Documenting social simulation models: The ODD protocol as a standard

Abstract

The clear documentation of simulations is important for their communication, replication, and comprehension. It is thus helpful for such documentation to follow minimum standards. The ‘overview, design concepts, and details’ document protocol (ODD) is specifically designed to guide the description of individual- and agent-based simulation models (ABMs) in journal articles. Popular among ecologists, it is also increasingly used in the social simulation community. Here, we describe the protocol and give an annotated example of its use, with a view in facilitating its wider adoption and encouraging higher standards in simulation description.