Key Concepts
Understanding the terminology used in DashVERSE dashboards helps you interpret the quality metrics and assessment results effectively.
Dimension
A high-level quality aspect of research software. Dimensions are the broadest category in the EVERSE quality framework and group related quality concerns together.
Indicator
A specific, measurable quality criterion within a dimension. Each indicator defines what aspect of quality is being measured and how it can be evaluated.
Assessment
A complete quality evaluation of a software project performed at a specific point in time. It captures which software was assessed, when, and by what tools.
Check
A single test result within an assessment. It represents the outcome of evaluating one indicator for a specific software project.
Schema
A formal data structure for quality assessment results. Schemas define the shape of the data, ensuring consistency and interoperability. Assessment data is generated using the assessment schema.
How They Relate
Each check evaluates exactly one indicator and produces a status result.
Example Assessment
This JSON object represents a complete software quality assessment for a project, detailing various checks against quality indicators. Each assessment includes metadata about the software, its creator, and the results of automated checks.
Below is a simplified example of an assessment for "CFFinit v2.3.1", showing checks for its `license` and `citation` indicators. Source: example.json
How to Read This Assessment
@contextand@type: These fields are for JSON-LD (Linked Data), which makes the data machine-readable. They define the vocabulary and the type of object, respectively.creator: Information about who performed the assessment.assessedSoftware: Details about the software being assessed, including its name, version, and URL.checks: This is an array of individual check results. Each check assesses a specific quality indicator (e.g., `license` or `citation`).assessesIndicator: The unique identifier for the indicator being checked.checkingSoftware: The tool that performed the check (e.g., `howfairis`).status: The result of the check (e.g., `CompletedActionStatus` for Pass, `FailedActionStatus` for Fail).output: A short, machine-readable output of the check (e.g., "true", "valid").evidence: A human-readable description of the evidence found during the check.
{
"@context": "https://w3id.org/everse/rsqa/0.0.1/",
"@type": "SoftwareQualityAssessment",
"name": "Quality Assessment for CFFinit v2.3.1",
"description": "An automated assessment of the CFFinit tool based on the EVERSE software quality indicators, run on 2025-06-19.",
"creator": {
"@type": "schema:Person",
"name": "Faruk Diblen",
"email": "[email protected]"
},
"dateCreated": "2025-06-19T17:52:00Z",
"license": {
"@id": "https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/"
},
"assessedSoftware": {
"@type": "schema:SoftwareApplication",
"name": "CFFinit",
"softwareVersion": "2.3.1",
"url": "https://github.com/citation-file-format/cff-initializer-javascript",
"schema:identifier": {
"@id": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8224012"
}
},
"checks": [
{
"@type": "CheckResult",
"assessesIndicator": {
"@id": "https://w3id.org/everse/i/indicators/license"
},
"checkingSoftware": {
"@type": "schema:SoftwareApplication",
"name": "howfairis",
"@id": "https://w3id.org/everse/tools/howfairis",
"softwareVersion": "0.14.2"
},
"process": "Searches for a file named 'LICENSE' or 'LICENSE.md' in the repository root.",
"status": {
"@id": "schema:CompletedActionStatus"
},
"output": "true",
"evidence": "Found license file: 'LICENSE'."
},
{
"@type": "CheckResult",
"assessesIndicator": {
"@id": "https://w3id.org/everse/i/indicators/citation"
},
"checkingSoftware": {
"@type": "schema:SoftwareApplication",
"name": "howfairis",
"@id": "https://w3id.org/everse/tools/howfairis",
"softwareVersion": "0.14.2"
},
"process": "Searches for a 'CITATION.cff' file in the repository root and validates its syntax.",
"status": {
"@id": "schema:CompletedActionStatus"
},
"output": "valid",
"evidence": "Found valid CITATION.cff file in repository root."
}
]
}