Scientific open-source software (OSS) has greatly benefited research communities through its transparent and collaborative nature. Given its critical role in scientific research, ensuring the sustainability of such software has become vital. Earlier studies have proposed sustainability strategies for conventional scientific software and open-source communities. However, it remains unclear whether these solutions can be easily adapted to the integrated framework of scientific OSS and its larger ecosystem. This study examines the challenges and opportunities to enhance the sustainability of scientific OSS in the context of interdisciplinary collaboration, open-source community, and multi-project ecosystem. We conducted a case study on a widely-used software ecosystem in the astrophysics domain, the Astropy Project, using a mixed-methods design approach. This approach includes an interview with core contributors regarding their participation in an interdisciplinary team, a survey of disengaged contributors about their motivations for contribution, reasons for disengagement, and suggestions for sustaining the communities, and finally, an analysis of cross-referenced issues and pull requests to understand best practices for collaboration on the ecosystem level. Our study reveals the implications of major challenges for sustaining scientific OSS and proposes concrete suggestions for tackling these challenges.

翻译：科学开源软件（OSS）因其透明和协作的特性，极大地惠及了研究社区。鉴于其在科学研究中的关键作用，确保这类软件的可持续性变得至关重要。早期研究已针对传统科学软件和开源社区提出了可持续性策略。然而，这些解决方案能否轻易适用于科学开源软件及其更大生态系统的整合框架，目前尚不清楚。本研究探讨了在跨学科合作、开源社区及多项目生态系统背景下，提升科学开源软件可持续性所面临的挑战与机遇。我们采用混合方法设计，对天体物理学领域广泛使用的软件生态系统——Astropy 项目进行了案例研究。该方法包括：与核心贡献者就其参与跨学科团队的经历进行访谈；对已退出的贡献者进行问卷调查，了解其贡献动机、退出原因及对社区维系建议；最后，分析交叉引用的问题与拉取请求，以理解生态系统层面的协作最佳实践。我们的研究揭示了维系科学开源软件所面临的主要挑战，并提出了应对这些挑战的具体建议。