GitHub repositories with links to academic papers: Public access, traceability, and evolution

Traceability between published scientific breakthroughs and their implementation is essential, especially in the case of open-source software which implements bleeding-edge science its code. However, aligning link GitHub repositories academic papers can prove difficult, current practice establishing maintaining such links remains unknown. This paper investigates role references contained these repositories. We conduct a large-scale study 20 thousand that make to papers. use mixed-methods approach identify public access, traceability evolutionary aspects links. Although referencing not typical, we find vast majority referenced are access. These tend be affiliated with communities. More than half do back any repository. from top-tier SE venues likely reference repository, but when they do, usually In network arXiv repositories, most (i) highly-cited academia (ii) by written different programming languages.