Quid Pro Quo: An Exploration of Reciprocity in Code Review

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Abstract

We explore the role of reciprocity in code review processes. Reciprocity manifests itself in two ways: 1) reviewing code for others translates to accepted code contributions, and 2) having contributions accepted increases the reviews made for others. We use vector autoregressive (VAR) models to explore the causal relation between reviews performed and accepted contributions. After fitting VAR models for 24 active open-source developers, we found evidence of reciprocity in 6 of them. These results suggest reciprocity does play a role in code review, that can potentially be exploited to increase reviewer participation.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings - 2022 Mining Software Repositories Conference, MSR 2022
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages738-740
Number of pages3
ISBN (Electronic)9781450393034
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 17 Oct 2022
Externally publishedYes
Event2022 Mining Software Repositories Conference, MSR 2022 - Hybrid, Pittsburgh, United States
Duration: 23 May 202224 May 2022

Publication series

NameProceedings - 2022 Mining Software Repositories Conference, MSR 2022

Conference

Conference2022 Mining Software Repositories Conference, MSR 2022
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityHybrid, Pittsburgh
Period23/05/2224/05/22

Keywords

  • code review
  • collaboration
  • time series analysis

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