# Practices in source code sharing in astrophysics

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1304.6780 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1304.6780/

## Key facts

- Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 25 Apr 2013.

## Built on by (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [Reproducibility in NLP: What Have We Learned from the Checklist?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.09562/) (2023)
- [The Rise of Open Science: Tracking the Evolution and Perceived Value of Data and Methods Link-Sharing Practices](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.03193/) (2023)
- [Quantifying the Reconstructability of Astrophysical Methods with Large Language Models and Information Theory: A Case Study in Spectral Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.11154/) (2026)
- [Papers Without Code: Availability of GitHub Repositories Linked in *CL Publications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.34534/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

While software and algorithms have become increasingly important in astronomy, the majority of authors who publish computational astronomy research do not share the source code they develop, making it difficult to replicate and reuse the work. In this paper we discuss the importance of sharing scientific source code with the entire astrophysics community, and propose that journals require authors to make their code publicly available when a paper is published. That is, we suggest that a paper that involves a computer program not be accepted for publication unless the source code becomes publicly available. The adoption of such a policy by editors, editorial boards, and reviewers will improve the ability to replicate scientific results, and will also make the computational astronomy methods more available to other researchers who wish to apply them to their data.