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Analysis of institutional authors

Pastor, OscarAuthor

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July 31, 2025
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Ontology-based NLP tool for tracing software requirements and conceptual models: an empirical study

Publicated to: REQUIREMENTS ENGINEERING. 30 (3): 341-369 - 2025-09-01 30(3), DOI: 10.1007/s00766-025-00447-4

Authors:

Mosquera, D; Ruiz, M; Pastor, O
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Affiliations

Univ Politecn Valencia, Valencian Res Inst Artificial Intelligence, Cami Vera S-N, Valencia 46022, Spain - Author
ZHAW Zurich Univ Appl Sci, Inst Comp Sci InIT, Gertrudstr 15, CH-8400 Winterthur, Zurich, Switzerland - Author

Abstract

Software traceability refers to maintaining, using, and generating traces among software artefacts-i.e., triples comprised of a source artefact, a target artefact, and a trace link-to support software quality assurance. Due to the effort of manually discovering trace links and the variety of software artefacts, trace link discovery tools have been proposed. Among these is OntoTraceV2.0, an ontology-based automatic reasoning and Natural Language Processing (NLP) tool for trace link discovery. In this paper, we evaluate how OntoTraceV2.0 affects subjects' efficiency, effectiveness, and satisfaction during trace link discovery. We conducted three quasi-experiments with 70 subjects in total. We asked subjects to discover trace links between a set of semi-structured software requirements in natural language-i.e., user stories-and a conceptual model-i.e., existence dependency graphs (EDGs)-with the support of OntoTraceV2.0 and without tool support. OntoTraceV2.0 increased subjects' median precision compared to manual trace link discovery, with an average recall decrease of 7%. Despite this, OntoTraceV2.0 enabled subjects to discover trace links 1.41-2.55 times faster, indicating a significant increase in efficiency. Moreover, OntoTraceV2.0 positively affected subjects' perceived usefulness, while ease of use and intention to use remain areas for improvement. Qualitative feedback highlighted the need for better guidance, automation, clearer benefits of long-term traceability, and improved user experience. To improve lower recall and enhance effectiveness while improving satisfaction, we propose an improved architecture for OntoTrace. We expect our experience to allow researchers and practitioners to devise new and better tools for trace link discovery automation.
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Keywords

Arbitrary artefactEvaluatioNlpOntologyTrace link discoveryTraceability

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal REQUIREMENTS ENGINEERING due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2025, it was in position 37/129, thus managing to position itself as a Q2 (Segundo Cuartil), in the category Computer Science, Software Engineering. Notably, the journal is positioned en el Cuartil Q2 para la agencia Scopus (SJR) en la categoría Information Systems.

Independientemente del impacto esperado determinado por el canal de difusión, es importante destacar el impacto real observado de la propia aportación.

Según las diferentes agencias de indexación, el número de citas acumuladas por esta publicación hasta la fecha 2026-04-05:

  • WoS: 2
  • Scopus: 2
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Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2026-04-05:

  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 15 (PlumX).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.
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Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Switzerland.

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: Last Author (Pastor López, Oscar).

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Awards linked to the item

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all students from RASOP and ETIBIS from ZHAW and FHNW who participated in the quasi-experiments. We especially thank Lizaveta Kuryla, Juan Coutink, Emre Hacan, and Nicolas Brauchli for their engagement in collecting data for the quasi-experiments.
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