International Comparative Study Report on Open Source Software Publication Activities by Governments: Analysis Data

Overview

This dataset contains the analysis data used in the report “International Comparative Study Report on Open Source Software Publication Activities by Governments: Quantitative Analysis of Government Agency Repositories on GitHub” published by the Information-technology Promotion Agency, Japan (IPA).

It compiles two sets of snapshot data collected at different points in time, focusing on repositories from official accounts of government agencies and related organizations published on GitHub. This data is organized to enable comparison of quantitative trends in open source software (OSS) publishing activities.

Dataset Structure

File Name	Content	Data Acquisition Period	Primary Key	Relationship
organization_master.csv	Master information for target government agency GitHub organization accounts	Fixed (as of 2025 survey)	`organization_id`	Base for each statistical data point
github_org_stats_firstcommit.csv	Snapshot A: Repository statistics primarily acquired from late September to early October 2025	2025/9/30–2025/10/3, 2025/12/17–2025/12/18	(`organization_id`, `repository`)	One-to-many relationship with organization master
github_org_stats_pr.csv	Snapshot B: Repository statistics at the time of acquisition in September and December 2025	2025/9/16–2025/9/24, 2025/12/17–2025/12/18	(`organization_id`, `repository`)	One-to-many relationship with organization master

Both datasets are independent snapshots (point-in-time data). Due to differences in the time periods captured, the number of repositories may not perfectly align.

Data Item Definitions

1. organization_master.csv

Column Name	Description	Type	Example
organization_id	Organization identifier (internally unique)	int	12
organization_account	GitHub organization account name	string	govuk
repository_count	Number of target repositories	int	53
country_code	Country code (ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 format)	string	GB

2. github_org_stats_firstcommit.csv (Snapshot A)

Column Name	Content	Type	Example
organization_id	Organization ID (corresponds to master)	int	12
repository	Repository name	string	govuk-frontend
star	Number of stars (at Snapshot A)	int	1420
fork	Number of forks (at same time)	int	205
branch	Number of branches (at same point)	int	8
people	Number of contributors (at same point)	int	24
first_commit_date	First commit date and time	string (ISO 8601)	2015-09-01T09:30:00Z

3. github_org_stats_pr.csv (Snapshot B)

Column Name	Description	Type	Example
organization_id	Organization ID (corresponds to master)	int	12
repository	Repository name	string	govuk-frontend
star	Number of stars (at Snapshot B)	int	1456
fork	Number of forks (at same time)	int	210
branch	Number of branches (at same point)	int	8
people	Number of commit contributors (at same point)	int	24
issue	Total number of issues (at same point)	int	158
pull_request	Total number of pull requests (at same point)	int	233
contributor	Contributors (at time)	int	45

Data Creation Method

Target: Official GitHub organization accounts of national governments and administrative agencies
Acquisition Method: Collected repository metadata per organization using the GitHub API
Acquisition Dates:
- Snapshot A (github_org_stats_firstcommit.csv): September 30–October 3, 2025, and December 17–18, 2025
- Snapshot B (github_org_stats_pr.csv): September 16–24, 2025, and December 17–18, 2025
Target Countries: Japan, Estonia, Singapore, Germany, France, United States, United Kingdom
Purpose: To organize government OSS publication activities in a format enabling temporal and international comparisons

Primary Key and Relation Structure

File	Primary Key	Foreign Key
organization_master.csv	`organization_id`	-
github_org_stats_firstcommit.csv	(`organization_id`, `repository`)	`organization_id` → organization_master
github_org_stats_pr.csv	(`organization_id`, `repository`)	`organization_id` → organization_master

Analysis Considerations

Both snapshots were captured within different date ranges. Discrepancies may arise due to API response timing or repository updates.
Deleted or private repositories are excluded.
All dates and times are UTC.
When conducting comparative analysis, it is recommended to consider overlaps and differences in the acquisition periods.

Update History & Version Information

Item	Content
Data Collection Period	- Snapshot A (firstcommit.csv): 2025/9/30–10/3, 2025/12/17–12/18 - Snapshot B (pr.csv): 2025/9/16–9/24, 2025/12/17–12/18
Target Countries	Japan, Estonia, Singapore, Germany, France, United States, United Kingdom
Data Release Date	January 28, 2026
Update Schedule	To be determined

License

This dataset is provided under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). It may be freely used for commercial or non-commercial purposes provided the source is clearly attributed.

Citation Example:

Information-technology Promotion Agency, Japan (IPA) “International Comparative Study Report on Open Source Software Publication Activities by Governments: Quantitative Analysis of Government Agency Repositories on GitHub” Analysis Data (2026)

Disclaimer

This organization makes no warranties whatsoever regarding the usefulness, accuracy, non-infringement of intellectual property rights, or any other aspect of the content of this dataset.

Contact

Information-technology Promotion Agency, Japan (IPA)

Digital Infrastructure Center

Email: disc-info@ipa.go.jp