About Code is Science. An independent editorial project.
Code is Science is an independent editorial project about research software. We publish principles, policy summaries and practical guides for researchers, reviewers and editors who want code to be treated as a first-class part of science: open, reviewed, archived and cited.
From a session to a resource. A short history.
The idea behind the site is simple and dates back to 2017. Science is often computing. Science requires peer review. Software contains errors. So errors in code are errors in science, and the fix is to make research code open and reviewable. The original project also kept a crowd-sourced list of journals and whether they required an open source license for code.
The site was relaunched in 2026 by the Code is Science editors as a maintained editorial resource. We are not the original volunteers, and we do not speak for any university, publisher, funder or journal. We keep the original premise, update the journal tracker, and add guides that reflect how code sharing works today.
We write for practitioners. Every page aims to answer one question well: what should I do with my code before, during and after publication? Corrections and suggestions are welcome and are how this resource stays accurate.
The founding idea
The Code is Science idea took shape around a simple argument that errors in code are errors in science. It was first discussed openly at a community session at MozFest, the Mozilla Festival.
Manifesto and journal list
The project published its manifesto for research code and a crowd-sourced list of journals, recording whether each one required an open source license for code.
Quiet years
Activity slowed. The manifesto stayed relevant while journal policies kept changing, and parts of the original list went out of date.
Relaunch
The Code is Science editors relaunched the site as an independent editorial resource, with a rewritten manifesto, a refreshed journal policy tracker and new practical guides.
Editorial standards. How we keep this honest.
Report a correction- We link every journal policy summary to the journal's own author guidelines, and we mark policies we have not verified as Under review.
- We do not publish invented statistics. When we cite a number, we link the source.
- Quotes on this site are either sourced and linked or clearly labeled as illustrative composites written by the editors.
- We do not claim endorsement by, or affiliation with, any person, institution, publisher or journal.
- We correct errors openly. Report a mistake and we will fix it and note the change on the page.