Revisiting Software Ecosystems Research: A Longitudinal Literature Study

'Software ecosystems' is argued to first appear as a concept more than 10 years ago and software ecosystem research started to take off in 2010. We conduct a systematic literature study, based on the most extensive literature review in the field up to date, with two primarily aims: (a) to provide an updated overview of the field and (b) to document evolution in the field.In total, we analyze 231 papers from 2007 until 2014 and provide an overview of the research in software ecosystems. Our analysis reveals a field that is rapidly growing, both in volume and empirical focus, while becoming more mature. We identify signs of field maturity from the increase in: (i) the number of journal articles, (ii) the empirical models within the last two years, and (iii) the number of ecosystems studied. However, we note that the field is far from mature and identify a set of challenges that are preventing the field from evolving. We propose means for future research and the community to address them.Finally, our analysis shapes the view of the field having evolved outside the existing definitions of software ecosystems and thus propose the update of the definition of software ecosystems. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.