On the Relevance of Paper-Type Information in Systematic Mapping Studies in Software Engineering
2025 (English) In: Proceedings - 2025 IEEE/ACM International Workshop on Methodological Issues with Empirical Studies in Software Engineering, WSESE 2025, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), 2025, p. 44-47Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed)
Abstract [en]
Systematic Mapping Studies (SMSs) are valuable in evidence-based software engineering research. SMSs aim to provide an overview of research, identify gaps and trends, and assess the feasibility of conducting a more focused systematic literature review. In current guidelines for conducting SMSs, a quality assessment of the included papers is suggested only when the research questions explicitly require such a quality assessment. We agree with the recommendation that quality assessment is generally non-mandatory. However, SMSs deal with papers ranging from opinion papers to papers reporting highly rigorous empirical studies. Therefore, in this paper, we argue that analyzing the type of papers is essential for almost every intended purpose of an SMS. Otherwise, without distinguishing papers based on their types, we risk deriving a less informative or incomplete overview or, at worst, a misleading overview of research. Petersen et al. 'encourage' the classification of papers into six paper types as proposed by Wieringa et al.: evaluation research, solution proposal, validation research, philosophical papers, opinion papers, and personal experience papers. Given the lenient guidelines on assessing the quality of included studies, we recommend a stronger focus on classifying papers by type.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), 2025. p. 44-47
Keywords [en]
Mapping Study, Scoping Review, Scoping Study, Secondary Study, Systematic Map, Mapping, Paper Products, Philosophical Aspects, Mapping Studies, Paper-type, Quality Assessment, Scoping, Systematic Mapping Studies, Systematic Maps, Type Information, Software Engineering
National Category
Software Engineering
Identifiers URN: urn:nbn:se:bth-28556 DOI: 10.1109/WSESE66602.2025.00014 ISI: 001544608900008 Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105012157648 ISBN: 9798331502256 (print) OAI: oai:DiVA.org:bth-28556 DiVA, id: diva2:1992791
Conference 2025 IEEE/ACM International Workshop on Methodological Issues with Empirical Studies in Software Engineering, WSESE 2025, Ottawa, May 3, 2025
Part of project GIST – Gaining actionable Insights from Software Testing, Knowledge Foundation
Funder ELLIIT - The Linköping‐Lund Initiative on IT and Mobile Communications Knowledge Foundation, 20220235 2025-08-282025-08-282025-09-30 Bibliographically approved