{"id":"https://openalex.org/W3144273096","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1109/tse.2021.3068901","title":"On the Untriviality of Trivial Packages: An Empirical Study of npm JavaScript Packages","display_name":"On the Untriviality of Trivial Packages: An Empirical Study of npm JavaScript Packages","publication_year":2021,"publication_date":"2021-03-25","ids":{"openalex":"https://openalex.org/W3144273096","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1109/tse.2021.3068901","mag":"3144273096"},"language":"en","primary_location":{"id":"doi:10.1109/tse.2021.3068901","is_oa":false,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1109/tse.2021.3068901","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S8351582","display_name":"IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering","issn_l":"0098-5589","issn":["0098-5589","1939-3520","2326-3881"],"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":true,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/P4310320439","host_organization_name":"IEEE Computer Society","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/P4310320439","https://openalex.org/P4310319808"],"host_organization_lineage_names":["IEEE Computer Society","Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers"],"type":"journal"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering","raw_type":"journal-article"},"type":"article","indexed_in":["crossref"],"open_access":{"is_oa":false,"oa_status":"closed","oa_url":null,"any_repository_has_fulltext":false},"authorships":[{"author_position":"first","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5080917574","display_name":"Md Atique Reza Chowdhury","orcid":null},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I60158472","display_name":"Concordia University","ror":"https://ror.org/0420zvk78","country_code":"CA","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I60158472"]}],"countries":["CA"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Md Atique Reza Chowdhury","raw_affiliation_strings":["Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering, Data-driven Analysis of Software (DAS) Lab, Concordia University, Montréal, QC, Canada"],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering, Data-driven Analysis of Software (DAS) Lab, Concordia University, Montréal, QC, Canada","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I60158472"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5036111839","display_name":"Rabe Abdalkareem","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9914-5434"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I204722609","display_name":"Queen's University","ror":"https://ror.org/02y72wh86","country_code":"CA","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I204722609"]}],"countries":["CA"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Rabe Abdalkareem","raw_affiliation_strings":["Software Analysis and Intelligence Lab (SAIL), School of Computing, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9914-5434","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Software Analysis and Intelligence Lab (SAIL), School of Computing, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I204722609"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5049727493","display_name":"Emad Shihab","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1285-9878"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I60158472","display_name":"Concordia University","ror":"https://ror.org/0420zvk78","country_code":"CA","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I60158472"]}],"countries":["CA"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Emad Shihab","raw_affiliation_strings":["Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering, Data-driven Analysis of Software (DAS) Lab, Concordia University, Montréal, QC, Canada"],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering, Data-driven Analysis of Software (DAS) Lab, Concordia University, Montréal, QC, Canada","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I60158472"]}]},{"author_position":"last","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5058164381","display_name":"Bram Adams","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7213-4006"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I204722609","display_name":"Queen's University","ror":"https://ror.org/02y72wh86","country_code":"CA","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I204722609"]}],"countries":["CA"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Bram Adams","raw_affiliation_strings":["Lab on Maintenance, Construction, and Intelligence of Software (MCIS), School of Computing, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7213-4006","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Lab on Maintenance, Construction, and Intelligence of Software (MCIS), School of Computing, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I204722609"]}]}],"institutions":[],"countries_distinct_count":1,"institutions_distinct_count":2,"corresponding_author_ids":[],"corresponding_institution_ids":[],"apc_list":null,"apc_paid":null,"fwci":5.5435,"has_fulltext":false,"cited_by_count":27,"citation_normalized_percentile":{"value":0.95891276,"is_in_top_1_percent":false,"is_in_top_10_percent":true},"cited_by_percentile_year":{"min":97,"max":99},"biblio":{"volume":"48","issue":"8","first_page":"2695","last_page":"2708"},"is_retracted":false,"is_paratext":false,"is_xpac":false,"primary_topic":{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10260","display_name":"Software Engineering Research","score":0.9998999834060669,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1710","display_name":"Information Systems"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},"topics":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10260","display_name":"Software Engineering Research","score":0.9998999834060669,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1710","display_name":"Information Systems"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T11241","display_name":"Advanced Malware Detection Techniques","score":0.996399998664856,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1711","display_name":"Signal Processing"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10126","display_name":"Logic, programming, and type systems","score":0.9923999905586243,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}}],"keywords":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/computer-science","display_name":"Computer science","score":0.866145670413971},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/javascript","display_name":"JavaScript","score":0.815639078617096},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/programming-language","display_name":"Programming language","score":0.6552761197090149},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/empirical-research","display_name":"Empirical research","score":0.48692333698272705},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/software-engineering","display_name":"Software engineering","score":0.4638725519180298}],"concepts":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41008148","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21198","display_name":"Computer science","level":0,"score":0.866145670413971},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C544833334","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2005","display_name":"JavaScript","level":2,"score":0.815639078617096},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C199360897","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q9143","display_name":"Programming language","level":1,"score":0.6552761197090149},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C120936955","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2155640","display_name":"Empirical research","level":2,"score":0.48692333698272705},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C115903868","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q80993","display_name":"Software engineering","level":1,"score":0.4638725519180298},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C111472728","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q9471","display_name":"Epistemology","level":1,"score":0.0},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C138885662","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5891","display_name":"Philosophy","level":0,"score":0.0}],"mesh":[],"locations_count":2,"locations":[{"id":"doi:10.1109/tse.2021.3068901","is_oa":false,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1109/tse.2021.3068901","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S8351582","display_name":"IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering","issn_l":"0098-5589","issn":["0098-5589","1939-3520","2326-3881"],"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":true,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/P4310320439","host_organization_name":"IEEE Computer Society","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/P4310320439","https://openalex.org/P4310319808"],"host_organization_lineage_names":["IEEE Computer Society","Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers"],"type":"journal"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering","raw_type":"journal-article"},{"id":"pmh:oai:publications.polymtl.ca:47463","is_oa":false,"landing_page_url":"https://publications.polymtl.ca/47463/","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306401013","display_name":"PolyPublie (\u00c9cole Polytechnique de Montr\u00e9al)","issn_l":null,"issn":null,"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/I45683168","host_organization_name":"Polytechnique Montr\u00e9al","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/I45683168"],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"submittedVersion","is_accepted":false,"is_published":false,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"Article de revue"}],"best_oa_location":null,"sustainable_development_goals":[],"awards":[],"funders":[],"has_content":{"pdf":false,"grobid_xml":false},"content_urls":null,"referenced_works_count":46,"referenced_works":["https://openalex.org/W1001914638","https://openalex.org/W1568647190","https://openalex.org/W1971937094","https://openalex.org/W1978558026","https://openalex.org/W2045749853","https://openalex.org/W2047794235","https://openalex.org/W2063282514","https://openalex.org/W2073429012","https://openalex.org/W2078410218","https://openalex.org/W2092615763","https://openalex.org/W2099794586","https://openalex.org/W2105638048","https://openalex.org/W2127387319","https://openalex.org/W2128780139","https://openalex.org/W2140952846","https://openalex.org/W2147386665","https://openalex.org/W2152043048","https://openalex.org/W2158744032","https://openalex.org/W2178447779","https://openalex.org/W2239505015","https://openalex.org/W2477311979","https://openalex.org/W2529881162","https://openalex.org/W2615381372","https://openalex.org/W2733373979","https://openalex.org/W2740204814","https://openalex.org/W2740279154","https://openalex.org/W2756234923","https://openalex.org/W2883421393","https://openalex.org/W2899817180","https://openalex.org/W2901560623","https://openalex.org/W2915232514","https://openalex.org/W2944649757","https://openalex.org/W2945486631","https://openalex.org/W2963531473","https://openalex.org/W2963748706","https://openalex.org/W2965300162","https://openalex.org/W3014214759","https://openalex.org/W3121596715","https://openalex.org/W4247387602","https://openalex.org/W4393731641","https://openalex.org/W6682755466","https://openalex.org/W6713166798","https://openalex.org/W6744493230","https://openalex.org/W6748952102","https://openalex.org/W6759246942","https://openalex.org/W6792588861"],"related_works":["https://openalex.org/W4391375266","https://openalex.org/W2748952813","https://openalex.org/W2461078469","https://openalex.org/W123790205","https://openalex.org/W2085515337","https://openalex.org/W3087706721","https://openalex.org/W4287664162","https://openalex.org/W3102852402","https://openalex.org/W827014118","https://openalex.org/W4385695489"],"abstract_inverted_index":{"Nowadays,":[0],"developing":[1],"software":[2,23,162],"would":[3],"be":[4,260],"unthinkable":[5],"without":[6],"the":[7,38,55,77,92,102,128,203,229],"use":[8,116],"of":[9,22,54,84,94,104,112,134,143,160,182,228],"third-party":[10],"packages.":[11,146,190],"Although":[12],"such":[13],"code":[14,28,56],"reuse":[15],"helps":[16],"to":[17,24,188],"achieve":[18],"rapid":[19],"continuous":[20],"delivery":[21],"end-users,":[25],"blindly":[26],"reusing":[27],"has":[29,36],"its":[30],"pitfalls.":[31],"For":[32],"example,":[33],"prior":[34,61],"work":[35,62],"investigated":[37],"rationale":[39],"for":[40],"using":[41],"packages":[42,50,68,86,119,152,193,212,243,248,266],"that":[43,64,115,150,178,209,235,256],"implement":[44],"simple":[45],"functionalities,":[46],"known":[47],"as":[48],"trivial":[49,67,85,95,105,117,145,151,189,214,221,242,265],"(i.e.,":[51],"in":[52,76,90,156,172,198,202,216,238],"terms":[53],"size":[57,239],"and":[58,74,82,100,120,140,215,240],"complexity).":[59],"This":[60,80],"showed":[63],"although":[65,236,257],"these":[66,144,173,183,192],"were":[69,72],"simple,":[70],"they":[71,258],"popular":[73],"prevalent":[75],"npm":[78,118],"ecosystem.":[79,230],"popularity":[81],"prevalence":[83],"peaked":[87],"our":[88,232,253],"interest":[89],"questioning":[91],"\u2018triviality":[93],"packages\u2019.":[96],"To":[97],"better":[98],"understand":[99],"examine":[101],"triviality":[103,129],"packages,":[106],"we":[107,126,176,207],"mine":[108],"a":[109,161,179,195,220],"large":[110],"set":[111],"JavaScript":[113,158,174,199,250],"projects":[114],"evaluate":[121,127],"their":[122],"relative":[123],"centrality.":[124],"Specifically,":[125],"from":[130],"two":[131],"complementary":[132],"points":[133],"view:":[135],"based":[136],"on":[137,247],"project":[138],"usage":[139,142],"ecosystem":[141],"Our":[147],"result":[148],"shows":[149,255],"are":[153,186,213,244],"being":[154],"used":[155],"central":[157],"files":[159],"project.":[163],"Additionally,":[164,252],"by":[165,249],"analyzing":[166],"all":[167],"external":[168],"package":[169,204,222],"API":[170,184],"calls":[171,185],"files,":[175],"found":[177],"high":[180],"percentage":[181],"attributed":[187],"Therefore,":[191],"play":[194],"significant":[196],"role":[197],"files.":[200],"Furthermore,":[201],"dependency":[205],"network,":[206],"observed":[208],"16.8":[210],"percent":[211,227],"some":[217],"cases":[218],"removing":[219],"can":[223],"impact":[224],"approximately":[225],"29":[226],"Overall,":[231],"finding":[233],"indicates":[234],"smaller":[237],"complexity,":[241],"highly":[245],"depended":[246],"projects.":[251],"study":[254],"might":[259],"called":[261],"trivial,":[262],"nothing":[263],"about":[264],"is":[267],"trivial.":[268]},"counts_by_year":[{"year":2025,"cited_by_count":7},{"year":2024,"cited_by_count":9},{"year":2023,"cited_by_count":7},{"year":2022,"cited_by_count":4}],"updated_date":"2025-11-06T03:46:38.306776","created_date":"2025-10-10T00:00:00"}