Basic information#
Duration#
2025–2028
Participants#
Dr. Moritz Schubotz (PI), Dr. Andreas Kühnemund (Co-PI), Maxence Azzouz-Thuderoz — FIZ Karlsruhe – Leibniz Institute for Information Infrastructure
DFG Grant number#
561181416
Project description#
Since 2013, the information service swMATH has been collecting comprehensive metadata on mathematical software, as well as references to this software found in specialized mathematical literature. The service was initiated by FIZ Karlsruhe – Leibniz Institute for Information Infrastructure in collaboration with the Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach (MFO) to enhance the visibility and utility of research software. Since 2022, swMATH has been a central, long-term component of our service portfolio and is fully integrated into zbMATH Open. As of November 2024, swMATH comprises 47,057 software packages referenced in 296,479 distinct documents, making it the world’s largest collection of mathematical research software. Within the framework of the FairCore4Eosc project, source code referenced in swMATH was submitted to Software Heritage, thereby ensuring the long-term archiving of the source text and fostering an ecosystem around the software’s source code. Building on FairCore4Eosc, this project aims to make the added value of the Software Heritage source code ecosystem available to swMATH users. For instance, we plan to equip swMATH with a source code recommendation system tailored to research software, helping users identify the most suitable software or code snippets. Furthermore, we intend to support the swMATH editorial team in metadata maintenance through AI-generated suggestions extracted directly from the software’s source code. The project comprises three components: First, based on our prior analysis of the software ecosystem landscape, we are developing specific, user-centric metrics to measure our service’s performance and defining success criteria for the planned recommendation system, thereby promoting the discoverability of mathematical source code. Second, we are enriching swMATH data with information from Software Heritage and other software registries. Furthermore, we are adapting general (AI) services for software source code to the swMATH catalog, making it easier for mathematicians to use them. Thirdly, we are developing an initial version of a recommendation system and evaluating its effectiveness. The proposed recommendation system will enhance swMATH by providing personalized recommendations based on metadata and source code analysis, including options for open-source alternatives and various implementations. The overarching goal is to pool resources within the research software ecosystem and combine domain-specific services like swMATH with cross-disciplinary initiatives such as Software Heritage and its associated ecosystem. We anticipate that the mathematical community will derive significant benefit from this new service.