FAIRsharing record for: FAIR Principles for Research Software - Accessible

This FAIRsharing record describes: In the FAIR Guiding Principles, accessibility translates into retrievability. In these FAIR4RS Principles, accessibility is also narrowly scoped to the ability to “retrieve” the software. Because software by necessity requires the use of standardized communications protocols to operate, some of the FAIR Guiding Principles may be considered commonly understood and implemented for software. For software to be accessible, it may be made available in any form (including, but not limited to source code, executable, library, or service) as long as the conditions for access are clearly stated and transparent. The software should be retrievable by both humans and machines or, in the case of software as a service, the software functionality is accessible via standardized protocols. In software engineering, “accessibility” can also be used to refer to the ability to access or use the software regardless of impairment, e.g. a disability. While this is important for research software, this is not how the original FAIR Guiding Principles define accessibility. It is recommended that the practice of making software usable by as many people as possible is best addressed in R3, and as separate guidance complementing the FAIR4RS Principles.