Software Quality Requirements: a systematic mapping study Sofia Ouhbi, Ali Idri Software Project Management research team ENSIAS, University Mohammed V Souissi Rabat, Morocco ouhbisofia@gmail.com, idri@ensias.ma Jose Luis Fernández-Alemán, Ambrosio Toval Dept. Informatica y Sistemas University of Murcia Murcia, Spain aleman@um.es, atoval@um.es Abstract—Software quality requirements (SQR) play a central role in software quality (SQ) success. The importance of mas- tering SQR can be seen as obvious; however, when it comes to customer satisfaction, end-users are often dissatisfied with SQ. In this paper, a systematic mapping study aims to summarize SQR research by answering nine mapping questions. In total, 51 articles were selected and classified according to multiple criteria: publication source, publication year, research type, research approach, contribution type of SQR literature, requirements engineering activity, well-known SQ model, software artifact and SQR type. The results show an increased interest in SQR research in recent years and reveal that conferences are the main SQR publication target. Most SQR research has used case studies. The dominant contribution type of SQR research is method while specification is the main requirements engineering activity identified. SQ models need to be more used for SQR identification. Design module and requirements documentation are the principal artifacts reported in SQR literature. External and internal SQR were the main SQR types addressed in literature. Identifying empirical solutions to address SQR is a promising research direction for researchers. Keywords-Software Quality Requirements; Requirement Engi- neering; Systematic mapping study. I. I NTRODUCTION "Although quality is pursued in order to satisfy users, it is important to note that the quality desired by users is not universal but rather subject to constant change." [1]. Developing a software product that responds to the customers’ requirements, and offers high value to both the development company and the customer, increases the likelihood of market success. Therefore, software quality requirements (SQR) play a central role and can be seen as a key competitive advantage [2]. The international research standardization project SQuaRE (Software Quality Requirements and Evaluation) developed the ISO/IEC standard series 250nn for software product quality, evaluated from the users and stakeholder’s point of view. The ISO/IEC 25010 standard [3], which has replaced the ISO/IEC 9126-1 [4], defines internal, external quality characteristics and quality in use characteristics. It should be noted that "user requirements and expectations are growing increasingly diverse, and the importance given to each quality characteristic varies with individual users (and stakeholders). In some cases, what is desirable to one user is not so to another" [1]. Software quality (SQ) could be defined as "the totality of characteristics of an entity that bear on it’s ability to satisfy stated and implied needs" [4]. Functional requirements are statements of services the system should provide, how the system should react to particular inputs and how the system should behave in particular situations [5]. Non-functional requirements delineate requirements focusing on how good software does something unlike the functional requirements, which focus on what the software does [6]. Requirements en- gineering (RE) aims to obtain clear understanding of the prob- lem domain and customer’s need, and produce complete and correct SQ [7]. Standardization organizations have published standards for SQR such as the IEEE Std 1465-98 [8] which is a guideline for SQR in software packages, the ISO/IEC 25000:2005 standard [9] and the ISO/IEC 25001:2007 stan- dard [10]. ISO/IEC 25030:2007 [11] is a guideline for SQR and evaluation. It applies the quality model defined in ISO/IEC 9126-1 [4] and it complies with the requirement processes defined in ISO/IEC 15288 [12]. According to the ISO/IEC 25030:2007 standard, a target value of the SQ measure repre- sents a SQR. In order to obtain a detailed view on SQR research, a systematic mapping study is conducted to identify and classify SQR into: publication source, publication year, research type, research approach, contribution type, RE activity, well-known SQ model, software artifact and SQR type. To the best of our knowledge, no systematic mapping study of the SQR research exists. The results were analyzed, tabulated and synthesized to provide both an updated and summarized view and a set of recommendations for researchers and practitioners. The results of this study may be a substantial starting point for systematic literature reviews (SLRs) in the area of empirical solution to address SQR. The structure of this paper is as follows: Section II presents the research methodology. Section III reports the systematic mapping results. Section IV discusses the finding of this study and implications for researchers and practitioners. The conclusions and future work are presented in Section V. II. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY A mapping study differs from an SLR [13]. The SLR aims to establish the state of evidence, focuses on identifying best practices and shows where particular evidence is missing or is insufficiently reported in existing studies. While the main focus of a systematic map is mainly on classification, conducting a thematic analysis and identifying publication fora [14]. 2013 20th Asia-Pacific Software Engineering Conference 1530-1362/13 $31.00 © 2013 IEEE DOI 10.1109/APSEC.2013.40 231 2013 20th Asia-Pacific Software Engineering Conference 1530-1362/13 $31.00 © 2013 IEEE DOI 10.1109/APSEC.2013.40 231