Open-source business models
Under what conditions does releasing code create durable value for the firm that releases it?
Studying how open-source communities form, collaborate and endure.
SourceHive convenes developers through hackathons and regional coding challenges. We open those settings, and the anonymised data they generate, to researchers in economics, information systems, science and technology studies, and software engineering.
Research agenda
Four open questions drawn from the work SourceHive already does with companies and communities.
Policy and governance
How do corporate open-source policies change contribution behaviour, licensing choices and risk?
Community sustainability
What predicts whether hackathon teams keep contributing after the event ends?
Skills and training outcomes
Do structured training programmes measurably change contributors' code quality and retention?
Why these four. Each maps to an existing SourceHive service (training, policy, strategy, community), so findings feed straight back into practice.
Data and methods
Reproducibility. Each dataset ships with a codebook, collection protocol and versioned DOI.
| Dataset | Coverage | Access | Licence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hackathon participation panel | Registrations, team formation, outcomes; anonymised | CC BY-NC 4.0 | |
| Event repository activity | Commits, issues and reviews from event repositories | Open | CC BY 4.0 |
| Post-event contributor survey | Motivation, skills and retention at 3 and 12 months | CC BY-NC 4.0 |
Working papers
Open access. Working papers are released under CC BY before journal submission, with replication files where data allow.
2026
From weekend teams to long-term maintainers: retention after open-source hackathons
2025
Corporate open-source policies in the Gulf and Asia: a comparative survey
Collaborate with us
Field-site access
Observe or survey participants at upcoming events, with consent built into registration.
Data partnerships
Request restricted datasets under a data use agreement for thesis or grant work.
Visiting researchers
Short residencies for doctoral and postdoctoral researchers embedded with the community team.
Ethics support. We share consent language, participant information sheets and letters of support for ethics-board applications.
How to cite
@misc{sourcehive_panel,
title = {SourceHive Hackathon Participation Panel},
author = {{SourceHive Research}},
year = {2026},
doi = {10.xxxx/placeholder}
}
Response time. Research enquiries are answered within ten working days.
Research enquiries
Enquiry ready.
This opens an email to hello@sourcehive.org.
Research enquiries are answered within ten working days. Include the dataset name if you already know which table you need.