{"id":"https://openalex.org/W4408021714","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3719004","title":"Characterizing Smart Contract Evolution","display_name":"Characterizing Smart Contract Evolution","publication_year":2025,"publication_date":"2025-02-27","ids":{"openalex":"https://openalex.org/W4408021714","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3719004"},"language":"en","primary_location":{"id":"doi:10.1145/3719004","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3719004","pdf_url":"https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3719004","source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S142627899","display_name":"ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology","issn_l":"1049-331X","issn":["1049-331X","1557-7392"],"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":true,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/P4310319798","host_organization_name":"Association for Computing Machinery","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/P4310319798"],"host_organization_lineage_names":["Association for Computing Machinery"],"type":"journal"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology","raw_type":"journal-article"},"type":"article","indexed_in":["crossref"],"open_access":{"is_oa":true,"oa_status":"bronze","oa_url":"https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3719004","any_repository_has_fulltext":false},"authorships":[{"author_position":"first","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5101601497","display_name":"Xiangping Chen","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8234-3186"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I157773358","display_name":"Sun Yat-sen University","ror":"https://ror.org/0064kty71","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I157773358"]}],"countries":["CN"],"is_corresponding":true,"raw_author_name":"Xiangping Chen","raw_affiliation_strings":["Guangdong Key Laboratory for Big Data Analysis and Simulation of Public Opinion, School of Journalism and Communication, Sun Yat-sen University, China"],"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Guangdong Key Laboratory for Big Data Analysis and Simulation of Public Opinion, School of Journalism and Communication, Sun Yat-sen University, China","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I157773358"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5049465402","display_name":"Z. Qian","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0000-3743-1363"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I157773358","display_name":"Sun Yat-sen University","ror":"https://ror.org/0064kty71","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I157773358"]}],"countries":["CN"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Ziang Qian","raw_affiliation_strings":["School of Software Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, China"],"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"School of Software Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, China","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I157773358"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5027158884","display_name":"Peiyong Liao","orcid":null},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I157773358","display_name":"Sun Yat-sen University","ror":"https://ror.org/0064kty71","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I157773358"]}],"countries":["CN"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Peiyong Liao","raw_affiliation_strings":["School of Computer Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, China"],"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"School of Computer Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, China","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I157773358"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5106457493","display_name":"Yuan Huang","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0006-1691-0959"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I157773358","display_name":"Sun Yat-sen University","ror":"https://ror.org/0064kty71","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I157773358"]}],"countries":["CN"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Yuan Huang","raw_affiliation_strings":["School of Software Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, China"],"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"School of Software Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, China","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I157773358"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5033353772","display_name":"Changlin Yang","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1431-4073"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I157773358","display_name":"Sun Yat-sen University","ror":"https://ror.org/0064kty71","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I157773358"]}],"countries":["CN"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Changlin Yang","raw_affiliation_strings":["School of Software Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, China"],"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"School of Software Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, China","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I157773358"]}]},{"author_position":"last","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5000582109","display_name":"Zibin Zheng","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7878-4330"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I157773358","display_name":"Sun Yat-sen University","ror":"https://ror.org/0064kty71","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I157773358"]}],"countries":["CN"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Zibin Zheng","raw_affiliation_strings":["School of Software Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, China"],"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"School of Software Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, China","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I157773358"]}]}],"institutions":[],"countries_distinct_count":1,"institutions_distinct_count":6,"corresponding_author_ids":["https://openalex.org/A5101601497"],"corresponding_institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I157773358"],"apc_list":null,"apc_paid":null,"fwci":6.9443,"has_fulltext":false,"cited_by_count":2,"citation_normalized_percentile":{"value":0.95581443,"is_in_top_1_percent":false,"is_in_top_10_percent":true},"cited_by_percentile_year":{"min":95,"max":96},"biblio":{"volume":null,"issue":null,"first_page":null,"last_page":null},"is_retracted":false,"is_paratext":false,"is_xpac":false,"primary_topic":{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10270","display_name":"Blockchain Technology Applications and Security","score":0.9993000030517578,"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/T10270","display_name":"Blockchain Technology Applications and Security","score":0.9993000030517578,"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/T11182","display_name":"Auction Theory and Applications","score":0.9830999970436096,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1803","display_name":"Management Science and Operations Research"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/18","display_name":"Decision Sciences"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/2","display_name":"Social Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T11995","display_name":"FinTech, Crowdfunding, Digital Finance","score":0.9776999950408936,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1404","display_name":"Management Information Systems"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/14","display_name":"Business, Management and Accounting"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/2","display_name":"Social Sciences"}}],"keywords":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/computer-science","display_name":"Computer science","score":0.731722354888916}],"concepts":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41008148","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21198","display_name":"Computer science","level":0,"score":0.731722354888916}],"mesh":[],"locations_count":1,"locations":[{"id":"doi:10.1145/3719004","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3719004","pdf_url":"https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3719004","source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S142627899","display_name":"ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology","issn_l":"1049-331X","issn":["1049-331X","1557-7392"],"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":true,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/P4310319798","host_organization_name":"Association for Computing Machinery","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/P4310319798"],"host_organization_lineage_names":["Association for Computing Machinery"],"type":"journal"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology","raw_type":"journal-article"}],"best_oa_location":{"id":"doi:10.1145/3719004","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3719004","pdf_url":"https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3719004","source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S142627899","display_name":"ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology","issn_l":"1049-331X","issn":["1049-331X","1557-7392"],"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":true,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/P4310319798","host_organization_name":"Association for Computing Machinery","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/P4310319798"],"host_organization_lineage_names":["Association for Computing Machinery"],"type":"journal"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology","raw_type":"journal-article"},"sustainable_development_goals":[],"awards":[],"funders":[],"has_content":{"grobid_xml":false,"pdf":true},"content_urls":{"pdf":"https://content.openalex.org/works/W4408021714.pdf"},"referenced_works_count":32,"referenced_works":["https://openalex.org/W2493916176","https://openalex.org/W2539190473","https://openalex.org/W2805827286","https://openalex.org/W2846896781","https://openalex.org/W2911270308","https://openalex.org/W2950294262","https://openalex.org/W2970809537","https://openalex.org/W2982275082","https://openalex.org/W2993753560","https://openalex.org/W2995871203","https://openalex.org/W2999378142","https://openalex.org/W3003036212","https://openalex.org/W3025529919","https://openalex.org/W3091620507","https://openalex.org/W3098149161","https://openalex.org/W3098450669","https://openalex.org/W3105187050","https://openalex.org/W3120972506","https://openalex.org/W3125989628","https://openalex.org/W3135569879","https://openalex.org/W3162904859","https://openalex.org/W3182763642","https://openalex.org/W4200574850","https://openalex.org/W4212832141","https://openalex.org/W4312989206","https://openalex.org/W4380758748","https://openalex.org/W4389195248","https://openalex.org/W4389560241","https://openalex.org/W4394896808","https://openalex.org/W4396758529","https://openalex.org/W4399632113","https://openalex.org/W4403579163"],"related_works":["https://openalex.org/W4391375266","https://openalex.org/W2899084033","https://openalex.org/W2748952813","https://openalex.org/W2390279801","https://openalex.org/W4391913857","https://openalex.org/W2358668433","https://openalex.org/W4396701345","https://openalex.org/W2376932109","https://openalex.org/W2001405890","https://openalex.org/W4396696052"],"abstract_inverted_index":{"Smart":[0],"contracts":[1,27,38,76,107,134,153,167,192,211],"are":[2,28,173,218],"programs":[3],"that":[4,45,162,177],"permanently":[5],"store":[6],"and":[7,39,90,147,202,221],"automatically":[8],"execute":[9],"on":[10],"the":[11,19,23,37,41,46,53,65,72,115,130,143,148,156,163,196,204,215,223],"blockchain":[12],"system":[13],"such":[14],"as":[15],"Ethereum.":[16,78],"Due":[17],"to":[18,30,70,104,112],"non-tamperable":[20],"nature":[21],"of":[22,48,74,132,151,165,189,208],"underlying":[24],"blockchain,":[25],"smart":[26,49,75,133,152,166,191,210],"difficult":[29],"update":[31],"once":[32],"deployed,":[33],"which":[34],"requires":[35],"redeploying":[36],"migrating":[40],"data.":[42],"It":[43],"means":[44],"observation":[47],"contract":[50,85,175,198],"evolution":[51,73,80,116,131,164],"in":[52,60,77],"real":[54],"world":[55],"makes":[56],"more":[57],"sense.":[58],"Hence,":[59],"this":[61,102],"paper,":[62],"we":[63,82,100,108,139],"conducted":[64],"first":[66,127],"large-scale":[67],"empirical":[68],"study":[69],"characterize":[71],"For":[79],"identification,":[81],"presented":[83],"a":[84],"similarity-based":[86],"search":[87,97],"algorithm,":[88],"digEvolution,":[89],"evaluated":[91],"its":[92],"effectiveness":[93],"with":[94],"five":[95],"different":[96],"strategies.":[98],"Then":[99],"applied":[101],"algorithm":[103],"80,152":[105],"on-chain":[106],"collected":[109],"from":[110],"Ethereum,":[111],"dig":[113],"out":[114],"among":[117],"these":[118],"contracts.":[119],"We":[120,126],"then":[121,138],"explored":[122],"three":[123],"research":[124,159],"questions.":[125],"studied":[128,140],"whether":[129],"is":[135,168,199],"common":[136],"(RQ1),":[137],"how":[141],"do":[142],"Gas":[144,187],"consumption":[145,188],"(RQ2)":[146],"vulnerability":[149,179,207],"(RQ3)":[150],"vary":[154,194,213],"during":[155,195,214],"evolution.":[157,205,224],"Our":[158],"results":[160],"show":[161],"not":[169],"very":[170],"common.":[171],"There":[172],"some":[174],"components":[176],"have":[178],"but":[180],"still":[181],"be":[182],"called":[183],"by":[184],"users.":[185],"The":[186,206],"most":[190,209],"doesn\u2019t":[193,212],"evolution,":[197,216],"Gas-efficient":[200],"before":[201,220],"after":[203,222],"both":[217],"secure":[219]},"counts_by_year":[{"year":2025,"cited_by_count":2}],"updated_date":"2025-12-19T19:40:27.379048","created_date":"2025-10-10T00:00:00"}