Academic Software Release Cycle

Every tool developed within the LBS will have a five-year life cycle, beginning on the date of publication of the article associated with the tool. This period comprises two years of full support, provided by the article authors, and three years of extended support, provided by the LBS IT team.

During the first two years following publication of the article, the original developers of the tool and the article coauthors commit to ensuring its operation and providing user support. Full support includes security fixes, bug fixes, interface modifications, and general user support.

The extended support period will be provided primarily by the LBS team and may not involve the original developers of the tool. During this period, support will be limited to maintaining the tool's availability and accessibility to users.

Corrections related to the results produced by the tool, new features, and methodological changes are not covered by extended support.

If more significant changes to the tool are required, a new version must be released. The support period will be renewed upon publication of a new article associated with the new version of the tool.

Participation by the original authors is not mandatory; however, they are encouraged to be invited to contribute to the development of the new version.

All software produced by LBS members or collaborators is subject to these guidelines. Unless expressly stated otherwise, all software produced by the LBS will be released with open-source code under the MIT License. Documentation and other supplementary materials will be released under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).