DFRWS EU 10-Year Review and Future Directions in Digital Forensic Research

TL;DR

This paper systematically reviews 135 peer-reviewed articles from DFRWS EU over ten years, analyzing research trends, collaborations, and future directions in digital forensics across multiple sub-disciplines.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive decade-long analysis of digital forensic research, highlighting evolution, collaboration patterns, and proposing future research directions.

Findings

Research focus shifted over time across sub-disciplines.

Geographical diversity increased in authorship.

Identified key future research areas.

Abstract

Conducting a systematic literature review and comprehensive analysis, this paper surveys all 135 peer-reviewed articles published at the Digital Forensics Research Conference Europe (DFRWS EU) spanning the decade since its inaugural running (2014-2023). This comprehensive study of DFRWS EU articles encompasses sub-disciplines such as digital forensic science, device forensics, techniques and fundamentals, artefact forensics, multimedia forensics, memory forensics, and network forensics. Quantitative analysis of the articles' co-authorships, geographical spread and citation metrics are outlined. The analysis presented offers insights into the evolution of digital forensic research efforts over these ten years and informs some identified future research directions.