The State of Open Science in Software Engineering Research: A Case Study of ICSE Artifacts
Replication packages are crucial for enabling transparency, validation, and reuse in software engineering (SE) research. While artifact sharing is now a standard practice and even expected at premier SE venues such as ICSE, the practical usability of these replication packages remain underexplored. In particular, there is a marked lack of studies that comprehensively examine the executability and reproducibility of replication packages in SE research. In this paper, we aim to fill this gap by evaluating 100 replication packages published in ICSE proceedings over the past decade (2015 - 2024). We assess the (1) executability of the replication packages, (2) efforts and modifications required to execute them, (3) challenges that prevent executability, and (4) reproducibility of the original findings for those that are executable. We spent approximately 650 person-hours in total to execute the artifacts and reproduce the study findings. Our analysis shows that only 40 of the 100 evaluated artifacts were fully executable. Among these, 32.5% ran without any modification. However, even executable artifacts required varying levels of effort: 17.5% required low effort, while 82.5% required moderate to high effort to execute successfully. We identified five common types of modifications and 13 challenges that lead to execution failure, encompassing environmental, documentation, and structural issues. Among the executable artifacts, only 35% (14 out of 40) reproduced the original results. These findings highlight a notable gap between artifact availability, executability, and reproducibility. Our study proposes three actionable guidelines to improve the preparation, documentation, and review of research artifacts, thereby strengthening the rigor and sustainability of open science practices in SE research.
Wed 15 AprDisplayed time zone: Brasilia, Distrito Federal, Brazil change
14:00 - 15:30 | Human and Social Aspects 2Research Track / SE in Society (SEIS) at Oceania V Chair(s): Gemma Catolino University of Salerno | ||
14:00 15mTalk | Connected to Stay: Gender Homophily and Its Role in Open-Source Software Developer Retention Research Track Tielin Katy Yu Carnegie Mellon University, Huilian Sophie Qiu University of Goettingen, Patrick Park Carnegie Mellon University, Laura Dabbish Carnegie Mellon University, Bogdan Vasilescu Carnegie Mellon University | ||
14:15 15mTalk | Beyond Adoption: Examining the Evolution and Impact of Codes of Conduct on Open-Source Communities Research Track Jiayi Sun University of Toronto, Hongbo Fang University of Chicago, Junming Zhang University of Toronto, Jiakai Shi University of Toronto, Ruitao Lai University of Toronto, Anita Ihuman CHAOSS, Richard Littauer Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, Shurui Zhou University of Toronto Link to publication Pre-print | ||
14:30 15mTalk | Toxicity Ahead: Forecasting Conversational Derailment on GitHub Research Track Mia Mohammad Imran Missouri University of Science and Technology, Robert Zita Elmhurst University, Rahat Rizvi Rahman Virginia Commonwealth University, Preetha Chatterjee Drexel University, USA, Kostadin Damevski Virginia Commonwealth University Pre-print | ||
14:45 15mTalk | Challenges and Enablers: Remote Work for People with Disabilities in Software Development Teams SE in Society (SEIS) Thayssa Rocha Zup Innovation & UFPA, Luciano Teran Universidade Federal do Pará, Marcelle Mota Universidade Federal do Pará, Cleidson de Souza Universidade Federal do Pará, Kiev Gama Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Gustavo Pinto Zup Innovation & UFPA | ||
15:00 15mTalk | Scrolling with Caution: Perceptions of Older Adults on Ethical Issues in Social Media SE in Society (SEIS) Hans Hassan Katib Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Sree Pragnya Kota Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Emitzá Guzmán Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam | ||
15:15 15mTalk | The State of Open Science in Software Engineering Research: A Case Study of ICSE Artifacts Research Track Al Muttakin University of Saskatchewan, Saikat Mondal University of Saskatchewan, Chanchal K. Roy University of Saskatchewan Pre-print | ||