Even with internal and external expectations to collaborate, there remain significant barriers to sharing clinical research software applications [19] and these challenges are not unique to non-profit research communities [20–23]. In-house software development enables organizations to produce efficient and highly customized applications that accommodate local workflow and IT environments. However, transferring a custom application outside the original environment requires resources and commitment. While many groups may be willing to share source code, the effort required to generalize the code to different IT configurations, supply documentation, test in multiple environments, assist with installations, and provide software training can be prohibitive. The “burden” of sharing is not limited to initial setup, as even well-factored code needs updating when new features are added, bugs are detected, and general security vulnerabilities are exposed and patched. Both sharing and receiving sites need fair and flexible licensing models that respect significant investments needed to develop and share, as well as adopt and contribute to software platforms. Developers need to maximize the value of their intellectual property and limit liability, while adopters need assurance of the long-term sustainability of the platform and development team [24].
