Help shape South Africa’s contribution to OECD policy on research software

16 Jan 2026
OECD-Policies-Jan-2026
16 Jan 2026

In 2025, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) hosted its first international workshop on Access to Research Software: Opportunities and Challenges, focused on identifying policy approaches to support research software as a critical enabler of open science.

Following this workshop, South Africa’s Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI) nominated Dr Happy Sithole (National Integrated Cyber Infrastructure System) and Anelda van der Walt (UCT eResearch) to contribute to an OECD project on Implementing and Monitoring Open Science Principles. Their role involves analysing existing South African policies and contributing to the development of an international policy paper on access to research software funded by public sources.

As part of this work, the team is engaging with organisations and research projects across South Africa to better understand how research software is currently addressed in policy and practice. The consultation focuses on five key areas as outlined in the OECD policy case study template: 

  • governance of research software; 

  • human resources and motivation; 

  • infrastructure; 

  • standards, assessment and certification; and 

  • public–private partnerships.

Preliminary analysis suggests that South Africa currently lacks policies that explicitly govern or support the research software ecosystem. This finding is explored further in a recent South African Journal of Science perspective piece, Research software: A key (neglected) component of the digital research infrastructure ecosystem (2025).

Insights gathered through this engagement will inform both the OECD policy paper and discussions at the second OECD workshop on Access to Research Software on 6 March 2026, where international case studies will be discussed. Contributions from the South African research community are therefore critical to ensuring that local contexts, challenges, and good practices are accurately represented in this global process.

Individuals and organisations with relevant policies, frameworks, or experiences related to research software are strongly encouraged to contribute information to support the OECD case studies. Please contact Anelda van der Walt at UCT eResearch to share inputs or request the OECD case study template. Inputs received by 22 January 2026 will be included in the current OECD cycle, with later submissions contributing to an evolving evidence base on research software policy.