Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
A project SMP committing to semantic versioning, MIT licence, Zenodo deposit on each release, and Software Heritage archival.
- Is an instance
A Horizon Europe project producing both a DMP and an SMP as deliverables.
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
A GitHub README file.
- Not an instance
A general DMP that mentions one repository link.
Editorial commentary
A software management plan (SMP) is a structured plan covering how research software will be developed, documented, licensed, tested, released, and maintained over a project’s lifetime. It exists because a conventional Data Management Plan (DMP) is built around dataset-shaped questions (storage volume, metadata standard, retention period) that map poorly onto software: an SMP instead addresses dependency management, build and test infrastructure, versioning and release schedule, software citation, deposit in a software-specific archive such as Software Heritage, and a plan for maintenance after the funded project ends. The Software Sustainability Institute’s SMP checklist is a widely cited starting framework, alongside guidance from bodies such as the Netherlands eScience Center. For a practical, funder-mapped template covering licensing compatibility, dependency version pinning, and the handover point after a grant ends, see Writing a Software Management Plan.
A research office is most likely to encounter an SMP requirement on projects where software is a primary output rather than an incidental analysis script — some Horizon Europe and national funders now require an SMP as a distinct project deliverable alongside the DMP. Increasingly it is framed as one component of a broader output management plan rather than a wholly separate document.
How it differs from adjacent DMP concepts
- vs. DMP — a DMP’s questions are built around data; an SMP’s are built around software-specific concerns (versioning, licensing, dependencies) that a DMP template does not ask.
- vs. Output management plan (OMP) — an SMP is one output-type-specific plan; the OMP is the umbrella covering software, data, and other output types together.
References
- Software Sustainability Institute, “A Checklist for a Software Management Plan” (2018); Netherlands eScience Center SMP guidance.
Also known as
SMP · research software management plan
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
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