{"id":"https://openalex.org/W4410560470","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3736578","title":"No Country for Indie Developers: A Study of Google Play\u2019s Closed Testing Requirements for New Personal Developer Accounts","display_name":"No Country for Indie Developers: A Study of Google Play\u2019s Closed Testing Requirements for New Personal Developer Accounts","publication_year":2025,"publication_date":"2025-05-21","ids":{"openalex":"https://openalex.org/W4410560470","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3736578"},"language":"en","primary_location":{"id":"doi:10.1145/3736578","is_oa":false,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3736578","pdf_url":null,"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":false,"oa_status":"closed","oa_url":null,"any_repository_has_fulltext":false},"authorships":[{"author_position":"first","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5117621684","display_name":"Grishma Shrestha","orcid":null},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I121820613","display_name":"Louisiana State University","ror":"https://ror.org/05ect4e57","country_code":"US","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I121820613"]}],"countries":["US"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Grishma Shrestha","raw_affiliation_strings":["Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA","Louisiana State University, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0009-7425-4445","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I121820613"]},{"raw_affiliation_string":"Louisiana State University, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I121820613"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5099048649","display_name":"Shristi Shrestha","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0009-4808-1309"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I121820613","display_name":"Louisiana State University","ror":"https://ror.org/05ect4e57","country_code":"US","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I121820613"]}],"countries":["US"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Shristi Shrestha","raw_affiliation_strings":["Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA","Louisiana State University, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0009-4808-1309","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I121820613"]},{"raw_affiliation_string":"Louisiana State University, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I121820613"]}]},{"author_position":"last","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5037080307","display_name":"Anas Mahmoud","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8353-5286"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I121820613","display_name":"Louisiana State University","ror":"https://ror.org/05ect4e57","country_code":"US","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I121820613"]}],"countries":["US"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Anas Mahmoud","raw_affiliation_strings":["Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA","Louisiana State University, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8353-5286","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I121820613"]},{"raw_affiliation_string":"Louisiana State University, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I121820613"]}]}],"institutions":[],"countries_distinct_count":1,"institutions_distinct_count":3,"corresponding_author_ids":[],"corresponding_institution_ids":[],"apc_list":null,"apc_paid":null,"fwci":0.0,"has_fulltext":false,"cited_by_count":0,"citation_normalized_percentile":{"value":0.150624,"is_in_top_1_percent":false,"is_in_top_10_percent":false},"cited_by_percentile_year":null,"biblio":{"volume":"35","issue":"3","first_page":"1","last_page":"21"},"is_retracted":false,"is_paratext":false,"is_xpac":false,"primary_topic":{"id":"https://openalex.org/T11437","display_name":"Digital Platforms and Economics","score":0.9821000099182129,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1408","display_name":"Strategy and Management"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/14","display_name":"Business, Management and Accounting"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/2","display_name":"Social Sciences"}},"topics":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/T11437","display_name":"Digital Platforms and Economics","score":0.9821000099182129,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1408","display_name":"Strategy and Management"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/14","display_name":"Business, Management and Accounting"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/2","display_name":"Social Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T11675","display_name":"Open Source Software Innovations","score":0.9751999974250793,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1706","display_name":"Computer Science Applications"},"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/T11995","display_name":"FinTech, Crowdfunding, Digital Finance","score":0.9751999974250793,"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":0.6925364136695862},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/indie-film","display_name":"Indie film","score":0.5550687909126282},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/world-wide-web","display_name":"World Wide Web","score":0.4087074398994446},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/sociology","display_name":"Sociology","score":0.06198924779891968}],"concepts":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41008148","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21198","display_name":"Computer science","level":0,"score":0.6925364136695862},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C84079672","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q459290","display_name":"Indie film","level":2,"score":0.5550687909126282},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C136764020","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q466","display_name":"World Wide Web","level":1,"score":0.4087074398994446},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C144024400","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21201","display_name":"Sociology","level":0,"score":0.06198924779891968},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C29595303","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q165650","display_name":"Media studies","level":1,"score":0.0}],"mesh":[],"locations_count":1,"locations":[{"id":"doi:10.1145/3736578","is_oa":false,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3736578","pdf_url":null,"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":null,"sustainable_development_goals":[],"awards":[],"funders":[],"has_content":{"grobid_xml":false,"pdf":false},"content_urls":null,"referenced_works_count":36,"referenced_works":["https://openalex.org/W1974283859","https://openalex.org/W1979290264","https://openalex.org/W1980567103","https://openalex.org/W2147131839","https://openalex.org/W2163388342","https://openalex.org/W2342077348","https://openalex.org/W2588358651","https://openalex.org/W2594402712","https://openalex.org/W2911025356","https://openalex.org/W2915335925","https://openalex.org/W2928324396","https://openalex.org/W2943746216","https://openalex.org/W2955308964","https://openalex.org/W3017863658","https://openalex.org/W3028704655","https://openalex.org/W3034651328","https://openalex.org/W3121821896","https://openalex.org/W3127701756","https://openalex.org/W3158507908","https://openalex.org/W3162199296","https://openalex.org/W3207231909","https://openalex.org/W4225091435","https://openalex.org/W4225109008","https://openalex.org/W4240794126","https://openalex.org/W4250612206","https://openalex.org/W4294214797","https://openalex.org/W4309193282","https://openalex.org/W4309618160","https://openalex.org/W4320560404","https://openalex.org/W4366547455","https://openalex.org/W4366598492","https://openalex.org/W4376275143","https://openalex.org/W4385217139","https://openalex.org/W4390502905","https://openalex.org/W6704095974","https://openalex.org/W6860467377"],"related_works":["https://openalex.org/W4391375266","https://openalex.org/W2899084033","https://openalex.org/W2748952813","https://openalex.org/W573553172","https://openalex.org/W2287166359","https://openalex.org/W4310913453","https://openalex.org/W4310914929","https://openalex.org/W4283736587","https://openalex.org/W4283580408","https://openalex.org/W2183067054"],"abstract_inverted_index":{"In":[0],"November":[1],"2023,":[2],"Google":[3,104,138],"Play":[4,51],"introduced":[5],"new":[6,57,106],"closed":[7,107,140],"testing":[8,108,141,200],"requirements":[9,24,58,80,109,128,142,201,216],"for":[10,37,70,143],"apps":[11,145],"submitted":[12,67],"by":[13],"developers":[14,72,123,197],"operating":[15,73],"with":[16],"personal":[17],"accounts,":[18],"or":[19,129],"indie":[20,121,144,195],"app":[21,45,100,122,167,196,225],"developers.":[22],"These":[23],"mandate":[25],"that":[26,137],"at":[27,38],"least":[28,39],"20":[29],"testers":[30],"must":[31],"remain":[32],"opted-in":[33],"(use":[34],"the":[35,44,50,62,127,165,173,175,199,212,223],"app)":[36],"14":[40,120],"consecutive":[41],"days":[42],"before":[43],"can":[46,81],"be":[47],"published":[48],"on":[49,110,156,186,217],"Store.":[52],"According":[53],"to":[54,60,78,87,162,181,193,210],"Google,":[55],"these":[56,92],"aim":[59],"ensure":[61],"quality":[63],"and":[64,85,153,220],"security":[65],"of":[66,103,119,214],"apps.":[68],"However,":[69],"individual":[71],"without":[74],"organizational":[75],"support,":[76],"adhering":[77],"such":[79,183,215],"pose":[82],"logistical":[83,152],"challenges":[84],"lead":[86],"production":[88],"delays.":[89],"To":[90],"understand":[91],"challenges,":[93],"in":[94,159,164,222],"this":[95],"article,":[96],"we":[97,113,189],"qualitatively":[98],"analyze":[99],"developers\u2019":[101],"discussions":[102],"Play\u2019s":[105,139],"Reddit.":[111],"Additionally,":[112],"report":[114],"insights":[115],"from":[116],"a":[117],"survey":[118],"who":[124],"recently":[125],"passed":[126],"are":[130,146],"actively":[131],"seeking":[132],"compliance.":[133],"Our":[134,169],"results":[135],"show":[136],"commonly":[147],"perceived":[148],"as":[149],"discriminatory,":[150],"imposing":[151],"bureaucratic":[154],"barriers":[155],"small-scale":[157],"creators":[158],"their":[160,203],"quest":[161],"compete":[163],"mobile":[166,224],"market.":[168,226],"analysis":[170],"also":[171],"uncovers":[172],"strategies":[174,209],"Android":[176],"developer":[177],"community":[178],"has":[179],"adapted":[180],"navigate":[182],"requirements.":[184],"Based":[185],"our":[187],"findings,":[188],"propose":[190],"several":[191],"guidelines":[192],"help":[194],"integrate":[198],"into":[202],"workflow.":[204],"We":[205],"further":[206],"suggest":[207],"design":[208],"mitigate":[211],"impact":[213],"innovation,":[218],"fairness,":[219],"competition":[221]},"counts_by_year":[],"updated_date":"2026-06-11T09:08:48.828518","created_date":"2025-10-10T00:00:00"}