3  Search for packages

You can search for packages via https://r-universe.dev/search/ using keywords or author names. The search bar includes an arrow-down button that allows to access the advanced search fields.

Search landing page, with a search box

Search landing page

Search landing page, displaying advanced search fields like author and keywords

Search landing page, advanced fields

Search results for 'missing-data'

Search results for ‘“missing-data”’

Search results for 'author:jeroen json'

Search results for ‘author:jeroen json’

Search results for 'exports:tojson'

Search results for ‘exports:tojson’

3.1 How is the package-rank score calculated?

The exact algorithm is a work-in-progress and will change. Right now it is a combination of:

  • Number of dependents (that is to say, recursive reverse dependencies);
  • Number of Github stars;
  • Number of unique contributors;
  • Commit activity over the last year.

The score is a weighted sum of the above, on a log scale. But we plan to improve the algorithm as the project gets more mature, and better data becomes available.

3.2 Why is a package sometimes listed twice?

If a source package fails to build (which means something is very wrong) then you see a red “build failure” message. If there was a previous successful build, it is kept there as well for users to install.