Code quality checklist - development

[AngelicaMaineri]

Code quality checklist

The following checklist can be used to ensure good code documentation is available before publishing code, and it is meant for guidance for researchers (mostly social scientists, but not only) who are willing to share their pre-processing and analysis scripts. The initial set of requirements is based on the blog post "Practical tips on sharing code" published on the ODISSEI website in November 2024, but additions and changes can be discussed below.

Before publishing the code, the following should be checked in the syntax(es)/script(s):

• There are no hard-coded file paths (avoid strings like C:\Users\YOURNAME\Documents\GitHub)
• The repository/folder does not include sensitive data
• No sensitive information is (accidentally) disclosed (e.g. via commented lines)
• All necessary requirements/packages are clearly stated at the beginning
• There are comments to help others (re)use your code

The README:

• Is available
• Includes a (short) description of the project
• If applicable: includes reference to the accompanying paper
• If applicable: includes reference to the data that is necessary to run the code
• Includes an explanation of the content/structure of the code/repository

Before publishing code:

• The license is specified
• A registry is used
• A suggested citation is included (either in the README or via a CITATION.cff file)
• If applicable: a reproducible environment (e.g., renv or conda) or container (e.g., Docker) is available

After publishing code:

• If applicable: Code is submitted to the ODISSEI Code library (e.g. via an issue)

[hanneoberman]

Suggestion: add optional check box for a reproducible environment (e.g. renv or conda) or container (e.g. Docker)

[AngelicaMaineri]

Suggestion: add optional check box for a reproducible environment (e.g. renv or conda) or container (e.g. Docker)

Thank you @hanneoberman! This is a great suggestion