STAMPED Principles — Examples
This site is a companion resource to the STAMPED paper on properties of a reproducible research object. It provides concrete, pragmatic examples that demonstrate the seven STAMPED properties in practice – from simple naming conventions to complex multi-tool workflows.
What is STAMPED? #
STAMPED defines seven properties that characterize a well-formed reproducible research object – a collection of data, code, and metadata that together represent a complete unit of research output. See the paper for the full treatment; the table below is a quick reference:
| Property | Core idea |
|---|---|
| S – Self-containment | Everything needed to replicate results is within a single top-level boundary – the “don’t look up” rule. |
| T – Tracking | All components are content-addressed and version-controlled; provenance of every modification is recorded. |
| A – Actionability | Procedures are executable specifications, not just documentation – a cross-cutting property that applies to every other STAMPED dimension. |
| M – Modularity | Components are organized as independently versioned modules that can be composed, updated, and reused separately. |
| P – Portability | Procedures do not depend on undocumented host state; computational environments are explicitly specified and versioned. |
| E – Ephemerality | Results can be produced in temporary, disposable environments built solely from the research object’s contents – validating that other properties hold. |
| D – Distributability | The research object and all its components are persistently retrievable by others, packaged like a software distribution. |
These properties reinforce one another. Self-containment makes portability practical, tracking enables actionability, and modularity supports distributability.
How examples are organized #
Each example on this site is tagged along multiple dimensions so you can explore the collection from whatever angle is most useful to you:
- STAMPED principles – which of the seven principles does the example primarily demonstrate?
- FAIR mapping – which of the FAIR goals (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) does the practice help achieve?
- Instrumentation level – how much tooling does the example require, from plain conventions that need no special software to workflows that depend on specific version-control infrastructure?
- Aspirational goals – what higher-level objectives (reproducibility, transparency, rigor, efficiency) does the practice serve?
Get started #
Head to the Examples section to browse the full collection. You can also explore by taxonomy using the footer links, or use the search bar to find examples relevant to your needs.