An analysis of the most cited articles in software engineering journals – 2001

Citations and related work are crucial in any research to position the work and to build on the work of others. A high citation count is an indication of the influence of specific articles. The importance of citations means that it is interesting to analyze which articles are cited the most. Such an analysis has been conducted using the ISI Web of Science to identify the most cited software engineering journal articles published in 2001. The objective of the analysis is to identify and list the articles that have influenced others the most as measured by citation count. An understanding of which research is viewed by the research community as most valuable to build upon may provide valuable insights into what research to focus on now and in the future. Based on the analysis, a list of the 20 most cited articles is presented here. The intention of the analysis is twofold. First, to identify the most cited articles, and second, to invite the authors of the most cited articles in 2001 to contribute to a special section of Information and Software Technology. Three authors have accepted the invitation and their articles appear in this special section. Moreover, an analysis has been conducted regarding which authors are most productive in terms of software engineering journal publications. The latter analysis focuses on the publications in the last 20 years, which is intended as a complement to last year’s analysis focusing on the most cited articles in the last 20 years [C. Wohlin, An Analysis of the Most Cited Articles in Software Engineering Journals – 2007, Information and Software Technology 49 (1) 2–11]. The most productive author in the last 20 years is Professor Victor Basili.