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Open research questions in Software Engineering Techniques and Practices

159 gap statements mined from Software Engineering Techniques and Practices papers in our 7.9M-paper local library, which holds 1,452 papers on the topic — drawn mostly from each paper's own stated research gap, future-work, challenge and limitation notes, and its abstract. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one.

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What the literature leaves open

  • Future research could explore the use of richer and more diverse knowledge bases within automated stakeholder scenarios to further enhance learning outcomes. The current implementation relied on an instructor-created requirements document as the RAG knowledge base; future studies should investigate alternative document sources, domains, and sizes.

    A retrieval-augmented automated stakeholder for requirements elicitation education: a comparative study · 2026 · DOI

  • The number of experts involved in the evaluation (10 experts) represents a limitation of this study, as a larger group could provide a broader range of perspectives and strengthen the validation process.

    Beyond Traditional Metrics: Toward a Multifactorial Model for Measuring Productivity in Agile Software Teams · 2026 · DOI

  • The study is limited to English requirement statements and two publicly available datasets, which may restrict generalizability to larger framework industrial also operates primarily at the sentence level and does not capture ambiguity arising from relationships or contextual dependencies across multiple requirements. Future work will evaluate larger, multilingual, and industrial requirements datasets.

    Hybrid semantic-lexical framework for ambiguity detection in software requirements using TF-IDF, character n-grams, and SBERT · 2026 · DOI

  • Validation on larger systems and under concurrent workloads is required before generalization to industrial environments.

    Secure automation of CI/CD pipelines for cloud infrastructures · 2026 · DOI

  • The current implementation provides a foundation for further evaluation. Future work can extend the framework with additional observability, security, delivery, and infrastructure automation capabilities. Enhanced Monitoring and Observability: Prometheus and Grafana. Advanced Security: centralized secret management, Kubernetes Network Policies, and OAuth2/OIDC.

    Secure automation of CI/CD pipelines for cloud infrastructures · 2026 · DOI

  • The review proposes that connecting intent, assumptions, participation, evidence, decisions and adaptation may support uncertainty management; the effectiveness of the combined configuration remains to be tested.

    Collaboration and Uncertainty Management in Agile Software Development: A Systematic Integrative Review and Literature-Based Positioning of CDM · 2026 · DOI

  • While negative feedback volume plausibly reflects remediation urgency at scale, this proxy has not been validated against expert product-manager rankings.

    Automated Product Feature Prioritization in Software Startups Using Natural Language Processing and Multi-Criteria Machine Learning · 2026 · DOI

  • The assessment of the application is limited to a conceptual validation of its working principle due to the small sample size of test users.

    Applying the Case-Based Axiomatic Design Assistant (CADA) to a Pharmaceutical Engineering Task: Implementation and Assessment · 2025 · DOI

  • The challenge is to detect gaps in requirements coverage. The challenge is to improve the analysis of requirements and the identification of inconsistencies.

    Un enfoque basado en inteligencia artificial para la detección de brechas en la cobertura de requisitos en pruebas de software · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research can integrate techniques of Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) to improve the transparency and reliability of models.

    Un enfoque basado en inteligencia artificial para la detección de brechas en la cobertura de requisitos en pruebas de software · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research should focus on validating CRAM across multiple organizations and industries to improve generalizability. Additional studies may incorporate data-driven weighting techniques such as the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), Delphi-based expert consensus methods, or machine learning approaches to enhance scoring accuracy and predictive capability.

    Design Science Research Approach for Quantifying Client Readiness in Custom Software Projects (CRAM) · 2026 · DOI

  • Future investigations should focus on the development of process templates for standardized testing scenarios and the evaluation of the framework across diverse software domains, such as embedded systems (where hardware constraints add complexity to PT) versus web applications (where rapid deployment cycles demand high-frequency testing).

    Innovating proficiency testing in software: a digital process with LLM-integrated support tool and automated indicators · 2026 · DOI

  • Further studies should investigate the applicability of the theory of emerging testing strategies in different contexts. Research should explore the role of conversation and collaboration in shaping testing practices.

    On the emergence of testing strategies: A socio-technical grounded theory · 2026 · DOI

  • There is a lack of understanding about why developers do or do not test. Prior research has focused on the technical aspects of software testing, neglecting the social and organizational factors.

    On the emergence of testing strategies: A socio-technical grounded theory · 2026 · DOI

  • There is a gap in the literature on the adoption of Extreme Programming methodology in developing special autonomy fund applications. There is a need to evaluate the effectiveness of Extreme Programming methodology in developing applications that require flexibility and adaptability.

    EVALUASI ADOPSI AGILE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT METHODOLOGYSTUDI KASUS: PEMBANGUNAN APLIKASI DANA OTSUS · 2026 · DOI

  • The adoption and evaluation of modern methodologies (Agile, DevOps) in resource-constrained software organizations remains under-explored. While integration challenges are documented in developed-country contexts, there is no evidence of how small organizations with limited economic investment and time can practically implement these approaches.

    Overcoming Challenges in Agile and DevOps Integration: A Qualitative Study · 2026

  • There is a need to compare the effectiveness of Agile and Waterfall methodologies in IT project management. The Ukrainian software development framework is a relevant context for this study.

    Economic Efficiency of Agile Methodologies in IT Project Management: A Comparative Structural Analysis · 2026 · DOI

  • Limited human and financial resources in small and medium-sized enterprises. The use of outdated and missing national standards. The lack of Ukrainian translations of international standards.

    Metrological expertise and norm control of engineering documents in small and medium-sized enterprises · 2026 · DOI

  • The lack of information on the experience of implementing new standards. The need for refining the methods of organising and conducting metrological examinations.

    Metrological expertise and norm control of engineering documents in small and medium-sized enterprises · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research should assess the effectiveness of agile methods in education. Future research should explore the use of agile methods in different educational settings.

    A cultura ágil no ensino: uma possibilidade viável · 2026 · DOI

  • There is a lack of knowledge about agile manifestos for education. Agile methods are not widely used in education. There is a need to assess the effectiveness of agile methods in education.

    A cultura ágil no ensino: uma possibilidade viável · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research can build on the findings of this study to explore the impact of organizational transformation on software project success. Future research can also examine the generalizability of the findings to different institutions and contexts.

    Software Workforce Dynamics and Organizational Restructuring in Higher Education: A Retrospective Scenario Analysis · 2026 · DOI

  • Many ASE tools are not 100% automated, but rather can be considered semi-automated. The use of AI tools, although not 100% accurate, reduces the cost and time required in performing different tasks in software development.

    Automated Software Engineering and ChatGPT · 2026 · DOI

  • Further evaluation and validation of the proposed SDLC model. Exploration of new computational intelligence techniques. Application of the proposed SDLC model in various domains.

    Smarter Software Engineering: Evaluating Classical vs Cognitive Lifecycles with Proposals · 2026 · DOI

  • The study extends prior ERP research by specifying a structured competency to critical success factor to success pathway that clarifies the role of consultants and helps explain mixed findings regarding training, testing, and teamwork in ERP implementations.

    Consultant competencies and ERP project success · 2026 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Software Engineering Techniques and Practices

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Open questions raised by papers listed on this page include: (1) Future research could explore the use of richer and more diverse knowledge bases within automated stakeholder scenarios to further enhance learning outcomes (“A retrieval-augmented automated stakeholder for requirements elicitation…”, 2026); (2) Future work will evaluate larger, multilingual, and industrial requirements datasets (“Hybrid semantic-lexical framework for ambiguity detection in software…”, 2026); (3) Future work can extend the framework with additional observability, security, delivery, and infrastructure automation capabilities (“Secure automation of CI/CD pipelines for cloud infrastructures”, 2026); (4) The review proposes that connecting intent, assumptions, participation, evidence, decisions and adaptation may support uncertainty management; the effectiveness of the combined configuration remains to be tested (“Collaboration and Uncertainty Management in Agile Software Development: A…”, 2026); (5) Future research can integrate techniques of Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) to improve the transparency and reliability of models (“Un enfoque basado en inteligencia artificial para la detección de brechas en la…”, 2026). 159 gap statements have been mined from Software Engineering Techniques and Practices papers in our 7.9M-paper local library, which holds 1,452 papers on the topic; the gaps come from whichever of those papers state one. They are mostly the research gaps the authors state and the papers' abstracts, plus future-work, limitations and challenges passages. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one, so you can read the original claim in context.

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