Wasif Afzal

Prof. Dr. Wasif Afzal

orcid

Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

18Years (2009-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

View All Publications
1 June 2009 in Information and Software Technology
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
WAWasif Afzal
Wasif Afzal
RTRichard Torkar
Richard Torkar
RFRobert Feldt
Robert Feldt

5 February 2020 in IEEE Access
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
Affan YasinAffan Yasin
Affan Yasin
RFRubia Fatima
Rubia Fatima
LWLijie Wen
Lijie Wen
WAWasif Afzal
Wasif Afzal
Muhammad AzharMuhammad Azhar
Muhammad Azhar
RTRichard Torkar
Richard Torkar
Context: The inclusion of grey literature (GL) is important to remove publication bias while gathering available evidence regarding a certain topic. The number of systematic literature reviews (SLRs) in Software Engineering (SE) is increasing but we do not know about the extent of GL usage in these SLRs. Moreover, Google Scholar is rapidly becoming a search engine of choice for many researchers but the extent to which it can find the primary studies is not known. Objective: This tertiary study is an attempt to i) measure the usage of GL in SLRs in SE. Furthermore this study proposes strategies for categorizing GL and a quality checklist to use for GL in future SLRs; ii) explore if it is feasible to use only Google Scholar for finding scholarly articles for academic research. Method: We have conducted a systematic mapping study to measure the extent of GL usage in SE SLRs as well as to measure the feasibility of finding primary studies using Google Scholar. Results and conclusions: a) Grey Literature: 76.09% SLRs (105 out of 138) in SE have included one or more GL studies as primary studies. Among total primary studies across all SLRs (6307), 582 are classified as GL, making the frequency of GL citing as 9.23%. The intensity of GL use indicate that each SLR contains 5 primary studies on average (total intensity of GL use being 5.54). The ranking of GL tells us that conference papers are the most used form 43.3% followed by technical reports 28.52%. Universities, research institutes, labs and scientific societies together make up 67.7% of GL used, indicating that these are useful sources for searching GL. We additionally propose strategies for categorizing GL and criteria for evaluating GL quality, which can become a basis for more detailed guidelines for including GL in future SLRs. b) Google Scholar Results: The results show that Google Scholar was able to retrieve 96% of primary studies of these SLRs. Most of the primary studies that were not found using Google Scholar were from grey sources.

1 January 2016 in Journal of Systems and Software
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
WAWasif Afzal
Wasif Afzal
SASnehal Alone
Snehal Alone
KGKerstin Glocksien
Kerstin Glocksien
RTRichard Torkar
Richard Torkar

16 April 2014 in Empirical Software Engineering
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
PDF file
WAWasif Afzal
Wasif Afzal
AGAhmad Nauman Ghazi
Ahmad Nauman Ghazi
JIJuha Itkonen
Juha Itkonen
RTRichard Torkar
Richard Torkar
AAAnneliese Andrews
Anneliese Andrews
KBKhurram Bhatti
Khurram Bhatti

1 September 2018 in Microprocessors and Microsystems
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
WAWasif Afzal
Wasif Afzal
HBHugo Bruneliere
Hugo Bruneliere
DRDavide Di Ruscio
Davide Di Ruscio
ASAndrey Sadovykh
Andrey Sadovykh
SMSilvia Mazzini
Silvia Mazzini
PSPavel Smrz
Pavel Smrz

4 April 2022 in Applied Intelligence
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
PDF file
GJGul Jabeen
Gul Jabeen
Sabit RahimSabit Rahim
Sabit Rahim
WAWasif Afzal
Wasif Afzal
Dawar KhanDawar Khan
Dawar Khan
AKAftab Khan
Aftab Khan
TBTehmina Bibi
Tehmina Bibi