The use of systematic reviews in evidence based software engineering: a systematic mapping study

Abstract

Context. A decade ago, Kitchenham, Dybå and Jørgensen argued that software engineering could benefit from an evidence-based research approach similar that that used in medicine, introducing the basis for Evidence Based Software Engineering (EBSE). Objective. Our main goal is to understand the evolution of the use of systematic reviews as the main research method in EBSE, as proposed by Kitchenham et al., by investigating primary and tertiary studies that explore any aspect, theory, or concept around the use of systematic reviews in software engineering. Method. A systematic mapping study protocol was used to find and selected studies about EBSE and systematic reviews in SE, published between 2004 and 2013. Results. We selected 52 unique papers classified as non-empirical studies (12), empirical studies (31), and tertiary studies (9). Conclusion. SLR has become an important component of software engineering research with nearly 200 unique reviews catalogued by the tertiary studies. Most important limitations are related to the industrial relevance and application of the results of reviews and the poor use of synthesis method to aggregate evidence