Evaluating Code Metrics in GitHub Repositories Related to Fake News and Misinformation

Jason Duran, Mostofa Najmus Sakib, Nasir U. Eisty, Francesca Spezzano

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

The surge of research on fake news and misinformation in the aftermath of the 2016 election has led to a significant increase in publicly available source code repositories. Our study aims to systematically analyze and evaluate the most relevant repositories and their Python source code in this area to improve awareness, quality, and understanding of these resources within the research community. Additionally, our work aims to measure the quality and complexity metrics of these repositories and identify their fundamental features to aid researchers in advancing the field's knowledge in understanding and preventing the spread of misinformation on social media. As a result, we found that more popular fake news repositories and associated papers with higher citation counts tend to have more maintainable code measures, more complex code paths, a larger number of lines of code, a higher Halstead effort, and fewer comments. Utilizing these findings to devise efficient research and coding techniques to combat fake news, we can strive towards building a more knowledgeable and well-informed society.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings - 2023 IEEE/ACIS 21st International Conference on Software Engineering Research, Management and Applications, SERA 2023
EditorsYeong-Tae Song, Junghwan Rhee, Yuseok Jeon
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages182-188
Number of pages7
ISBN (Electronic)9798350345889
DOIs
StatePublished - 2023
Event21st IEEE/ACIS International Conference on Software Engineering Research, Management and Applications, SERA 2023 - Orlando, United States
Duration: 23 May 202325 May 2023

Publication series

NameProceedings - 2023 IEEE/ACIS 21st International Conference on Software Engineering Research, Management and Applications, SERA 2023

Conference

Conference21st IEEE/ACIS International Conference on Software Engineering Research, Management and Applications, SERA 2023
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityOrlando
Period23/05/2325/05/23

Keywords

  • Code Metrics
  • Fake News
  • GitHub Repository Mining
  • Misinformation
  • Source Code Analysis

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