Introduction to WORCS
The Workflow for Open Reproducible Code in Science (WORCS) is an easy to adopt approach to ensuring a research project meets the requirements of Open Science from the start. It is based on a “good enough” philosophy, prioritizing user-friendliness over exhaustiveness. It can be used either in absence of, or in parallel to, existing requirements for Open workflows. It can also be enhanced with more elaborate solutions for specific issues.
For most users, the recommended starting point is to read the paper, published in Data Science, which introduces the WORCS workflow, explains the underlying tools, and illustrates how the worcs package can be used to create a new project that follows the workflow.
WORCS relies on a set of free, open source software solutions which, namely:
- Dynamic document generation
- Version control
- Dependency management
Moreover, it helps adhere to the TOP guidelines and FAIR principles. It also accounts for open and closed data sharing options.
The following video and presentation introduces WORCS and dives into the aforementioned concepts further: