I go even further and am of the opinion that data provenance is the overarching issue. Any series of results should be able to be re-generated quickly (as measu

I go even further and am of the opinion that data provenance is the overarching issue. Any series of results should be able to be re-generated quickly (as measured in scientist-time not computer-time) based solely on meta-data provided–and this is the key point–as part of the results themselves. A few simple guiding principles could go a long way toward achieving this goal. 1. In the absence of a well defined standard, it’s the individual scientist’s/consortium’s responsibility to define and actively use an organized meta-data standard. 2. If it’s not open source it’s not science. 3. A snapshot of the source code used to generate results should be given/pointed to when the results are presented. 4. Minimizing reproduction time is an integral part of science. 5. Principles 1-4 should be be demanded, by funding agencies, program heads, and research advisors.