Debian in the Research Software ecosystem: A Bibliometric Analysis
Speaker: Joenio Marques da Costa
Track: Academic
Type: Academic paper
Room: Petit amphi
Time: Jul 15 (Tue): 11:00
Duration: 0:20
Context: The Debian system has historically participated in academic works and scientific projects, with well-known examples including NeuroDebian, Debian Med, Debsources, Debian Science, and Debian GIS, where the scientific relevance of Debian and its contribution to the software ecosystem for research are evident. In this context, this study analyzes the collaboration relationships between institutions, countries, and other actors found in publications about Debian.
Objective: The objective of this study is to investigate the Debian system through academic publications, with the aim of classifying articles, mapping research, identifying trends, and finding opportunities. From the perspective of a researcher interested in the Debian project and Research Software ecosystem, there is also an interest in understanding how this topic has evolved over time.
Method: The study is based on a bibliometric analysis starting with an initial search for the term “Debian” in the titles, abstracts, or keywords of academic publications, using the databases ScienceDirect, ACM DL, IEEE Xplore, and OpenAlex. This analysis calculates metrics of co-citation, co-authorship, and word co-occurrence, and is guided by a set of research questions and criteria for inclusion and exclusion to conduct the bibliometric analysis.
Results: The study includes a set of articles mentioning the term “Debian”, either in the title, abstract, or keywords, published across various fields of knowledge, providing a map of the academic publication space about Debian. The study’s data will be available in a public repository, reporting demographic and bibliometric trends, including the most cited articles, active countries, researchers, and popular conferences.
Conclusion: Expected results include a mapping of collaboration groups between authors and institutions identified in publications about Debian. This sheds light on the intellectual structure of academic research, including emerging trends about Debian and opportunities for researchers in this area. The results of the analyses can help researchers gain an overview of existing trends in publications about Debian and identify areas that require more attention from the scientific community.
This work is part of an ongoing PhD research in the program of Postgraduate Program in Computing (PGCOMP-UFBA) and aims to investigate Debian from the point of view of a researcher interested on Research Software and Debian, and on how Debian relates to the key concepts below:
- Research Software
- Research Software Ecosystem
- Software Collection
- Software Distribution and Linux Distribution
- Collaborative infrastructure for research
- Research Software Sustainability
To find out more about the PhD research program see the link below (in Portuguese only):