Yapıcı, H.Sözer, Hasan2023-11-072023-11-072023979-835032697-00730-3157http://hdl.handle.net/10679/8945https://doi.org/10.1109/COMPSAC57700.2023.00244This paper proposes a new metric, namely the coevolution index (CEI), for measuring the relative evolutionary coupling of modules of a software system. CEI is inspired by the h-index, which is a popular metric used for measuring the productivity and citation impact of scholars and scientists. CEI of a module is equal to n, which is the number of times it is modified together with at least n other modules of the system. We develop a script that can calculate CEI for source files in a code repository. We analyze the repository of 4 software systems. Source files that are subject to a high number of changes to address issues tend to have high CEI scores. CEI also reflects a relative footprint in maintenance efforts by definition. Hence, it can help in tracking technical debt interest and focusing the refactoring efforts for improving maintainability and reusability.engrestrictedAccessconferenceObject00104648410023410.1109/COMPSAC57700.2023.00244Evolutionary couplingSoftware evolutionSoftware maintenanceSoftware metricsTechnical debt interest2-s2.0-85168878862