{"id":"https://openalex.org/W7117151787","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3756681.3756948","title":"Assessing the Bug-Proneness of Refactored Code: A Longitudinal Multi-Project Study","display_name":"Assessing the Bug-Proneness of Refactored Code: A Longitudinal Multi-Project Study","publication_year":2025,"publication_date":"2025-06-17","ids":{"openalex":"https://openalex.org/W7117151787","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3756681.3756948"},"language":null,"primary_location":{"id":"doi:10.1145/3756681.3756948","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3756681.3756948","pdf_url":null,"source":null,"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"Proceedings of the 29th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering","raw_type":"proceedings-article"},"type":"article","indexed_in":["crossref"],"open_access":{"is_oa":true,"oa_status":"gold","oa_url":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3756681.3756948","any_repository_has_fulltext":null},"authorships":[{"author_position":"first","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5121157269","display_name":"Isabella Ferreira","orcid":null},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I2699952","display_name":"Pontif\u00edcia Universidade Cat\u00f3lica do Rio de Janeiro","ror":"https://ror.org/01dg47b60","country_code":"BR","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I2699952"]}],"countries":["BR"],"is_corresponding":true,"raw_author_name":"Isabella Ferreira","raw_affiliation_strings":["Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9884-5890","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I2699952"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5115465491","display_name":"Lawrence Arkoh","orcid":null},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I137902535","display_name":"North Carolina State University","ror":"https://ror.org/04tj63d06","country_code":"US","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I137902535"]}],"countries":["US"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Lawrence Arkoh","raw_affiliation_strings":["North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0005-5904-9313","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I137902535"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5083872302","display_name":"Anderson Uch\u00f4a","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6847-5569"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I243754102","display_name":"Universidade Federal do Cear\u00e1","ror":"https://ror.org/03srtnf24","country_code":"BR","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I243754102"]}],"countries":["BR"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Anderson Uch\u00f4a","raw_affiliation_strings":["Federal University of Cear\u00e1, Itapaj\u00e9, Brazil"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6847-5569","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Federal University of Cear\u00e1, Itapaj\u00e9, Brazil","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I243754102"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5019724624","display_name":"Ana Carla Bibiano","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3730-9290"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I2699952","display_name":"Pontif\u00edcia Universidade Cat\u00f3lica do Rio de Janeiro","ror":"https://ror.org/01dg47b60","country_code":"BR","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I2699952"]}],"countries":["BR"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Ana Carla Bibiano","raw_affiliation_strings":["Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3730-9290","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I2699952"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5121210559","display_name":"Alessandro Garcia","orcid":null},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I2699952","display_name":"Pontif\u00edcia Universidade Cat\u00f3lica do Rio de Janeiro","ror":"https://ror.org/01dg47b60","country_code":"BR","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I2699952"]}],"countries":["BR"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Alessandro Garcia","raw_affiliation_strings":["Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5788-5215","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I2699952"]}]},{"author_position":"last","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5121126913","display_name":"Wesley K. G. Assun\u00e7\u00e3o","orcid":null},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I137902535","display_name":"North Carolina State University","ror":"https://ror.org/04tj63d06","country_code":"US","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I137902535"]}],"countries":["US"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Wesley K. G. Assun\u00e7\u00e3o","raw_affiliation_strings":["North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7557-9091","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I137902535"]}]}],"institutions":[],"countries_distinct_count":2,"institutions_distinct_count":6,"corresponding_author_ids":["https://openalex.org/A5121157269"],"corresponding_institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I2699952"],"apc_list":null,"apc_paid":null,"fwci":0.0,"has_fulltext":false,"cited_by_count":0,"citation_normalized_percentile":{"value":0.73535886,"is_in_top_1_percent":false,"is_in_top_10_percent":false},"cited_by_percentile_year":null,"biblio":{"volume":null,"issue":null,"first_page":"79","last_page":"90"},"is_retracted":false,"is_paratext":false,"is_xpac":false,"primary_topic":{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10260","display_name":"Software Engineering Research","score":0.9901999831199646,"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":0.9901999831199646,"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/T10743","display_name":"Software Testing and Debugging Techniques","score":0.0038999998942017555,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1712","display_name":"Software"},"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/T10430","display_name":"Software Engineering Techniques and Practices","score":0.0017000000225380063,"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"}}],"keywords":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/code-refactoring","display_name":"Code refactoring","score":0.9732000231742859},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/commit","display_name":"Commit","score":0.5612000226974487},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/code","display_name":"Code (set theory)","score":0.47429999709129333},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/source-code","display_name":"Source code","score":0.46389999985694885},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/software","display_name":"Software","score":0.4569999873638153},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/code-smell","display_name":"Code smell","score":0.3912999927997589},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/software-quality","display_name":"Software quality","score":0.3693000078201294},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/software-maintenance","display_name":"Software maintenance","score":0.3625999987125397}],"concepts":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/C152752567","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q116877","display_name":"Code refactoring","level":3,"score":0.9732000231742859},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41008148","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21198","display_name":"Computer science","level":0,"score":0.5863999724388123},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C153180980","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19776675","display_name":"Commit","level":2,"score":0.5612000226974487},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2776760102","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5139990","display_name":"Code (set theory)","level":3,"score":0.47429999709129333},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C43126263","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q128751","display_name":"Source code","level":2,"score":0.46389999985694885},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2777904410","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7397","display_name":"Software","level":2,"score":0.4569999873638153},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C199360897","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q9143","display_name":"Programming language","level":1,"score":0.4271000027656555},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C115903868","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q80993","display_name":"Software engineering","level":1,"score":0.4165000021457672},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C133237599","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2295111","display_name":"Code smell","level":5,"score":0.3912999927997589},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C117447612","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1412670","display_name":"Software quality","level":4,"score":0.3693000078201294},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C101317890","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q940053","display_name":"Software maintenance","level":4,"score":0.3625999987125397},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C149091818","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2429814","display_name":"Software system","level":3,"score":0.33730000257492065},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C136197465","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1729295","display_name":"Variety (cybernetics)","level":2,"score":0.32910001277923584},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2780451532","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q759676","display_name":"Task (project management)","level":2,"score":0.31439998745918274},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C127413603","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11023","display_name":"Engineering","level":0,"score":0.27480000257492065},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C132010649","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q189222","display_name":"Intuition","level":2,"score":0.2741999924182892},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C137287247","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1329550","display_name":"Static program analysis","level":4,"score":0.27090001106262207},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C97686452","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7604153","display_name":"Static analysis","level":2,"score":0.2703999876976013},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C4554734","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q593744","display_name":"Knowledge base","level":2,"score":0.2619999945163727},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C1009929","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q179550","display_name":"Software bug","level":3,"score":0.2538999915122986},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C120936955","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2155640","display_name":"Empirical research","level":2,"score":0.25189998745918274}],"mesh":[],"locations_count":1,"locations":[{"id":"doi:10.1145/3756681.3756948","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3756681.3756948","pdf_url":null,"source":null,"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"Proceedings of the 29th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering","raw_type":"proceedings-article"}],"best_oa_location":{"id":"doi:10.1145/3756681.3756948","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3756681.3756948","pdf_url":null,"source":null,"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"Proceedings of the 29th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering","raw_type":"proceedings-article"},"sustainable_development_goals":[],"awards":[],"funders":[],"has_content":{"grobid_xml":false,"pdf":false},"content_urls":null,"referenced_works_count":47,"referenced_works":["https://openalex.org/W1524601730","https://openalex.org/W1976264698","https://openalex.org/W1978304215","https://openalex.org/W2000679946","https://openalex.org/W2013619645","https://openalex.org/W2023687034","https://openalex.org/W2044556410","https://openalex.org/W2058230372","https://openalex.org/W2098664130","https://openalex.org/W2113157806","https://openalex.org/W2117593603","https://openalex.org/W2126166995","https://openalex.org/W2149598089","https://openalex.org/W2159725273","https://openalex.org/W2161661398","https://openalex.org/W2166993820","https://openalex.org/W2290195878","https://openalex.org/W2476494490","https://openalex.org/W2512989791","https://openalex.org/W2530824252","https://openalex.org/W2740981432","https://openalex.org/W2754638064","https://openalex.org/W2766557196","https://openalex.org/W2795027827","https://openalex.org/W2800525766","https://openalex.org/W2980897813","https://openalex.org/W3013958783","https://openalex.org/W3017387544","https://openalex.org/W3085541756","https://openalex.org/W3102742699","https://openalex.org/W3161551626","https://openalex.org/W3163579316","https://openalex.org/W3217467444","https://openalex.org/W4206600618","https://openalex.org/W4231671330","https://openalex.org/W4233562928","https://openalex.org/W4235354960","https://openalex.org/W4286531990","https://openalex.org/W4304588463","https://openalex.org/W4308643086","https://openalex.org/W4312058837","https://openalex.org/W4312902756","https://openalex.org/W4320068707","https://openalex.org/W4384302761","https://openalex.org/W4394769099","https://openalex.org/W4405601407","https://openalex.org/W6968245804"],"related_works":[],"abstract_inverted_index":{"Refactoring":[0],"is":[1,27,43,85,141,167,182],"a":[2,44,62,106,160,176],"common":[3,136],"practice":[4],"in":[5,15,40,49,88,156,187,192,216,222],"software":[6,113],"development,":[7],"aimed":[8],"at":[9],"improving":[10],"the":[11,33,77,89,92,96,135,183,193,201,223],"internal":[12],"code":[13,34,78,140,161,210],"structure":[14],"order":[16],"to":[17,21,37,81],"make":[18,76],"it":[19,26],"easier":[20],"understand":[22],"and":[23,47,60,101,121],"modify.":[24],"Consequently,":[25],"often":[28,199,230],"assumed":[29],"that":[30,138,163,174],"refactoring":[31,42,54,181,239],"makes":[32],"less":[35,142,169],"prone":[36,80],"bugs.":[38,82,102],"However,":[39],"practice,":[41],"complex":[45],"task":[46],"applied":[48],"different":[50,97],"ways":[51],"(e.g.,":[52,66],"various":[53],"types,":[55],"single":[56,177,180,197],"vs.":[57,68],"composite":[58],"refactorings)":[59,228],"with":[61,125,189,218,243],"variety":[63],"of":[64,99,109,154,203,234],"purposes":[65],"root-canal":[67],"floss":[69,227],"refactoring).":[70],"Therefore,":[71],"certain":[72],"refactorings":[73,100,166,191,198,214],"can":[74],"inadvertently":[75],"more":[79],"Unfortunately,":[83],"there":[84],"limited":[86],"research":[87],"literature":[90],"on":[91],"long-term":[93],"relationship":[94],"between":[95],"characteristics":[98],"This":[103],"paper":[104],"presents":[105],"longitudinal":[107],"study":[108,133],"12":[110],"open":[111],"source":[112],"projects,":[114],"where":[115],"27,450":[116],"refactorings,":[117],"6,051":[118],"reported":[119],"bugs,":[120],"49,250":[122],"bugs":[123,204,236],"detected":[124],"static":[126],"analysis":[127],"tools":[128],"were":[129],"analyzed.":[130],"While":[131],"our":[132],"confirms":[134],"intuition":[137],"refactored":[139],"bug-prone":[143,170],"than":[144,171],"non-refactored":[145],"code,":[146],"we":[147],"also":[148],"extend":[149],"or":[150],"contradict":[151],"existing":[152],"body":[153],"knowledge":[155],"other":[157,190,219],"ways.":[158],"First,":[159],"element":[162,173],"undergoes":[164,175],"multiple":[165],"not":[168,185],"an":[172],"refactoring.":[178],"A":[179],"one":[184],"performed":[186],"conjunction":[188,217],"same":[194,224],"commit.":[195],"Second,":[196],"induce":[200],"occurrence":[202],"across":[205],"all":[206],"analyzed":[207],"projects.":[208],"Third,":[209],"elements":[211],"affected":[212],"by":[213,238],"made":[215],"non-refactoring":[220],"changes":[221],"commit":[225],"(i.e.,":[226],"are":[229],"bug-prone.":[231],"Finally,":[232],"many":[233],"such":[235],"induced":[237],"cannot":[240],"be":[241],"revealed":[242],"state-of-the-art":[244],"techniques":[245],"for":[246],"detecting":[247],"behavior-preserving":[248],"refactorings.":[249]},"counts_by_year":[],"updated_date":"2026-04-30T09:15:22.047038","created_date":"2025-12-24T00:00:00"}