SECURE Framework v2: Research Program and Supporting Systematic Reviews

Abstract

This registration establishes the overarching Open Science preregistration for the SECURE Framework v2 research program and its supporting systematic secondary studies. SECURE v2 extends the institutional-level SECURE v1 framework by introducing a continuous, change-level governance loop (SECURE-RSE) for evolving software systems. The research program comprises six interrelated components: 1. SECURE Framework v2 (DSR Framework & Evaluation Protocol): Design science evaluation and empirical validation protocol (FEDS framework) for change-level security risk governance. 2. Paper 1 (SMS Protocol): Systematic mapping study on security-relevant software changes across change types. 3. Paper 2 (SLR Protocol): Systematic literature review on assessing and prioritizing the security risk of software changes. 4. Paper 3 (SMS Protocol): Systematic mapping study on security assurance for software changes. 5. Paper 4 (SMS Protocol): Systematic mapping study on security traceability and release governance in software evolution. 6. Paper 5 (SMS Protocol): Systematic mapping study on the security of AI-authored software changes (LLM coding assistants and autonomous engineering agents). All research protocols are documented in this registration (version 1.0) and its update (version 1.1). Search logs, screening decisions, quality assessment records, and data extraction forms will be deposited in the associated project as each review is completed, to ensure research transparency, auditability, and reproducibility.