Metrics for Software Reliability: a Systematic Mapping Study

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Ronchieri, E.^{; *} | Canaparo, M.

Affiliations: INFN CNAF, Bologna, Italy

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author. Email: elisabetta.ronchieri@cnaf.infn.it. Tel: (+39)0512095072.

Abstract: Software reliability represents a topic of paramount importance in many sectors of industry and society. In addition to this, it is characterized by a high-degree of dynamism as shown in literature. Published papers have addressed this research from different points of view, leading to considerable efforts to get a complete overview of existing solutions. This paper focuses on metrics in software reliability in order to: investigate the state-of-the-art in the field of software reliability, synthesize available evidence of their usage, and identify the most popular ones. We have carried out a Systematic Mapping Study that structures and analyzes the literature on software reliability metrics, obtaining a total of 386 studies. On the basis of 128 selected primary papers, the results show an increasing diversity of work. They represent a valid starting point for selecting the most useful metrics for an assessment of reliability in a software system.

Keywords: Software reliability, Systematic Mapping Study, Software metrics

DOI: 10.3233/jid-2018-0008

Journal: Journal of Integrated Design and Process Science, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 5-25, 2018