DCEP-SE: A Dublin Core Application Profile for Experimental Software Engineering
Resumo
Experimental Software Engineering (ESE) faces persistent challenges in the standardization of metadata for artifacts, which limits the replication, comparison, and reuse of experimental results. Metadata provides a structured means to describe artifacts, thereby enhancing reproducibility; however, widely adopted standards such as Dublin Core (DC) may not adequately capture the specific requirements of ESE. To address this gap, this study proposes and validates DCEP-SE, a DC-based application profile tailored for documenting software engineering experiments. The profile was iteratively refined through the progressive exclusion of non-essential elements, resulting in a concise set of qualified terms aligned with experimental phases. DCEP-SE was applied to a real-world study, enabling systematic documentation of context, variables, and results. The profile enhances interoperability, promotes artifact reuse, and standardizes the reporting of ESE studies. Moreover, it provides a reusable methodological process for developing domain-specific metadata profiles in experimental software engineering.
Palavras-chave:
Metadata, Experimental Software Engineering, Dublin Core, Reproducibility, Standardization
Referências
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Coyle, K., Baker, T., Barker, P., Huck, J., Riesenberg, B., and Thalhath, N. (2023). Dc tabular application profiles (dc tap) - primer. DCMI Community Specification. Editors: Karen Coyle. Contributors: Tom Baker (DCMI), Phil Barker (Cetis LLP), John Huck (University of Alberta), Ben Riesenberg (University of Washington), Nishad Thalhath (University of Tsukuba).
Curado Malta, M. and Baptista, A. A. (2013). Me4dcap v0.1: A method for the development of dublin core application profiles. Information Services & Use, 33(2):161–171.
Curado Malta, M. C. (2012). Application profiles: concepts, methodologies and use in digital libraries. In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Digital Libraries, pages 45–56. ACM.
DataCite (2024). Datacite metadata schema 4.5.
DCMI Usage Board (2020). Dcmi metadata terms. [link]. This document is a DCMI Recommendation. Latest version: [link]. Version history: [link].
Dublin Core™ (2005). Dublin core™ application profile guidelines. [link]. Accessed 2025-08-04.
FAO (2005). The agris application profile for the international information system on agricultural sciences and technology: Guidelines on best practices for information object description.
Formenton, D. and Gracioso, L. d. S. (2022). Padrões de metadados no arquivamento da web: recursos tecnológicos para a garantia da preservação digital de websites arquivados. RDBCI: Revista Digital de Biblioteconomia e Ciência da Informação, 20(00):e022001.
Fucci, D. (2024). Fair enough: a vision for research objects in empirical software engineering studies. In Proceedings of the 1st IEEE/ACM International Workshop on Methodological Issues with Empirical Studies in Software Engineering, WSESE ’24, page 64–67, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery.
Heery, R. and Patel, M. (2000). Application profiles: mixing and matching metadata schemas. Ariadne, (25).
IEEE Standards Association (2017). Iso/iec/ieee 24765:2017 systems and software engineering – vocabulary. ISO/IEC/IEEE. Standard, Vol. 24765, p. 201025021.
Madeyski, L., Kitchenham, B., Nguyen, N.-T., Núñez, M., and Trawiński, B. (2017). Would wider adoption of reproducible research be beneficial for empirical softwarenbsp;engineering research? J. Intell. Fuzzy Syst., 32(2):1509–1521.
Miksa, T., Simms, S., Mietchen, D., Jones, S., Neish, P., et al. (2021). Using application profiles to explore domain-specific metadata for data management plans. Data Science Journal, 20:1–17.
Méndez Fernández, D., Böhm, W., Vogelsang, A., et al. (2019). Artefacts in software engineering: a fundamental positioning. Software and Systems Modeling, 18:2777–2786.
Nagamori, M. and Sugimoto, S. (2007). Using metadata schema registry as a core function to enhance usability and reusability of metadata schemas. In Proceedings of the 2007 International Conference on Dublin Core and Metadata Applications: Application Profiles: Theory and Practice, DCMI ’07, page 85–95. Dublin Core Metadata Initiative.
National Archives of Australia (2023). Agls metadata standard. Web page updated December 2023. Accessed: 2025-08-21.
Nilsson, M., Baker, T., and Johnston, P. (2008). The singapore framework for dublin core application profiles.
Porter, A. A., Jr., L. G. V., Basili, V. R., Ardis, M., Kelly, J., Weiss, D., Gannon, J., Gerber, R., Loader, C., Slud, E., and VanderWeil, S. (1995). Comparing detection methods for software requirements inspections: a replicated experiment. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, 21(6):563–575.
Santana, F., Cordeiro, A., and OliveiraJr, E. (2023a). Metadata standards: a review towards modeling experiments. In Anais da VII Escola Regional de Engenharia de Software, pages 159–168, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil. SBC.
Santana, F., Cordeiro, A., and OliveiraJr, E. (2023b). Use of the dublin core standard to express open metadata related to software engineering experiments. In Anais do III Workshop de Práticas de Ciência Aberta para Engenharia de Software, pages 1–5, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil. SBC.
Timperley, C. S., Herckis, L., Goues, C. L., et al. (2021). Understanding and improving artifact sharing in software engineering research. Empirical Software Engineering, 26(67):67.
Walters, C. D. (2010). Mountain west digital library dublin core application profile. Unpublished Paper.
Wohlin, C., Runeson, P., Höst, M., Ohlsson, M. C., Regnell, B., and Wesslén, A. (2024). Experimentation in Software Engineering. Springer eBooks. Springer Nature.
AgMES (2010). Agricultural metadata element set (agmes): Namespace specification. Defines the metadata terms of the AgMES Namespace, including properties and encoding schemes for describing agricultural resources.
Allinson, J., Johnston, P., and Powell, A. (2006). Scholarly works application profile (swap). [link]. Part of the JISC Digital Repository Wiki, coordinated by UKOLN and Eduserv Foundation. Last accessed: 2025-08-16.
Archivematica (2019). Dublin core metadata in archivematica. [link]. Accessed: 2025-08-21.
Coyle, K., Baker, T., Barker, P., Huck, J., Riesenberg, B., and Thalhath, N. (2023). Dc tabular application profiles (dc tap) - primer. DCMI Community Specification. Editors: Karen Coyle. Contributors: Tom Baker (DCMI), Phil Barker (Cetis LLP), John Huck (University of Alberta), Ben Riesenberg (University of Washington), Nishad Thalhath (University of Tsukuba).
Curado Malta, M. and Baptista, A. A. (2013). Me4dcap v0.1: A method for the development of dublin core application profiles. Information Services & Use, 33(2):161–171.
Curado Malta, M. C. (2012). Application profiles: concepts, methodologies and use in digital libraries. In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Digital Libraries, pages 45–56. ACM.
DataCite (2024). Datacite metadata schema 4.5.
DCMI Usage Board (2020). Dcmi metadata terms. [link]. This document is a DCMI Recommendation. Latest version: [link]. Version history: [link].
Dublin Core™ (2005). Dublin core™ application profile guidelines. [link]. Accessed 2025-08-04.
FAO (2005). The agris application profile for the international information system on agricultural sciences and technology: Guidelines on best practices for information object description.
Formenton, D. and Gracioso, L. d. S. (2022). Padrões de metadados no arquivamento da web: recursos tecnológicos para a garantia da preservação digital de websites arquivados. RDBCI: Revista Digital de Biblioteconomia e Ciência da Informação, 20(00):e022001.
Fucci, D. (2024). Fair enough: a vision for research objects in empirical software engineering studies. In Proceedings of the 1st IEEE/ACM International Workshop on Methodological Issues with Empirical Studies in Software Engineering, WSESE ’24, page 64–67, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery.
Heery, R. and Patel, M. (2000). Application profiles: mixing and matching metadata schemas. Ariadne, (25).
IEEE Standards Association (2017). Iso/iec/ieee 24765:2017 systems and software engineering – vocabulary. ISO/IEC/IEEE. Standard, Vol. 24765, p. 201025021.
Madeyski, L., Kitchenham, B., Nguyen, N.-T., Núñez, M., and Trawiński, B. (2017). Would wider adoption of reproducible research be beneficial for empirical softwarenbsp;engineering research? J. Intell. Fuzzy Syst., 32(2):1509–1521.
Miksa, T., Simms, S., Mietchen, D., Jones, S., Neish, P., et al. (2021). Using application profiles to explore domain-specific metadata for data management plans. Data Science Journal, 20:1–17.
Méndez Fernández, D., Böhm, W., Vogelsang, A., et al. (2019). Artefacts in software engineering: a fundamental positioning. Software and Systems Modeling, 18:2777–2786.
Nagamori, M. and Sugimoto, S. (2007). Using metadata schema registry as a core function to enhance usability and reusability of metadata schemas. In Proceedings of the 2007 International Conference on Dublin Core and Metadata Applications: Application Profiles: Theory and Practice, DCMI ’07, page 85–95. Dublin Core Metadata Initiative.
National Archives of Australia (2023). Agls metadata standard. Web page updated December 2023. Accessed: 2025-08-21.
Nilsson, M., Baker, T., and Johnston, P. (2008). The singapore framework for dublin core application profiles.
Porter, A. A., Jr., L. G. V., Basili, V. R., Ardis, M., Kelly, J., Weiss, D., Gannon, J., Gerber, R., Loader, C., Slud, E., and VanderWeil, S. (1995). Comparing detection methods for software requirements inspections: a replicated experiment. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, 21(6):563–575.
Santana, F., Cordeiro, A., and OliveiraJr, E. (2023a). Metadata standards: a review towards modeling experiments. In Anais da VII Escola Regional de Engenharia de Software, pages 159–168, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil. SBC.
Santana, F., Cordeiro, A., and OliveiraJr, E. (2023b). Use of the dublin core standard to express open metadata related to software engineering experiments. In Anais do III Workshop de Práticas de Ciência Aberta para Engenharia de Software, pages 1–5, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil. SBC.
Timperley, C. S., Herckis, L., Goues, C. L., et al. (2021). Understanding and improving artifact sharing in software engineering research. Empirical Software Engineering, 26(67):67.
Walters, C. D. (2010). Mountain west digital library dublin core application profile. Unpublished Paper.
Wohlin, C., Runeson, P., Höst, M., Ohlsson, M. C., Regnell, B., and Wesslén, A. (2024). Experimentation in Software Engineering. Springer eBooks. Springer Nature.
Publicado
29/10/2025
Como Citar
SANTANA, Filipe A.; CORDEIRO, André F. R.; OLIVEIRAJR, Edson.
DCEP-SE: A Dublin Core Application Profile for Experimental Software Engineering. In: ESCOLA REGIONAL DE ENGENHARIA DE SOFTWARE (ERES), 9. , 2025, Chapecó/SC.
Anais [...].
Porto Alegre: Sociedade Brasileira de Computação,
2025
.
p. 188-197.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/eres.2025.16260.
