Most Influential Paper (MIP) Award

Purpose

The ECSA Most Influential Paper (MIP) Award recognises a paper published at ECSA ten years earlier that has demonstrated exceptional and enduring influence on software architecture research, practice, education, standards, tools, or the broader software engineering community.

The award celebrates work whose significance has become evident over time through its sustained impact on subsequent developments in the field.

Eligibility

For ECSA 2027, all technical-track long papers published at ECSA 2017 are eligible.

Workshop papers, keynote abstracts, industry-track papers, posters, tutorials, and companion proceedings papers are not eligible unless explicitly designated by the Steering Committee.

Selection Criteria

The award recognises influence rather than novelty alone. The selection committee will consider evidence including, but not limited to:

Research Impact
Influence on subsequent scientific research.
Direct and indirect scholarly citations.
Adoption, extension, replication, or validation by later work.
Cross-disciplinary influence beyond software architecture.
Practical Impact
Influence on industrial practice, methods, processes, tools, or products.
Adoption within organisations or practitioner communities.
Impact on standards, guidelines, or professional practice.
Community Impact
Influence on software architecture education.
Creation of widely used concepts, terminology, frameworks, datasets, benchmarks, or tools.
Contribution to shaping research directions within the community.
Lasting Significance
Evidence that the paper remains relevant and influential many years after publication.
Continued citation, discussion, adoption, or reuse.

Citation counts alone do not determine the recipient. Quantitative indicators serve as supporting evidence and are considered alongside qualitative assessments of impact.

Selection Process

The selection process consists of four stages.

Stage 1: Impact Analysis

The MIP Chairs will analyse all eligible papers using multiple sources of evidence which may include Google Scholar, Scopus, and other scholarly databases.

The analysis may consider:

Direct citation counts
Citation trajectories over time
Recent citation activity
Indirect citation impact through citing publications
Evidence of tool, dataset, framework, or standards adoption

Stage 2: Shortlisting

Based on the collected evidence, the MIP Chairs will prepare a shortlist of candidate papers.

The shortlist is intended to assist the community in evaluating influential papers and does not restrict consideration of other eligible papers.

Stage 3: Community Input

Members of the ECSA community, including Steering Committee, Organising Committee, Program Committee will be invited to vote on papers and optionally provide supporting rationales.

Nominations should focus on demonstrated influence and long-term impact.

Stage 4: Final Selection

The MIP Chairs review all available evidence, including quantitative indicators, community nominations, and qualitative impact assessments.

The final decision is made by the MIP Chairs and ratified according to ECSA governance procedures.

Conflicts of Interest

The award process follows ACM SIGSOFT conflict-of-interest guidelines.

Committee members and voters must disclose relevant conflicts of interest.

Individuals with conflicts must not participate in discussions or decisions involving affected papers.