Why Do We Need To Compare Research Software , And How Should We Do It ?

How can we measure research software? Is it possible to compare it, given the myriad different research domains, practices and pieces of software? Do we even need to do this, and what benefits might it bring? This position paper sets out the reasons for why different stakeholders, from users to developers to funders, might wish to undertake this difficult task, and describes a proposed framework for doing so (based around measures of accessibility, usability, maintainability and portability) which takes into account the possibility of variation between different communities about how they prioritise different aspects of research software. Index Terms — software, research software, software metrics, software engineering, software sustainability.