[Coin-discuss] what does it mean to peer review software?

[Robin Lougee-Heimer]

Hey there,
At the recent  INFORMS meeting, the question came up of what it means to
"peer review" software.   This is especially important for people in the
tenure process who would like to contribute code to COIN-OR (or other open
source projects) but need credit towards tenure.

Not being in academics,  I have talked to a number of deans/deparment heads
(e.g., John Birge U Michigan;  Russell Barton Penn State; David Ryan  Univ.
of Auckland, New Zealand; and a few others) investigating this "tenure"
mystery.   Their  general opinion was that deans do not really matter in
the tenure process, what's really important is the supporting letters from
colleagues and the department head's opinion.

As it will be posted (soon :-) in the coin-announce mailing list, the
INFORMS board unanimously voted to host COIN-OR on their servers.  This
transfer will be done through a soon-to-be created nonprofit organization
which will (should?) have by-laws, which should include some notion of
"peer reveiw".    So, to figure out how to define "peer reveiwed software",
it would be very important to get as many opinions  as possible.

Please query the folks at your institution, and post their opinions here.

Thanks,
Robin and Laci

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Robin Lougee-Heimer
IBM TJ Watson Research Center
ph: 914-945-3032   fax: 914-945-3434
robinlh at us.ibm.com
http://www.coin-or.org