Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

Research software engineering accelerates the translation of biomedical research for health

Nature Medicine volume 29, pages 1313–1316 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

Research software engineering is central to data-driven biomedical research, but its role is often undervalued and poorly understood.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: A community cycle of valuing software in the research process.

References

  1. Baker, M. Nature 533, 452–454 (2016).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Wilkinson, M. et al. Sci. Data 3, 160018 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Woolston, C. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01516-2 (2022).

  4. Hettrick, S. Sustainability Institute https://www.software.ac.uk/blog/2016-08-17-not-so-brief-history-research-software-engineers-0 (2016).

  5. The Turing Way Community. et al. zenodo https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3233986 (2019).

  6. Chue Hong, N. P. et al. zenodo https://doi.org/10.15497/RDA00068 (2022).

  7. Wuchty, S., Jones, B. F. & Uzzi, B. Science 316, 1036–1039 (2007).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Matthews, D. Nature 607, 410–411 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Derrick, G. & Hettrick, S. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00454-3 (2022).

  10. Katz, D. S. et al. F1000 Res. 9, 1257 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Hutson, M. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00053-w (2023).

  12. Moore, J. et al. Nat. Methods 18, 1496–1498 (2021).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to T. Hodges from The Carpentries for training recommendations; C. Admane for figure work; and A. Maartens for critical reading of the manuscript. S.H.’s and N.C.H.’s time was partly supported by the UK Research Councils through grant EP/H043160/1. M.H. is funded by a Wellcome Senior Research Fellowship in Clinical Sciences (223092/Z/21/Z) and Wellcome core grant (220540/Z/20/A).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Angela Oliveira Pisco

    Present address: Insitro, South San Francisco, CA, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biosciences Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    David Horsfall & Muzlifah Haniffa

  2. Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, UK

    David Horsfall & Muzlifah Haniffa

  3. Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Redwood City, CA, USA

    Jonah Cool

  4. University of Southampton and the Software Sustainability Institute, Southampton, UK

    Simon Hettrick

  5. Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Angela Oliveira Pisco

  6. University of Edinburgh and the Software Sustainability Institute, Edinburgh, UK

    Neil Chue Hong

Authors
  1. David Horsfall
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jonah Cool
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Simon Hettrick
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Angela Oliveira Pisco
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Neil Chue Hong
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Muzlifah Haniffa
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to David Horsfall or Muzlifah Haniffa.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Horsfall, D., Cool, J., Hettrick, S. et al. Research software engineering accelerates the translation of biomedical research for health. Nat Med 29, 1313–1316 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-023-02353-0

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Version of record:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-023-02353-0

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing AI and Robotics

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: AI and Robotics newsletter — what matters in AI and robotics research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing: AI and Robotics