Software Engineering Research
Software Engineering Research is a research topic within Information Systems. Science Explorer counts 50k research works in it since 1957. 34.4% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.
This cluster of papers focuses on empirical studies in software engineering, covering topics such as refactoring, code clone detection, software defect prediction, requirements traceability, static code attributes, machine learning, software maintenance, source code analysis, bug localization, and API usage patterns.
- Refactoring
- Code Clone Detection
- Software Defect Prediction
- Requirements Traceability
- Static Code Attributes
- Machine Learning
- Software Maintenance
- Source Code Analysis
- Bug Localization
- API Usage Patterns
- Research works
- 50k fractional, since 1957
- In the world top 10%
- 17k per year above
- Top-10% rate
- 34.4% share of its works in the world top 10%
- Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
- +12% the tick is no change
Which countries lead Software Engineering Research research?
By volume, China and the United States publish the most (1.5k and 1.3k works in 2022–2025).
By volume, 2022–2025
- 1 China 1.5k works
- 2 United States 1.3k works
- 3 India 740 works
- 4 Germany 488 works
- 5 Brazil 356 works
- 6 Canada 347 works
- 7 United Kingdom 246 works
- 8 Italy 214 works
- 9 Japan 169 works
- 10 Netherlands 168 works
How concentrated that is
The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.
Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.
Which institutions lead Software Engineering Research research?
By volume in 2022–2025, Nanjing University publishes the most Software Engineering Research research, followed by Beihang University and Peking University.
By volume, 2022–2025
- 1 Nanjing University China 68 works
- 2 Beihang University China 46 works
- 3 Peking University China 45 works
- 4 National University of Defense Technology China 45 works
- 5 Carnegie Mellon University United States 42 works
- 6 Singapore Management University Singapore 38 works
- 7 Delft University of Technology Netherlands 33 works
- 8 North Carolina State University United States 33 works
- 9 Monash University Australia 31 works
- 10 Zhejiang University China 30 works
Who are the leading researchers in Software Engineering Research?
The most-cited researchers publishing on Software Engineering Research include Michael S. Bernstein, Philip S. Yu and John B. Goodenough.
- 1 Michael S. Bernstein 10k citations
- 2 Philip S. Yu 6.6k citations
- 3 John B. Goodenough 6.2k citations
- 4 Hugo Larochelle 6k citations
- 5 Witold Pedrycz 5.4k citations
Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.
Where is Software Engineering Research research done?
The largest centres of Software Engineering Research research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Nanjing (China), Shanghai (China) and Montreal (Canada). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Karlskrona and Lugano.
Largest cities, 2022–2025
Where it is the local speciality
- KarlskronaSE · 26.4 works106×
- LuganoCH · 25.4 works31×
Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Software Engineering Research than the world average.
Where is the best place to study Software Engineering Research?
Among universities, judged by research, Singapore Management University, University of Luxembourg and Monash University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.
One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.
| # | University | Score | Top 10% | Specialisation | Works | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Singapore Management University Singapore | 78.9 | 53.9% | 42.8× | 38 | +57.2% |
| 2 | University of Luxembourg Luxembourg | 71.2 | 44.0% | 11.6× | 22 | +117.9% |
| 3 | Monash University Australia | 70.9 | 56.1% | 4.6× | 31 | +232.1% |
| 4 | Carnegie Mellon University United States | 70.7 | 45.3% | 12.6× | 42 | +43.4% |
| 5 | Nanjing University China | 70.5 | 35.6% | 10.7× | 68 | +64.0% |
| 6 | Concordia University Canada | 62.4 | 35.4% | 12.0× | 29 | +29.7% |
| 7 | Polytechnique Montréal Canada | 62.4 | 44.3% | 20.2× | 23 | -15.6% |
| 8 | Chalmers University of Technology Sweden | 62.0 | 37.1% | 9.6× | 20 | +55.3% |
| 9 | University of Salerno Italy | 61.2 | 42.9% | 10.3× | 25 | -11.1% |
| 10 | Blekinge Institute of Technology Sweden | 61.0 | 37.8% | 110.4× | 26 | -5.9% |
Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.
Is Software Engineering Research research growing?
Output in 2018–2022 was 12% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2023. The fastest-growing topics are Software Engineering Research.
The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.
Which topics inside it are moving
Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.