From dd589e6b6e6042e2085b5972df2623a8be05584d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Florian Goth Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2026 13:50:08 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 01/34] partially address the comment --- paper.tex | 3 +++ 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+) diff --git a/paper.tex b/paper.tex index 3be772f..44e6c75 100644 --- a/paper.tex +++ b/paper.tex @@ -526,6 +526,9 @@ \subsection{Transition Pathway} We propose a potential transition path, beginning with purely embedded RSEs---distributed across the institution and linked to individual research groups and their projects---and leading toward a centralised institutional RSE unit. After starting with initial measures not necessarily requiring dedicated funding, we discuss developing a business plan and how the RSE unit can be established. We conclude with measures for promoting its growth. +Naturally, the presence of a \"new\" Department like an RSE department at an academic institution will lead to a realignment of responsibilities of existing departments. +Stakeholders that are affected are for example traditional IT centers, libraries, but also RDM units and legal offices. We argue, that an RSE unit does not aim to replace them, but +offers new possibilities to connect these exisiting institutions and thereby enables an academic insititution to offer a stronger portfolio to its scientists. \subsubsection{Initial Measures} The following measures initialise the two modules presented in \autoref{sec:network} and \autoref{sec:teaching}. From a03ee6c529beaece13d25273aa64637f5473a438 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Dominic Kempf Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2026 16:45:49 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 02/34] Update paper.tex Co-authored-by: axel-loewe <52000348+axel-loewe@users.noreply.github.com> --- paper.tex | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/paper.tex b/paper.tex index 44e6c75..39cb478 100644 --- a/paper.tex +++ b/paper.tex @@ -526,7 +526,7 @@ \subsection{Transition Pathway} We propose a potential transition path, beginning with purely embedded RSEs---distributed across the institution and linked to individual research groups and their projects---and leading toward a centralised institutional RSE unit. After starting with initial measures not necessarily requiring dedicated funding, we discuss developing a business plan and how the RSE unit can be established. We conclude with measures for promoting its growth. -Naturally, the presence of a \"new\" Department like an RSE department at an academic institution will lead to a realignment of responsibilities of existing departments. +Naturally, the presence of a \"new\" department like an RSE department at an academic institution will lead to a realignment of responsibilities of existing departments. Stakeholders that are affected are for example traditional IT centers, libraries, but also RDM units and legal offices. We argue, that an RSE unit does not aim to replace them, but offers new possibilities to connect these exisiting institutions and thereby enables an academic insititution to offer a stronger portfolio to its scientists. From 259c70397782cea939561353c9f057baaf53a298 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Dominic Kempf Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2026 16:46:18 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 03/34] Update paper.tex Co-authored-by: axel-loewe <52000348+axel-loewe@users.noreply.github.com> --- paper.tex | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/paper.tex b/paper.tex index 39cb478..6aa190c 100644 --- a/paper.tex +++ b/paper.tex @@ -527,7 +527,7 @@ \subsection{Transition Pathway} After starting with initial measures not necessarily requiring dedicated funding, we discuss developing a business plan and how the RSE unit can be established. We conclude with measures for promoting its growth. Naturally, the presence of a \"new\" department like an RSE department at an academic institution will lead to a realignment of responsibilities of existing departments. -Stakeholders that are affected are for example traditional IT centers, libraries, but also RDM units and legal offices. We argue, that an RSE unit does not aim to replace them, but +Stakeholders that are affected are for example traditional IT centers, libraries, but also RDM units and legal offices. We argue that an RSE unit does not aim to replace them but offers new possibilities to connect these exisiting institutions and thereby enables an academic insititution to offer a stronger portfolio to its scientists. \subsubsection{Initial Measures} From d0e9f597ff87a8e6a77a57e4e206f49a66b97494 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Florian Goth Date: Thu, 2 Jul 2026 08:08:50 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 04/34] make it its own subsubsec and move to end of subsec --- paper.tex | 9 ++++++--- 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) diff --git a/paper.tex b/paper.tex index 6aa190c..6dc78f7 100644 --- a/paper.tex +++ b/paper.tex @@ -526,9 +526,6 @@ \subsection{Transition Pathway} We propose a potential transition path, beginning with purely embedded RSEs---distributed across the institution and linked to individual research groups and their projects---and leading toward a centralised institutional RSE unit. After starting with initial measures not necessarily requiring dedicated funding, we discuss developing a business plan and how the RSE unit can be established. We conclude with measures for promoting its growth. -Naturally, the presence of a \"new\" department like an RSE department at an academic institution will lead to a realignment of responsibilities of existing departments. -Stakeholders that are affected are for example traditional IT centers, libraries, but also RDM units and legal offices. We argue that an RSE unit does not aim to replace them but -offers new possibilities to connect these exisiting institutions and thereby enables an academic insititution to offer a stronger portfolio to its scientists. \subsubsection{Initial Measures} The following measures initialise the two modules presented in \autoref{sec:network} and \autoref{sec:teaching}. @@ -614,6 +611,12 @@ \subsubsection{Growth of the Unit} In addition, SIS offers services in the areas of data science, machine learning, bioinformatics, trusted compute environments, and training and consulting. \end{mdframed} +\subsubsection{Threats and Opportunities} +Naturally, the presence of a \"new\" department like an RSE department at an academic institution will lead to a realignment of responsibilities of existing departments. +Stakeholders that are affected are for example traditional IT centers, libraries, but also RDM units and legal offices. We argue that an RSE unit does not aim to replace them but +offers new possibilities to connect these exisiting institutions and thereby enables an academic insititution to offer a stronger portfolio to its scientists. + + \subsection{Outsourcing} Another possibility for the realisation of local RSE Service providers is by forming a spin-off and pooling the RSE Skills into an external company, which has benefits but also drawbacks. From 78bfe88c1fecea962eaa91e910f3643a844ace1c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Florian Goth Date: Thu, 2 Jul 2026 08:12:43 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 05/34] fix typos --- paper.tex | 4 ++-- 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/paper.tex b/paper.tex index 6dc78f7..0fba144 100644 --- a/paper.tex +++ b/paper.tex @@ -613,8 +613,8 @@ \subsubsection{Growth of the Unit} \subsubsection{Threats and Opportunities} Naturally, the presence of a \"new\" department like an RSE department at an academic institution will lead to a realignment of responsibilities of existing departments. -Stakeholders that are affected are for example traditional IT centers, libraries, but also RDM units and legal offices. We argue that an RSE unit does not aim to replace them but -offers new possibilities to connect these exisiting institutions and thereby enables an academic insititution to offer a stronger portfolio to its scientists. +Stakeholders that are affected are for example traditional IT centres, libraries, but also RDM units and legal offices. We argue, that an RSE unit does not aim to replace them, but +offers new possibilities to connect these existing institutions and thereby enables an academic insititution to offer a stronger portfolio to its scientists. \subsection{Outsourcing} From 0ac1e12838aaebe12fc19fbc3533519aa7adb184 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Florian Goth Date: Thu, 2 Jul 2026 08:18:21 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 06/34] address the notion of failure with a sentence. --- paper.tex | 5 +++-- 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/paper.tex b/paper.tex index 0fba144..bb38ef2 100644 --- a/paper.tex +++ b/paper.tex @@ -611,11 +611,12 @@ \subsubsection{Growth of the Unit} In addition, SIS offers services in the areas of data science, machine learning, bioinformatics, trusted compute environments, and training and consulting. \end{mdframed} -\subsubsection{Threats and Opportunities} +\subsubsection{Risk Assessment and Opportunities} Naturally, the presence of a \"new\" department like an RSE department at an academic institution will lead to a realignment of responsibilities of existing departments. Stakeholders that are affected are for example traditional IT centres, libraries, but also RDM units and legal offices. We argue, that an RSE unit does not aim to replace them, but offers new possibilities to connect these existing institutions and thereby enables an academic insititution to offer a stronger portfolio to its scientists. - +Even, if the concept of an RSE unit fails at a specific institution, its duties and the employed people +can be shifted to the other departments until a new structure has been found. \subsection{Outsourcing} From 791dc2dc349952ecfdee4755dcd80fc91006cf71 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Florian Goth Date: Thu, 2 Jul 2026 09:00:05 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 07/34] Add a sentence to each mentioned weakness --- paper.tex | 19 +++++++++++++++++-- 1 file changed, 17 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/paper.tex b/paper.tex index bb38ef2..5de1c2d 100644 --- a/paper.tex +++ b/paper.tex @@ -117,6 +117,7 @@ \section{Motivation for central RSE units} Handling this increased complexity whilst ensuring timely delivery requires dedicated RSEs in central RSE units. \subsection{Pooling: a necessary ingredient} +\label{subsec:pooling} The main focus of this paper lies on central RSE teams since the benefits of RSEs to research in general are described elsewhere, \eg{} in~\autocite{Anzt2021}. The main advantages of central RSE units all stem from the pooling of resources. There are at least three aspects to RSE pooling that research institutions can benefit from: funding, diverse knowledge, and a central point of contact. @@ -616,7 +617,21 @@ \subsubsection{Risk Assessment and Opportunities} Stakeholders that are affected are for example traditional IT centres, libraries, but also RDM units and legal offices. We argue, that an RSE unit does not aim to replace them, but offers new possibilities to connect these existing institutions and thereby enables an academic insititution to offer a stronger portfolio to its scientists. Even, if the concept of an RSE unit fails at a specific institution, its duties and the employed people -can be shifted to the other departments until a new structure has been found. +can be shifted to the other departments until a new structure has been found.\\ +Governance and organisational location are points that have to be negotiated +inividually at each institution and probably also for a lot of employees of the RSE unit. +This comes partially from the aforementioned stakeholders, but also from the necessity, +that while the unit is a central infrastructure, it needs to be able within +the agile structures of academic research, therefore a certain lack of structures is expected. +Finding people for staffing this unit is a challenging tasks, but this is partially adressed +through the wide network within the university that the unit forms, and also by +further measures described in \ref{subsec:staff}. +Funding will always be an issue of any newly established structure at german university. +Initial funding, e.g. by initiatives outside of the university, can jumpstart the unit, +ultimately it has to prove its value to the scientists of the university such that the pooling idea +we have given \ref{subsec:pooling} gains traction. +While ``measuring'' the success of the unit certainly has to be done, ultimately +the scientists have to come to the conclusion that do not want to see the unit disappear again. \subsection{Outsourcing} @@ -636,7 +651,7 @@ \subsection{Outsourcing} On top of these drawbacks, there are soft factors, like whether an external company is accepted by scientists. \subsection{Staff Acquisition/People} - +\label{subsec:staff} RSE units need to be staffed, but where do potential employees come from? So far, researchers accidentally find themselves in the role of an RSE because they pursued software development as part of their research. A more deliberate approach with specific RSE education may be necessary to train people in sufficient numbers for central RSE units. From e7a7f96ef067a57d7f56bc02d49e04c38007eadc Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Florian Goth Date: Thu, 2 Jul 2026 17:18:52 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 08/34] forgot reviewer comments --- review_answers/review_1_answers.md | 2 ++ review_answers/review_2_answers.md | 3 ++- 2 files changed, 4 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/review_answers/review_1_answers.md b/review_answers/review_1_answers.md index 2cddfc2..2e1c945 100644 --- a/review_answers/review_1_answers.md +++ b/review_answers/review_1_answers.md @@ -55,5 +55,7 @@ > Expand the discussion on implementation risks, such as funding instability, unclear governance, overlap with IT/RDM units, and difficulty in recruiting qualified RSE staff. **Answer:** +We thank the reviewer for pointing out this omission and have now added a risk assessmant and opportunities subsubsection in the realisation chapter. +In this paragraph we elaborate on the risks mentioned by the reviewer. --- diff --git a/review_answers/review_2_answers.md b/review_answers/review_2_answers.md index 54423a1..443be8f 100644 --- a/review_answers/review_2_answers.md +++ b/review_answers/review_2_answers.md @@ -185,7 +185,8 @@ > You do not discuss risks or failure modes. For example, what happens if a central RSE unit cannot get enough project funding? What if it competes with existing IT or RDM units? Add a short paragraph on risks. **Answer:** - +We thank the reviewer for pointing out this omission. We have added a subsubsection on risk assessmant in the realisation chapter where we elaborate +on the risks mentioned by the reviewer. --- ### Comment 25 From a1181b4d18396839d2817b4ed63a21a93abaf862 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Florian Goth Date: Thu, 2 Jul 2026 17:20:57 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 09/34] forgot another reviewer comment --- review_answers/review_1_answers.md | 3 ++- 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/review_answers/review_1_answers.md b/review_answers/review_1_answers.md index 2e1c945..b1d1d4b 100644 --- a/review_answers/review_1_answers.md +++ b/review_answers/review_1_answers.md @@ -18,7 +18,8 @@ > The conclusions are generally consistent with the arguments presented, but somewhat stronger than the evidence allows. Recommendations for investing in central RSE units are justified, but statements suggesting widespread institutional improvements should be more carefully balanced with a discussion of risks, costs, governance challenges, and potential failure modes. **Answer:** - +The reviewer is right to suggest a more elaborate discussion of risks for an RSE unit and we took the opportunity +to write a separate subsusection on risks in the realisation of an RSE unit. --- ## Specific requests From c55784086f981975c4ee8b319e3ece650bc015b0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: CaptainSifff Date: Thu, 2 Jul 2026 23:20:27 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 10/34] Update paper.tex Co-authored-by: Magnus Hagdorn --- paper.tex | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/paper.tex b/paper.tex index 5de1c2d..f32b4fb 100644 --- a/paper.tex +++ b/paper.tex @@ -626,7 +626,7 @@ \subsubsection{Risk Assessment and Opportunities} Finding people for staffing this unit is a challenging tasks, but this is partially adressed through the wide network within the university that the unit forms, and also by further measures described in \ref{subsec:staff}. -Funding will always be an issue of any newly established structure at german university. +Funding will always be an issue of any newly established structure at a German university. Initial funding, e.g. by initiatives outside of the university, can jumpstart the unit, ultimately it has to prove its value to the scientists of the university such that the pooling idea we have given \ref{subsec:pooling} gains traction. From 5e46c691a761334279659e9ab95d3658a3ca4d7a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: CaptainSifff Date: Thu, 2 Jul 2026 23:20:42 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 11/34] Update paper.tex Co-authored-by: Magnus Hagdorn --- paper.tex | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/paper.tex b/paper.tex index f32b4fb..9098dc9 100644 --- a/paper.tex +++ b/paper.tex @@ -631,7 +631,7 @@ \subsubsection{Risk Assessment and Opportunities} ultimately it has to prove its value to the scientists of the university such that the pooling idea we have given \ref{subsec:pooling} gains traction. While ``measuring'' the success of the unit certainly has to be done, ultimately -the scientists have to come to the conclusion that do not want to see the unit disappear again. +the scientists have to come to the conclusion whether the RSE unit is worthwhile and should be kept. \subsection{Outsourcing} From afcbada8f1e5c27f8d4d08841ebead01f1ecb0ac Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Florian Goth Date: Thu, 2 Jul 2026 23:26:32 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 12/34] an attempt at clarifying a sentence --- paper.tex | 7 ++++--- 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) diff --git a/paper.tex b/paper.tex index 9098dc9..455c9bf 100644 --- a/paper.tex +++ b/paper.tex @@ -619,10 +619,11 @@ \subsubsection{Risk Assessment and Opportunities} Even, if the concept of an RSE unit fails at a specific institution, its duties and the employed people can be shifted to the other departments until a new structure has been found.\\ Governance and organisational location are points that have to be negotiated -inividually at each institution and probably also for a lot of employees of the RSE unit. +inividually at each institution and probably also for a lot of employees of the RSE unit in order to fit the needs of the scientists. This comes partially from the aforementioned stakeholders, but also from the necessity, -that while the unit is a central infrastructure, it needs to be able within -the agile structures of academic research, therefore a certain lack of structures is expected. +that while the unit is a central infrastructure, +it needs to be able to provide the services of their employees within the agile structures of academic research -- close to the scientists. +Therefore a certain lack of formalised, organisational structures can be expected. Finding people for staffing this unit is a challenging tasks, but this is partially adressed through the wide network within the university that the unit forms, and also by further measures described in \ref{subsec:staff}. From 89bd059229ca513ee3f26bd97c0d7156fed5744e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Florian Goth Date: Thu, 2 Jul 2026 23:28:06 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 13/34] fix typo --- paper.tex | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/paper.tex b/paper.tex index 455c9bf..f0b8cda 100644 --- a/paper.tex +++ b/paper.tex @@ -624,7 +624,7 @@ \subsubsection{Risk Assessment and Opportunities} that while the unit is a central infrastructure, it needs to be able to provide the services of their employees within the agile structures of academic research -- close to the scientists. Therefore a certain lack of formalised, organisational structures can be expected. -Finding people for staffing this unit is a challenging tasks, but this is partially adressed +Finding people for staffing this unit is a challenging tasks, but this is partially addressed through the wide network within the university that the unit forms, and also by further measures described in \ref{subsec:staff}. Funding will always be an issue of any newly established structure at a German university. From e68773668aeb0b463ef3ea057e6147d2201cafc0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: =?UTF-8?q?Frank=20L=C3=B6ffler?= Date: Fri, 3 Jul 2026 14:03:01 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 14/34] Apply suggestion from @knarrff use utf8 quotes --- paper.tex | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/paper.tex b/paper.tex index 06d0b2a..82203d9 100644 --- a/paper.tex +++ b/paper.tex @@ -644,7 +644,7 @@ \subsubsection{Risk Assessment and Opportunities} Initial funding, e.g. by initiatives outside of the university, can jumpstart the unit, ultimately it has to prove its value to the scientists of the university such that the pooling idea we have given \ref{subsec:pooling} gains traction. -While ``measuring'' the success of the unit certainly has to be done, ultimately +While “measuring” the success of the unit certainly has to be done, ultimately the scientists have to come to the conclusion whether the RSE unit is worthwhile and should be kept. \subsection{Outsourcing} From 4657cae9377fc9e7f607eb1796662f36c820b7dc Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: =?UTF-8?q?Frank=20L=C3=B6ffler?= Date: Fri, 3 Jul 2026 14:04:08 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 15/34] Apply suggestion from @knarrff utf8 quotes --- paper.tex | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/paper.tex b/paper.tex index 82203d9..5ecc93b 100644 --- a/paper.tex +++ b/paper.tex @@ -626,7 +626,7 @@ \subsubsection{Growth of the Unit} \end{mdframed} \subsubsection{Risk Assessment and Opportunities} -Naturally, the presence of a \"new\" department like an RSE department at an academic institution will lead to a realignment of responsibilities of existing departments. +Naturally, the presence of a “new” department like an RSE department at an academic institution will lead to a realignment of responsibilities of existing departments. Stakeholders that are affected are for example traditional IT centres, libraries, but also RDM units and legal offices. We argue, that an RSE unit does not aim to replace them, but offers new possibilities to connect these existing institutions and thereby enables an academic insititution to offer a stronger portfolio to its scientists. Even, if the concept of an RSE unit fails at a specific institution, its duties and the employed people From a0243d2ff29beb127f93256dffcdea8d1cdfa873 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: =?UTF-8?q?Frank=20L=C3=B6ffler?= Date: Fri, 3 Jul 2026 14:08:15 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 16/34] semantic linebreaks and minor things --- paper.tex | 27 ++++++++++----------------- 1 file changed, 10 insertions(+), 17 deletions(-) diff --git a/paper.tex b/paper.tex index 5ecc93b..133868a 100644 --- a/paper.tex +++ b/paper.tex @@ -627,25 +627,18 @@ \subsubsection{Growth of the Unit} \subsubsection{Risk Assessment and Opportunities} Naturally, the presence of a “new” department like an RSE department at an academic institution will lead to a realignment of responsibilities of existing departments. -Stakeholders that are affected are for example traditional IT centres, libraries, but also RDM units and legal offices. We argue, that an RSE unit does not aim to replace them, but -offers new possibilities to connect these existing institutions and thereby enables an academic insititution to offer a stronger portfolio to its scientists. -Even, if the concept of an RSE unit fails at a specific institution, its duties and the employed people -can be shifted to the other departments until a new structure has been found.\\ -Governance and organisational location are points that have to be negotiated -inividually at each institution and probably also for a lot of employees of the RSE unit in order to fit the needs of the scientists. -This comes partially from the aforementioned stakeholders, but also from the necessity, -that while the unit is a central infrastructure, -it needs to be able to provide the services of their employees within the agile structures of academic research -- close to the scientists. +Stakeholders that might be affected are for example traditional IT centres, libraries, but also RDM units and legal offices. +We argue, that an RSE unit does not aim to replace them, but offers new possibilities to connect these existing institutions and thereby enables an academic insititution to offer a stronger portfolio to its scientists. + +Even if the concept of an RSE unit fails at a specific institution, its duties and the employed people can be shifted to the other departments until a new structure has been found. +Governance and organisational location are points that have to be negotiated inividually at each institution and probably also for a lot of employees of the RSE unit in order to fit the needs of the scientists. +This comes partially from the aforementioned stakeholders, but also from the necessity, that while the unit is a central infrastructure, + it needs to be able to provide the services of their employees within the agile structures of academic research -- close to the scientists. Therefore a certain lack of formalised, organisational structures can be expected. -Finding people for staffing this unit is a challenging tasks, but this is partially addressed -through the wide network within the university that the unit forms, and also by -further measures described in \ref{subsec:staff}. +Finding people for staffing this unit is a challenging tasks, but this is partially addressed through the wide network within the university that the unit forms, and also by further measures described in~\ref{subsec:staff}. Funding will always be an issue of any newly established structure at a German university. -Initial funding, e.g. by initiatives outside of the university, can jumpstart the unit, -ultimately it has to prove its value to the scientists of the university such that the pooling idea -we have given \ref{subsec:pooling} gains traction. -While “measuring” the success of the unit certainly has to be done, ultimately -the scientists have to come to the conclusion whether the RSE unit is worthwhile and should be kept. +Initial funding, e. g., by initiatives outside of the university, can jumpstart the unit, ultimately it has to prove its value to the scientists of the university such that the pooling idea we have given~\ref{subsec:pooling} gains traction. +While “measuring” the success of the unit certainly has its difficulties but could be tried, ultimately the scientists have to come to the conclusion whether the RSE unit is worthwhile and should be kept. \subsection{Outsourcing} From bbd7cbaf46465de38391a7632d4acbc868c617d0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Dominic Kempf Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2026 15:03:46 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 17/34] Update review_answers/review_2_answers.md Co-authored-by: Magnus Hagdorn --- review_answers/review_2_answers.md | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/review_answers/review_2_answers.md b/review_answers/review_2_answers.md index 43cb640..5c8026c 100644 --- a/review_answers/review_2_answers.md +++ b/review_answers/review_2_answers.md @@ -244,7 +244,7 @@ Please see our general answer on this manuscript being an _opinion article._ > You do not discuss risks or failure modes. For example, what happens if a central RSE unit cannot get enough project funding? What if it competes with existing IT or RDM units? Add a short paragraph on risks. **Answer:** -We thank the reviewer for pointing out this omission. We have added a subsubsection on risk assessmant in the realisation chapter where we elaborate +We thank the reviewer for pointing out this omission. We have added a subsection on risk assessmant in the realisation chapter where we elaborate on the risks mentioned by the reviewer. --- From 38f17f6d9e333959ba2447bd510780c853bf5d3d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Dominic Kempf Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2026 15:04:16 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 18/34] Update paper.tex Co-authored-by: Magnus Hagdorn --- paper.tex | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/paper.tex b/paper.tex index 133868a..28343dc 100644 --- a/paper.tex +++ b/paper.tex @@ -626,7 +626,7 @@ \subsubsection{Growth of the Unit} \end{mdframed} \subsubsection{Risk Assessment and Opportunities} -Naturally, the presence of a “new” department like an RSE department at an academic institution will lead to a realignment of responsibilities of existing departments. +Naturally, establishing a “new” department like an RSE department at an academic institution will lead to a realignment of responsibilities of existing departments. Stakeholders that might be affected are for example traditional IT centres, libraries, but also RDM units and legal offices. We argue, that an RSE unit does not aim to replace them, but offers new possibilities to connect these existing institutions and thereby enables an academic insititution to offer a stronger portfolio to its scientists. From c930dffc4b4de6e280e285a73759eb29fe5bd5c3 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Dominic Kempf Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2026 15:04:38 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 19/34] Update paper.tex Co-authored-by: Magnus Hagdorn --- paper.tex | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/paper.tex b/paper.tex index 28343dc..4a7fb2d 100644 --- a/paper.tex +++ b/paper.tex @@ -627,7 +627,7 @@ \subsubsection{Growth of the Unit} \subsubsection{Risk Assessment and Opportunities} Naturally, establishing a “new” department like an RSE department at an academic institution will lead to a realignment of responsibilities of existing departments. -Stakeholders that might be affected are for example traditional IT centres, libraries, but also RDM units and legal offices. +Units that might be affected include not only traditional IT centres, libraries, but also RDM units and legal offices. We argue, that an RSE unit does not aim to replace them, but offers new possibilities to connect these existing institutions and thereby enables an academic insititution to offer a stronger portfolio to its scientists. Even if the concept of an RSE unit fails at a specific institution, its duties and the employed people can be shifted to the other departments until a new structure has been found. From ad0feb1cc754b655a2110303f18f43fdba08554d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Dominic Kempf Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2026 15:04:51 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 20/34] Update review_answers/review_1_answers.md Co-authored-by: Magnus Hagdorn --- review_answers/review_1_answers.md | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/review_answers/review_1_answers.md b/review_answers/review_1_answers.md index 7a52e12..af59d47 100644 --- a/review_answers/review_1_answers.md +++ b/review_answers/review_1_answers.md @@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ We thank you very much for your review and the opportunity to improve our manusc > The conclusions are generally consistent with the arguments presented, but somewhat stronger than the evidence allows. Recommendations for investing in central RSE units are justified, but statements suggesting widespread institutional improvements should be more carefully balanced with a discussion of risks, costs, governance challenges, and potential failure modes. **Answer:** -The reviewer is right to suggest a more elaborate discussion of risks for an RSE unit and we took the opportunity to write a separate subsusection on risks in the realisation of an RSE unit. +The reviewer is right to suggest a more elaborate discussion of risks for an RSE unit and we took the opportunity to write a separate subsection on risks in the realisation of an RSE unit. However, we also did not intend to conduct a statistically significant, representative survey of RSE units. Our aim was to collect some feedback that we can use to demmonstrate the breadth of services offered by existing units and to support the selection of service modules we defined. We have replaced the term survey with less formal formulations. From 74cf31ba60d274073fca0dff021aafb43a26f856 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Dominic Kempf Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2026 15:05:08 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 21/34] Update paper.tex Co-authored-by: Magnus Hagdorn --- paper.tex | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/paper.tex b/paper.tex index 4a7fb2d..f4c22c4 100644 --- a/paper.tex +++ b/paper.tex @@ -628,7 +628,7 @@ \subsubsection{Growth of the Unit} \subsubsection{Risk Assessment and Opportunities} Naturally, establishing a “new” department like an RSE department at an academic institution will lead to a realignment of responsibilities of existing departments. Units that might be affected include not only traditional IT centres, libraries, but also RDM units and legal offices. -We argue, that an RSE unit does not aim to replace them, but offers new possibilities to connect these existing institutions and thereby enables an academic insititution to offer a stronger portfolio to its scientists. +We argue, that an RSE unit does not aim to replace them, but offers new possibilities to connect these existing departments and thereby enables an academic insititution to offer a stronger portfolio to its researchers. Even if the concept of an RSE unit fails at a specific institution, its duties and the employed people can be shifted to the other departments until a new structure has been found. Governance and organisational location are points that have to be negotiated inividually at each institution and probably also for a lot of employees of the RSE unit in order to fit the needs of the scientists. From 05fb05ac5b9fdb08c3a8ec084b8a1a6906641350 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Dominic Kempf Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2026 15:05:19 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 22/34] Update paper.tex Co-authored-by: Magnus Hagdorn --- paper.tex | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/paper.tex b/paper.tex index f4c22c4..ee79877 100644 --- a/paper.tex +++ b/paper.tex @@ -631,7 +631,7 @@ \subsubsection{Risk Assessment and Opportunities} We argue, that an RSE unit does not aim to replace them, but offers new possibilities to connect these existing departments and thereby enables an academic insititution to offer a stronger portfolio to its researchers. Even if the concept of an RSE unit fails at a specific institution, its duties and the employed people can be shifted to the other departments until a new structure has been found. -Governance and organisational location are points that have to be negotiated inividually at each institution and probably also for a lot of employees of the RSE unit in order to fit the needs of the scientists. +Governance and organisational location are points that have to be negotiated inividually at each institution and probably also for a lot of employees of the RSE unit in order to fit the needs of the researchers. This comes partially from the aforementioned stakeholders, but also from the necessity, that while the unit is a central infrastructure, it needs to be able to provide the services of their employees within the agile structures of academic research -- close to the scientists. Therefore a certain lack of formalised, organisational structures can be expected. From 1b9f2638e4290444bfa4b793a0a66ce6d82cbe46 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Dominic Kempf Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2026 15:05:39 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 23/34] Update paper.tex Co-authored-by: Magnus Hagdorn --- paper.tex | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/paper.tex b/paper.tex index ee79877..aa3271f 100644 --- a/paper.tex +++ b/paper.tex @@ -637,7 +637,7 @@ \subsubsection{Risk Assessment and Opportunities} Therefore a certain lack of formalised, organisational structures can be expected. Finding people for staffing this unit is a challenging tasks, but this is partially addressed through the wide network within the university that the unit forms, and also by further measures described in~\ref{subsec:staff}. Funding will always be an issue of any newly established structure at a German university. -Initial funding, e. g., by initiatives outside of the university, can jumpstart the unit, ultimately it has to prove its value to the scientists of the university such that the pooling idea we have given~\ref{subsec:pooling} gains traction. +Initial funding, e. g., by initiatives outside of the university, can jumpstart the unit, ultimately it has to prove its value to the researchers of the university such that the pooling idea we have given~\ref{subsec:pooling} gains traction. While “measuring” the success of the unit certainly has its difficulties but could be tried, ultimately the scientists have to come to the conclusion whether the RSE unit is worthwhile and should be kept. \subsection{Outsourcing} From 67f60514cbd8841d01f7b4ac2ccb2f19ba5d24cd Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Dominic Kempf Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2026 15:06:20 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 24/34] Update paper.tex Co-authored-by: Magnus Hagdorn --- paper.tex | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/paper.tex b/paper.tex index aa3271f..2af3dbf 100644 --- a/paper.tex +++ b/paper.tex @@ -638,7 +638,7 @@ \subsubsection{Risk Assessment and Opportunities} Finding people for staffing this unit is a challenging tasks, but this is partially addressed through the wide network within the university that the unit forms, and also by further measures described in~\ref{subsec:staff}. Funding will always be an issue of any newly established structure at a German university. Initial funding, e. g., by initiatives outside of the university, can jumpstart the unit, ultimately it has to prove its value to the researchers of the university such that the pooling idea we have given~\ref{subsec:pooling} gains traction. -While “measuring” the success of the unit certainly has its difficulties but could be tried, ultimately the scientists have to come to the conclusion whether the RSE unit is worthwhile and should be kept. +While “measuring” the success of the unit certainly has its difficulties but could be tried, ultimately the researchers have to come to the conclusion whether the RSE unit is worthwhile and should be kept. \subsection{Outsourcing} From e17ab491d5de4981339ac4fa206238487f51f60b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Dominic Kempf Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2026 15:41:11 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 25/34] Rewrite risk assessment paragraph --- paper.tex | 20 +++++++++----------- 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-) diff --git a/paper.tex b/paper.tex index 2af3dbf..d6243e6 100644 --- a/paper.tex +++ b/paper.tex @@ -625,20 +625,18 @@ \subsubsection{Growth of the Unit} In addition, SIS offers services in the areas of data science, machine learning, bioinformatics, trusted compute environments, and training and consulting. \end{mdframed} -\subsubsection{Risk Assessment and Opportunities} +\subsubsection{Risk Assessment and Mitigation} Naturally, establishing a “new” department like an RSE department at an academic institution will lead to a realignment of responsibilities of existing departments. Units that might be affected include not only traditional IT centres, libraries, but also RDM units and legal offices. We argue, that an RSE unit does not aim to replace them, but offers new possibilities to connect these existing departments and thereby enables an academic insititution to offer a stronger portfolio to its researchers. - -Even if the concept of an RSE unit fails at a specific institution, its duties and the employed people can be shifted to the other departments until a new structure has been found. -Governance and organisational location are points that have to be negotiated inividually at each institution and probably also for a lot of employees of the RSE unit in order to fit the needs of the researchers. -This comes partially from the aforementioned stakeholders, but also from the necessity, that while the unit is a central infrastructure, - it needs to be able to provide the services of their employees within the agile structures of academic research -- close to the scientists. -Therefore a certain lack of formalised, organisational structures can be expected. -Finding people for staffing this unit is a challenging tasks, but this is partially addressed through the wide network within the university that the unit forms, and also by further measures described in~\ref{subsec:staff}. -Funding will always be an issue of any newly established structure at a German university. -Initial funding, e. g., by initiatives outside of the university, can jumpstart the unit, ultimately it has to prove its value to the researchers of the university such that the pooling idea we have given~\ref{subsec:pooling} gains traction. -While “measuring” the success of the unit certainly has its difficulties but could be tried, ultimately the researchers have to come to the conclusion whether the RSE unit is worthwhile and should be kept. +Giving the new RSE department a clear mandate and mission statements delineating it from other departments further mitigates this. +Optimal governance and organisational location are highly individually for each institution. +In order to avoid risks from unclear governance, however, leadership and responsibilities should be clearly communicated from day one. +Finding qualified staff for an RSE unit is a challenging task, so there is a risk of it failing due to not being able to recruit the required staff. +We provide countermeasures to that risk in section~\ref{subsec:staff}. +Finally, an omnipresent risk in the academic sector is the availability of sufficient funding. +Initial funding, e. g., by initiatives outside of the university, can jumpstart the unit, but ultimately it has to prove its value to the researchers of the university such that the pooling idea we have given~\ref{subsec:pooling} gains traction. +Even in the case that the establishment of an RSE unit fails, the employed people can still be transferred to other departments until a new research software support structure has been found. \subsection{Outsourcing} From 23c8e8c7272130d9cb846994e01a0e8c9298c802 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Dominic Kempf Date: Fri, 31 Jul 2026 11:08:03 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 26/34] Update paper.tex Co-authored-by: Magnus Hagdorn --- paper.tex | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/paper.tex b/paper.tex index d6243e6..2ebbb5b 100644 --- a/paper.tex +++ b/paper.tex @@ -630,7 +630,7 @@ \subsubsection{Risk Assessment and Mitigation} Units that might be affected include not only traditional IT centres, libraries, but also RDM units and legal offices. We argue, that an RSE unit does not aim to replace them, but offers new possibilities to connect these existing departments and thereby enables an academic insititution to offer a stronger portfolio to its researchers. Giving the new RSE department a clear mandate and mission statements delineating it from other departments further mitigates this. -Optimal governance and organisational location are highly individually for each institution. +The governance of an RSE unit and its location within the organisational chart depend on the specifics of each institution. In order to avoid risks from unclear governance, however, leadership and responsibilities should be clearly communicated from day one. Finding qualified staff for an RSE unit is a challenging task, so there is a risk of it failing due to not being able to recruit the required staff. We provide countermeasures to that risk in section~\ref{subsec:staff}. From 7713e27834359305b70eb481bd155e7e7b87f0f6 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Dominic Kempf Date: Fri, 31 Jul 2026 11:08:46 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 27/34] Update paper.tex Co-authored-by: Magnus Hagdorn --- paper.tex | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/paper.tex b/paper.tex index 2ebbb5b..3343213 100644 --- a/paper.tex +++ b/paper.tex @@ -628,7 +628,7 @@ \subsubsection{Growth of the Unit} \subsubsection{Risk Assessment and Mitigation} Naturally, establishing a “new” department like an RSE department at an academic institution will lead to a realignment of responsibilities of existing departments. Units that might be affected include not only traditional IT centres, libraries, but also RDM units and legal offices. -We argue, that an RSE unit does not aim to replace them, but offers new possibilities to connect these existing departments and thereby enables an academic insititution to offer a stronger portfolio to its researchers. +We argue, that an RSE unit does not aim to replace them, but offers new possibilities to connect these existing departments and thereby enables an academic insititution to offer a stronger service portfolio to its researchers. Giving the new RSE department a clear mandate and mission statements delineating it from other departments further mitigates this. The governance of an RSE unit and its location within the organisational chart depend on the specifics of each institution. In order to avoid risks from unclear governance, however, leadership and responsibilities should be clearly communicated from day one. From d6ce1d5c1b86b4759ff36688eade121225a7b6d3 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Dominic Kempf Date: Fri, 31 Jul 2026 11:09:05 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 28/34] Update paper.tex Co-authored-by: Magnus Hagdorn --- paper.tex | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/paper.tex b/paper.tex index 3343213..7ddbf6c 100644 --- a/paper.tex +++ b/paper.tex @@ -631,7 +631,7 @@ \subsubsection{Risk Assessment and Mitigation} We argue, that an RSE unit does not aim to replace them, but offers new possibilities to connect these existing departments and thereby enables an academic insititution to offer a stronger service portfolio to its researchers. Giving the new RSE department a clear mandate and mission statements delineating it from other departments further mitigates this. The governance of an RSE unit and its location within the organisational chart depend on the specifics of each institution. -In order to avoid risks from unclear governance, however, leadership and responsibilities should be clearly communicated from day one. +In order to avoid risks from unclear governance, however, leadership and responsibilities should be clearly set out at the inception of the unit. Finding qualified staff for an RSE unit is a challenging task, so there is a risk of it failing due to not being able to recruit the required staff. We provide countermeasures to that risk in section~\ref{subsec:staff}. Finally, an omnipresent risk in the academic sector is the availability of sufficient funding. From f700f26610c1d7de8cb12ed479ab1c92ebb5a537 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Dominic Kempf Date: Fri, 31 Jul 2026 11:10:08 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 29/34] Update paper.tex Co-authored-by: Magnus Hagdorn --- paper.tex | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/paper.tex b/paper.tex index 7ddbf6c..a7760da 100644 --- a/paper.tex +++ b/paper.tex @@ -629,7 +629,7 @@ \subsubsection{Risk Assessment and Mitigation} Naturally, establishing a “new” department like an RSE department at an academic institution will lead to a realignment of responsibilities of existing departments. Units that might be affected include not only traditional IT centres, libraries, but also RDM units and legal offices. We argue, that an RSE unit does not aim to replace them, but offers new possibilities to connect these existing departments and thereby enables an academic insititution to offer a stronger service portfolio to its researchers. -Giving the new RSE department a clear mandate and mission statements delineating it from other departments further mitigates this. +Giving the new RSE department a clear mandate and mission statements ensures further delineation from other departments and helps to avoid overlapping responsibilities.``` The governance of an RSE unit and its location within the organisational chart depend on the specifics of each institution. In order to avoid risks from unclear governance, however, leadership and responsibilities should be clearly set out at the inception of the unit. Finding qualified staff for an RSE unit is a challenging task, so there is a risk of it failing due to not being able to recruit the required staff. From 9693e6065ae8d9153a1cedd943718f0f7f622b6d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: "Philipp S. Sommer" Date: Fri, 3 Jul 2026 15:37:04 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 30/34] add reference to WissZeitVG closes #210 --- paper.tex | 2 +- positionpaper.bib | 8 ++++++++ 2 files changed, 9 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/paper.tex b/paper.tex index a7760da..009448c 100644 --- a/paper.tex +++ b/paper.tex @@ -642,7 +642,7 @@ \subsection{Outsourcing} Another possibility for the realisation of local RSE Service providers is by forming a spin-off and pooling the RSE Skills into an external company, which has benefits but also drawbacks. This is an idea that so far lacks examples but for completeness we list some of the advantages and disadvantages. -Among the most obvious benefits is that this enables the creation of contracts outside of the WissZeitVG.\@ +Among the most obvious benefits is that this enables the creation of contracts outside of the WissZeitVG~\cite{Germany2007}.\@ This also widens the customer base of the RSE unit since the newly founded company may obtain contracts from industry. If this company is backed/branded by the institution, this enables another possibility for an institution to interact with local companies. This might open opportunities for employees to more freely move between industries and academia. diff --git a/positionpaper.bib b/positionpaper.bib index ac64706..2d3d1ab 100644 --- a/positionpaper.bib +++ b/positionpaper.bib @@ -390,6 +390,14 @@ @Online{Princeton2025 urldate = {2025-01-31} } +@Online{Germany2007, + author = {Bundesrepublik Deutschland}, + title = {Gesetz über befristete Arbeitsverträge in der Wissenschaft (Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz - WissZeitVG)}, + year = {2007}, + url = {https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/wisszeitvg/__1.html}, + urldate = {2026-07-03} +} + @INPROCEEDINGS{Katz2019, author={Katz, Daniel S. and McHenry, Kenton and Reinking, Caleb and Haines, Robert}, booktitle={2019 {IEEE}/{ACM} 14\textsuperscript{th} International Workshop on Software Engineering for Science (SE4Science)}, From ff42920f3aff29a9ee3b6abab0498cb2645db46f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Dominic Kempf Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2026 15:42:52 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 31/34] Address issue 160 --- review_answers/review_1_answers.md | 1 + 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+) diff --git a/review_answers/review_1_answers.md b/review_answers/review_1_answers.md index af59d47..547c305 100644 --- a/review_answers/review_1_answers.md +++ b/review_answers/review_1_answers.md @@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ Please see our note above about this work being an position paper. > Separate factual evidence from advocacy-oriented arguments. **Answer:** +Please see our note above about this work being an position paper. --- From 0cf5dcefda61714d2bb41a354b170e5c3415aad6 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Dominic Kempf Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2026 15:51:01 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 32/34] Issue 188 --- paper.tex | 1 + review_answers/review_2_answers.md | 1 + 2 files changed, 2 insertions(+) diff --git a/paper.tex b/paper.tex index 009448c..0ca4b4f 100644 --- a/paper.tex +++ b/paper.tex @@ -474,6 +474,7 @@ \section{Existing Implementations}% A number of successful RSE units have already been established in Germany and many more exist in other countries, especially the UK and the US\@. In order to understand the service portfolio of these existing RSE units, we conducted a small survey that received a total of twelve responses from Germany, the UK and the US\@. +This very small sample size does of course not allow any quanitative analysis about RSE departments. We asked RSE units for the composition of their service portfolio --- a number of illustrative examples from the results are shown in Figure~\ref{fig:survey}. The interested reader finds the full data we received in~\cite{datapub}. diff --git a/review_answers/review_2_answers.md b/review_answers/review_2_answers.md index 5c8026c..d557399 100644 --- a/review_answers/review_2_answers.md +++ b/review_answers/review_2_answers.md @@ -262,5 +262,6 @@ The sentence "By unifying previously scattered RSE efforts into a coordinated ap > The paper has no separate "Limitations" section. This is a major flaw for a position paper that makes strong claims. Add a section after Conclusions or before Data Availability that explicitly lists: small survey size, lack of longitudinal data, focus on Germany only, no cost-benefit analysis, and no comparison to alternative models (e.g., fully decentralized RSE support). **Answer:** +We added a sentence about the small sample size not allowing quantitative analysis to the manuscript. Regarding the strength of claims made in the manuscript, we again refer to this being an opinion article. --- From 52883663a709c1cbabe3e74732b0ce4ecefaa5b6 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Dominic Kempf Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2026 16:34:18 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 33/34] Add answers that whose issues somehow slipped --- review_answers/review_1_answers.md | 2 +- review_answers/review_2_answers.md | 2 +- 2 files changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/review_answers/review_1_answers.md b/review_answers/review_1_answers.md index 547c305..80dc234 100644 --- a/review_answers/review_1_answers.md +++ b/review_answers/review_1_answers.md @@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ We have replaced the term survey with less formal formulations. ### Comment 2 > Clarify the limitations of the small survey sample. -**Answer:** +**Answer:** We added a sentence that the small survey size does not allow quantitative analysis. --- diff --git a/review_answers/review_2_answers.md b/review_answers/review_2_answers.md index d557399..ca96f84 100644 --- a/review_answers/review_2_answers.md +++ b/review_answers/review_2_answers.md @@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ A mobile app development was selected as a domain-agnostic example. We have adde ### Comment 15 > Module 8 ("Software maintenance service") lists three criteria for maintenance but criterion 3 ("mechanism for selecting projects") is not explained. How should institutions prioritize? Give at least two example prioritization strategies. -**Answer:** +**Answer:** The criterion reads: "For an overview of potential selection criteria see the section 'How to decide which software to sustain?' in Anzt et al, 2021." We would not want to redundantly repeat the information given there. --- From 66d0b72c9115811a18d45ad76247851221ebe375 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Dominic Kempf Date: Fri, 31 Jul 2026 11:11:00 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 34/34] Remove backticks --- paper.tex | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/paper.tex b/paper.tex index 0ca4b4f..5b7a1e1 100644 --- a/paper.tex +++ b/paper.tex @@ -630,7 +630,7 @@ \subsubsection{Risk Assessment and Mitigation} Naturally, establishing a “new” department like an RSE department at an academic institution will lead to a realignment of responsibilities of existing departments. Units that might be affected include not only traditional IT centres, libraries, but also RDM units and legal offices. We argue, that an RSE unit does not aim to replace them, but offers new possibilities to connect these existing departments and thereby enables an academic insititution to offer a stronger service portfolio to its researchers. -Giving the new RSE department a clear mandate and mission statements ensures further delineation from other departments and helps to avoid overlapping responsibilities.``` +Giving the new RSE department a clear mandate and mission statements ensures further delineation from other departments and helps to avoid overlapping responsibilities. The governance of an RSE unit and its location within the organisational chart depend on the specifics of each institution. In order to avoid risks from unclear governance, however, leadership and responsibilities should be clearly set out at the inception of the unit. Finding qualified staff for an RSE unit is a challenging task, so there is a risk of it failing due to not being able to recruit the required staff.