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I have a research software on GitHub, using an MIT license. I need to include an additional package/library, which is also MIT-licensed, to my software for a new feature to work properly. I do not know the author of that package personally, I just found it online (also on GitHub).

My question now: If I publish my research software in the near future to a platform like Zenodo or something else where I get a DOI, would I include the author of that additional package as a co-author?

My initial guess was no, but instead cite his package/library and thus include it in a list of references. But maybe the research software experts here have a different, more elaborated view on this.

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    Reminder to please avoid writing answers in the comments.
    – cag51 ♦
    Commented Oct 22 at 16:13

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No, absolutely not.

Credit the author for what you have used of theirs with a citation and clear statement of what you used. That covers you from an academic ethics and plagiarism perspective.

Then, also make sure you comply with the terms of the license when distributing your software. That covers you from a software license perspective. MIT is quite permissive but you still need to comply with the terms.

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    ... and this is not much different from using other people's work in other forms and other ways. The discoveries they've made, the instruments they've designed or built, the materials they've prepared -- if these have special importance in your own work then they certainly should be acknowledged appropriately, but that you rely on such works does not, itself, make the people who made them participants in your own work.
    – John Bollinger
    Commented Oct 23 at 18:31
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    I agree. It is only if you have engaged with the developer and discussed your research, and through collaboration they extended the software or otherwise personally guided you how to use the software to answer your research question that you would consider co-authorship.
    – jxh
    Commented Oct 24 at 17:33

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