing a G-declaration, or by appropriate agreement with a third party)
Have any third-party components been used? ☐ Yes / ☐ No
Have any third-party components been used in the development of the software? Or is the software / code written and developed completely "from scratch" by employees of SDU?
By third-party components we mean any lines of code, components, libraries, etc. (either Open Source or proprietary elements) which prohibit the use of an Open Source licence. If third-party components of any kind have been used – whether or not they are integrated in SDU’s software code, or whether they are linked to SDU’s code – you must contact SDU RIO. Please include details regarding the names of the components, their type, function and use, as well as the associated license terms.
Software Licence
Any creative work (including software) is automatically protected by copyright. Even when the software is available via code sharing platforms such as GitHub, no one can use it unless they are explicitly granted permission by the copyright owner. This is done by adding a software license, which defines the set of rules and conditions for people who want to use the software. If the Department wishes to publish software under an Open Source license these selectors can be of help: Choose a License; the Open Source licenses selector.
Enable Software Citation
Citation is an integral part of scientific accountability and reproducibility helping researchers get recognition for their work, but accurately citing software is inherently more difficult than citing a paper. CodeMeta and the Citation File Format were specifically designed to enable citation of software and will likely meet your needs. For either one, you write a plain text file with citation metadata, which you then distribute with your software. Initialize your CITATION.cff files here.
Please use the SDU GitLab space to create your project and make it public.
When distributing software according to this Checklist procedure, it is the responsibility of the Department to determine whether or not the software may be shared/published, including whether it can be published as Open Source software.
Additionally, it is the responsibility of the Department to ensure a clear disclaimer of liability when publishing software.
Commercial potential? ☐ Yes / ☐ No
Is there any potential for commercial use of the software? If there is no commercial potential of the software, please ensure documentation that your Department has approved (at appropriate management level) that that there is no commercial potential of the software and that the software may be shared or published, e.g. under an Open Source license.
If yes, SDU RIO must assess if the software can be published or made available in any other way. Please report your idea in this RIO template.
Is the software subject to any contract or licensing terms? ☐ Yes / ☐ No
Has the software been developed as part of a collaboration with a third party, e.g., under a collaboration agreement? Or is the software developed with funding from a grant, for which certain grant terms apply?
If yes to any of the above questions, there may be license conditions, rights options, or other terms that need legal review before the software is distributed. Therefore, please contact SDU RIO.
Is software developed with contributions from a student or any other “unofficial” third party? ☐ Yes / ☐ No
Who has contributed to the development of the software? Is it exclusively SDU-employees who have contributed to the development of the software? Or have external / third parties contributed to the development? Such third parties could, for example, be master’s or bachelor’s students, visiting/guest researchers, consultants, subcontractors or other collaboration partners (e.g. employees of a company or of another research institution).
If anyone who is not an employee of SDU has contributed to the development of the code, please seek legal advice from SDU RIO before publishing the software or otherwise making it available.
It is not necessary to contact SDU RIO in case you have already ensured sufficient clearance of any third party rights (e.g. by a student signing a G-declaration, or by appropriate agreement with a third party)
Have any third-party components been used? ☐ Yes / ☐ No
Have any third-party components been used in the development of the software? Or is the software / code written and developed completely "from scratch" by employees of SDU?
By third-party components we mean any lines of code, components, libraries, etc. (either Open Source or proprietary elements) which prohibit the use of an Open Source licence. If third-party components of any kind have been used – whether or not they are integrated in SDU’s software code, or whether they are linked to SDU’s code – you must contact SDU RIO. Please include details regarding the names of the components, their type, function and use, as well as the associated license terms.
Software Licence
Any creative work (including software) is automatically protected by copyright. Even when the software is available via code sharing platforms such as GitHub, no one can use it unless they are explicitly granted permission by the copyright owner. This is done by adding a software license, which defines the set of rules and conditions for people who want to use the software. If the Department wishes to publish software under an Open Source license these selectors can be of help: Choose a License; the Open Source licenses selector.
Enable Software Citation
Citation is an integral part of scientific accountability and reproducibility helping researchers get recognition for their work, but accurately citing software is inherently more difficult than citing a paper. CodeMeta and the Citation File Format were specifically designed to enable citation of software and will likely meet your needs. For either one, you write a plain text file with citation metadata, which you then distribute with your software. Initialize your CITATION.cff files here.
Please use the SDU GitLab space to create your project and make it public.
In case of any doubts or questions regarding software, please seek legal advice, e.g. regarding choice of appropriate license terms for your software. You are always welcome to contact SDU RIO.