When should software not be developed publicly? [140]

By Office of Science Quality and Integrity

Department of the Interior, including USGS, applies strict requirements and platform authorizations for sharing software in public repositories. To avoid potential violations, policy-compliant and secure internal code repositories are available for sharing and releasing software. [Read more]

Although the open sharing of code while in development is increasingly commonplace – and supported by USGS Fundamental Science Practices (FSP), Bureau, Agency, and Federal policies – there are some cases when developing in an open (public) environment may be inappropriate. Sharing software in public repositories requires adhering to the following policy requirements:

Ensure all scientific information follows USGS FSP review requirements (including review requirements and Bureau approval before the release of new interpretive science).

Ensure that no sensitive information or personally identifiable information (PII) would be released and violate the Privacy Act

There are other considerations when determining whether internal code development is appropriate. These include:

Understanding that releasing information prior to scientific review and approval removes the Bureau’s ability to later withhold pre-decisional material under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Avoiding the release of open-source software projects that implement new algorithms or methods when the mathematics and science underlying the code have not yet been approved following Fundamental Science Practices.

Avoid the accidental release of results in open-source software projects, such as comments explaining results in analysis code, prior to Fundamental Science Practices approval of the related interpretive products.

If a software project cannot follow these criteria or cannot be developed in an open-source repository for other reasons, the software may be developed internally within a hosting platform approved by the USGS. Contact gs_help_git@usgs.gov for guidance about approved hosting platforms. This does not prevent the resulting scientific software information product from eventually being released to the public.