Evolution of Cybersecurity Subdisciplines: A Science of Science Study

TL;DR

This study applies the science-of-science framework to cybersecurity by comparing SOUPS and FC from inception through 2023, uncovering divergent gender dynamics, collaboration structures, and topic evolution. It leverages metadata from major sources and a refined CCT-based gender classifier to quantify authorship patterns, team formation, and impact, highlighting how mixed-gender teams and larger collaborations contribute to high-quality outputs in different subfields. Key findings include substantial gender imbalance in FC, more balanced and rapidly advancing gender representation in SOUPS, and distinct network growth trajectories that reflect community-specific research practices. The work provides evidence-based guidance on team design, recruitment, and policy for nurturing inclusive, productive cybersecurity research ecosystems, with implications for funding agencies and future SciSci studies.

Abstract

The science of science is an emerging field that studies the practice of science itself. We present the first study of the cybersecurity discipline from a science of science perspective. We examine the evolution of two comparable interdisciplinary communities in cybersecurity: the Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security (SOUPS) and Financial Cryptography and Data Security (FC).

Figures (18)

• Figure 1: The number of papers published each year. The total number of papers: 402 for SOUPS and 651 for FC.
• Figure 2: The Evolution of Average Team Sizes.).
• Figure 3: Distribution of Papers by Author Team Size.
• Figure 4: Portions of papers produced by teams of different sizes (Left: SOUPS; Right: FC).
• Figure 5: Cumulative counts of male and female authors.