Not real or too soft? On the challenges of publishing interdisciplinary software engineering research

TL;DR

This study investigates the challenges faced by interdisciplinary software engineering research in publication, highlighting review biases and proposing strategies to improve recognition and support for such work.

Contribution

It provides empirical insights into the review challenges for interdisciplinary SE research and suggests practical measures to enhance its acceptance and visibility.

Findings

Interdisciplinary research faces topic-related and review-related challenges.

Marginalized groups are more likely to receive negative feedback.

Experienced researchers are less affected by review feedback.

Abstract

The discipline of software engineering (SE) combines social and technological dimensions. It is an interdisciplinary research field. However, interdisciplinary research submitted to software engineering venues may not receive the same level of recognition as more traditional or technical topics such as software testing. For this paper, we conducted an online survey of 73 SE researchers and used a mixed-method data analysis approach to investigate their challenges and recommendations when publishing interdisciplinary research in SE. We found that the challenges of publishing interdisciplinary research in SE can be divided into topic-related and reviewing-related challenges. Furthermore, while our initial focus was on publishing interdisciplinary research, the impact of current reviewing practices on marginalized groups emerged from our data, as we found that marginalized groups are more likely to receive negative feedback. In addition, we found that experienced researchers are less likely to change their research direction due to feedback they receive. To address the identified challenges, our participants emphasize the importance of highlighting the impact and value of interdisciplinary work for SE, collaborating with experienced researchers, and establishing clearer submission guidelines and new interdisciplinary SE publication venues. Our findings contribute to the understanding of the current state of the SE research community and how we could better support interdisciplinary research in our field.