A carrot not a stick | Nature Physics

Access through your institution Buy or subscribe TO THE EDITOR —Your editorial ‘A problem shared is a problem halved’ (_Nat. Phys_. 15, 107; 2019) raises several important and difficult

questions concerning the publication of digital scientific knowledge. I would like to comment on one specific aspect: sharing scientific software. Most scientists view software primarily as

a tool for doing research, and from this point of view it is reasonable to consider it a potentially commercial product, much like lab equipment. However, contrary to lab equipment,

scientific software is also executable theory. With few exceptions, scientific software implements scientific models, and these models are often not fully documented anywhere else than in

the software’s source code (K. Hinsen _F1000Research_ 3, 101; 2014). Thus, using proprietary software sometimes means applying unpublished models, a practice that is in contradiction with

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calculated during checkout ADDITIONAL ACCESS OPTIONS: * Log in * Learn about institutional subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND

AFFILIATIONS * Centre de Biophysique Moléculaire (UPR4301 CNRS), Orléans, France Konrad Hinsen * Synchrotron SOLEIL, Saint Aubin, France Konrad Hinsen Authors * Konrad Hinsen View author

publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to Konrad Hinsen. RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS

ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Hinsen, K. A carrot not a stick. _Nat. Phys._ 15, 727 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-019-0627-0 Download citation * Published: 01 August 2019 * Issue Date:

August 2019 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-019-0627-0 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Get shareable link Sorry, a

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