---
tags: unconference-2022
title: Publishing software papers
---

# Publishing software papers

Publications are the currency for researchers and number and distribution of publications can often be a tie-breaker for getting fundings, so let’s talk about where to publish research software papers.

## Where do you publish your software?

- [Journal of Open Source Software (JOSS)](https://joss.theoj.org/)
- peer reviewed
- open access
- no fee
- [Journal of Open Research Software (JORS)](https://openresearchsoftware.metajnl.com/)
- peer reviewed
- open access
- publication fee, but can be waived [see here](https://openresearchsoftware.metajnl.com/about/submissions/)
- [software-X](https://www.journals.elsevier.com/softwarex/)
- [Geoscientific Model Development (GMD)](https://www.geoscientific-model-development.net/index.html)
- open peer reviewed
- open access
- publication fee
- [Applied Physics Reviews](https://aip.scitation.org/journal/are)
- [Computational Materials Science](https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/computational-materials-science)
- [Computer Physics Communications](https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/computer-physics-communications)
- Field-specific journals can let you publish a software paper or software update paper, as long as the manuscript also shows practical applications of the software/method on a scientific topic within the scope of the journal. This is more work, but it has the advantage that the paper provides a use case of the software in your field. For chemistry and biology: [JCIM](https://pubs.acs.org/page/jcisd8/about.html), [JCTC](https://pubs.acs.org/page/jctcce/about.html), [JCAMD](https://www.springer.com/journal/10822), [Plos Comp Biol](https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/s/journal-information), [Bioinformatics](https://academic.oup.com/bioinformatics/pages/About), [Proteins](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/10970134/homepage/productinformation.html).
- [Journal of Statistical Software](https://www.jstatsoft.org/index)
- [arXiv](https://arxiv.org)

## Some questions to start discussion

- What are the forums that accept research software papers? There are e.g. JOSS, JORS, softwareX, do you know others?

- What to publish there? When is a research software "good enough" to be published in a journal?

- How do these journals compare to traditional journals? When should you choose a "traditional" forum and when a software forum, what are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

- How are these journals ranked compared to other ones? Some countries (e.g. Finland and Norway) have a ranking system of publication forums. How are these forums ranked? How should they be ranked?

- Is there enough awareness of these forums? Are all RSEs and researchers aware of these forums and related issues? What can we do to increase awareness (if needed)?

## Some links

- [Talk about Journal of Open Source Software](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dvmi9tq550Q&list=PLftRaVXG5xM4zRcUKZUAPOiBqhSlZ91kl&index=8) at Nordic-RSE seminar series

- NumPy article was published in Nature which is JUFO-3 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2649-2 (but long after NumPy was clearly a hit)
- indeed, these NBA players software have individual exceptions I guess

- process of "self-requested" peer review on preprints: https://peercommunityin.org/ (similar to JOSS in how it is conducted, seems to me)