A compendium and evaluation of taxonomy quality attributes

Introduction Taxonomies capture knowledge about a particular domain in succinct manner and establish common understanding among peers. Researchers use taxonomies to convey information area or support automation tasks, practitioners them enable communication beyond organizational boundaries. Aims Even though this important role of software engineering, their quality is seldom evaluated. Our aim identify define taxonomy attributes that provide practical measurements, helping researchers compare choose the one most adequate for task at hand. Methods We reviewed 324 publications from engineering systems research synthesized, when provided, definitions measurements. evaluated usefulness measurements on six three domains. Results propose definition seven suggest internal external can be used assess taxonomy's quality. For two we implementations Python. found useful deciding which best suited purpose. Conclusion While there exist several guidelines creating taxonomies, lack actionable criteria taxonomies. In article, fill gap by synthesizing wealth literature seven, non-overlapping corresponding Future work encompasses further evaluation empirical validation.