Developer experience · Large-scale repository mining and explanatory modeling
Community engagement and the lifespan of open-source software projects
Information and Software Technology · 2025
Summary
Project death spirals show declining innovation, growing backlog, and rising merge latency; popularity and innovation predict survival more strongly than workflow friction.
For your marketing
Possible founder application
Prioritize product value, innovation, and re-engagement—not just PR process efficiency—as survival levers.
Reported result
What the study found
Project death spirals show declining innovation, growing backlog, and rising merge latency; popularity and innovation predict survival more strongly than workflow friction.
Research question
What the authors investigated
How does the study’s stated design explain its reported outcome in this setting?
Design
Large-scale repository mining and explanatory modeling
Sample and setting
1,736 inactive GitHub repositories and 1.3 million human-driven pull requests.
Scope and transfer
Limitations to keep in view
Abstract/page evidence does not establish broader generalizability.
Research sources
full_text