Discussing The Research Software Ecosystem

While the previous section focused on digital and analogue objects, this section aims to highlight the people within the ecosystem. We suggest using the term "Research Software Engineer" (RSE) as a label, rather than a job title or a description of identity, in accordance with the definition by the Netherlands eScience Center [2023]. In Germany, the term "Ingenieur" is protected, so a direct translation of the English term (Research Software) Engineer is therefore not advisable. The abbreviation we use in this paper should not imply that "RSE" denotes a distinct identity (e.g., contrasting with being a scientist) or that work as an RSE is not research intensive (e.g., being perceived as a technician). Rather, we recognise the diversity of roles within the research system that are fulfilled to varying degrees by individuals from academic, technical, and research-supporting backgrounds.

Essentially, RSEs combine expertise in software development and methodology with knowledge of one or more specific research domains. Depending on their role within the ecosystem, this label can be fulfilled by individuals from either the academic staff or the research support staff. While some individuals self-identify as an RSE, we also explicitly include other job titles or labels, such as "computational scientist", "researcher who codes", and "software engineer in a research environment". What unites these individuals is their commitment to supporting the sustainable development, deployment, use, sharing, and maintenance of research software.

We understand the term "research software guild" (Footnote: We use the term guild in a similar way to the terms "research software hub" or "unit" in other publications [Kempf et al., 2026].) to refer to a structured grouping of RSEs, domain scientists and/or support professionals who come together to provide coordinated support for the sustainable development, deployment, use, sharing and maintenance of research software within a research institution or across multiple institutions. Research software guilds may focus on different roles within the research software ecosystem, such as software development, infrastructure administration, training, community management, or advocacy. The defining feature of a research software guild is its shared mission to strengthen specific research software or research software in general as a core research asset. When implemented in practice, a single institution may host multiple guilds, such as:

• dedicated research software/scientific computing departments or centres
• embedded research software/scientific computing teams within research institutes
• distributed networks of RSEs across different units
• Open Source Program Offices (OSPOs)
• semi-stable working groups supporting research software engineering
• time-limited project-based initiatives supporting research software engineering
• virtual, cross-institutional collectives supporting research software engineering