What do we know about software analytics research? : A critical review of secondary studies
Laiq, Muhammad ; Ali, Nauman bin ; Börstler, Jürgen and Engström, Emelie LU
(2026)
51st Euromicro Conference on Software Engineering and Advanced Applications, SEAA 2025
In Lecture Notes in Computer Science
16082 LNCS.
p.389-404
- Abstract
Software analytics (SA) is often proposed as a tool to support software engineering (SE) tasks. Several secondary studies on SA have been published, some published within the same calendar year. This presents an opportunity to take a meta-perspective and examine how the field of SA has been conceptualized and synthesized so far. By analyzing how SA is defined, which topics are emphasized, what search strategies are employed, and to what extent primary studies overlap, we aim to identify gaps, trends, and redundancies in the current body of secondary studies. Such insights can inform the design and focus of future secondary studies. We identified five secondary studies on SA published from 2015 to 2023 that cover primary research from... (More)
Software analytics (SA) is often proposed as a tool to support software engineering (SE) tasks. Several secondary studies on SA have been published, some published within the same calendar year. This presents an opportunity to take a meta-perspective and examine how the field of SA has been conceptualized and synthesized so far. By analyzing how SA is defined, which topics are emphasized, what search strategies are employed, and to what extent primary studies overlap, we aim to identify gaps, trends, and redundancies in the current body of secondary studies. Such insights can inform the design and focus of future secondary studies. We identified five secondary studies on SA published from 2015 to 2023 that cover primary research from 2000 to 2021. Despite similarities in objectives and overlapping search timeframes, the secondary studies have negligible overlap in their included primary studies. Each secondary study presents a distinct perspective, and collectively, the five secondary studies offer a fragmented rather than cohesive view of the research landscape. We present a structured overview of the identified secondary studies in terms of their objectives, research quality, and findings. This overview helps readers navigate and leverage existing research. The analysis also indicates that there is potential for further secondary research to build a more cohesive and comprehensive understanding of the SA literature.
(Less)
- author
- Laiq, Muhammad
; Ali, Nauman bin
; Börstler, Jürgen
and Engström, Emelie
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2026
- type
- Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Critical appraisal, Literature review, Software analytics, Software engineering, Tertiary review, Tertiary study
- host publication
- Software engineering and advanced applications - : 51st Euromicro Conference, SEAA 2025. Proceedings part II - 51st Euromicro Conference, SEAA 2025. Proceedings part II
- series title
- Lecture Notes in Computer Science
- editor
- Taibi, Davide and Smite, Darja
- volume
- 16082 LNCS
- pages
- 16 pages
- publisher
- Springer Science and Business Media B.V.
- conference name
- 51st Euromicro Conference on Software Engineering and Advanced Applications, SEAA 2025
- conference location
- Salerno, Italy
- conference dates
- 2025-09-10 - 2025-09-12
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105016626844
- ISSN
- 0302-9743
- 1611-3349
- ISBN
- 9783032041999
- DOI
- 10.1007/978-3-032-04200-2_27
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 7ba2dd8a-439c-4586-be65-a9fb4110cfbc
- date added to LUP
- 2025-10-27 14:41:45
- date last changed
- 2025-10-31 02:19:14
@inproceedings{7ba2dd8a-439c-4586-be65-a9fb4110cfbc,
abstract = {{<p>Software analytics (SA) is often proposed as a tool to support software engineering (SE) tasks. Several secondary studies on SA have been published, some published within the same calendar year. This presents an opportunity to take a meta-perspective and examine how the field of SA has been conceptualized and synthesized so far. By analyzing how SA is defined, which topics are emphasized, what search strategies are employed, and to what extent primary studies overlap, we aim to identify gaps, trends, and redundancies in the current body of secondary studies. Such insights can inform the design and focus of future secondary studies. We identified five secondary studies on SA published from 2015 to 2023 that cover primary research from 2000 to 2021. Despite similarities in objectives and overlapping search timeframes, the secondary studies have negligible overlap in their included primary studies. Each secondary study presents a distinct perspective, and collectively, the five secondary studies offer a fragmented rather than cohesive view of the research landscape. We present a structured overview of the identified secondary studies in terms of their objectives, research quality, and findings. This overview helps readers navigate and leverage existing research. The analysis also indicates that there is potential for further secondary research to build a more cohesive and comprehensive understanding of the SA literature.</p>}},
author = {{Laiq, Muhammad and Ali, Nauman bin and Börstler, Jürgen and Engström, Emelie}},
booktitle = {{Software engineering and advanced applications - : 51st Euromicro Conference, SEAA 2025. Proceedings part II}},
editor = {{Taibi, Davide and Smite, Darja}},
isbn = {{9783032041999}},
issn = {{0302-9743}},
keywords = {{Critical appraisal; Literature review; Software analytics; Software engineering; Tertiary review; Tertiary study}},
language = {{eng}},
pages = {{389--404}},
publisher = {{Springer Science and Business Media B.V.}},
series = {{Lecture Notes in Computer Science}},
title = {{What do we know about software analytics research? : A critical review of secondary studies}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-04200-2_27}},
doi = {{10.1007/978-3-032-04200-2_27}},
volume = {{16082 LNCS}},
year = {{2026}},
}