An overview of the Systems Circus

• This page highlights the system circus, including the system security circus.
• The focus of these statistics is on authors and top tier publications.
• All code is available on the HexHive GitHub.
• Do you have ideas, comments, or improvements? Reach out to Mathias Payer.
• Data was processed on 2026-10-08.

Key motivation for this page is to provide an overview of the systems community, its publications, its authors, and its cliques.

The data is sourced from DBLP (for publication data) and CSRankings (for affiliation data). The scripts process the data and create the necessary files for the web page, allowing a fast turnaround whenever new data is added to DBLP.

Area statistics

• Per-area statistics for the major systems conferences.
• We single out total papers, maximum and average papers of an author (max/a and avg/a), average for the top 50 authors (a50), and active authors (a)
• The total number of publications increases steadily for most areas, with security and mobile having the largest increases.
• The maximum number of publications of a single author in a year is slowly increasing, somewhat in line with the increase of the total number of authors per paper.
• As a top author, the number of papers across all areas of systems have increased from around 4-5 to 7-8 papers per year.
• The total number of active authors in a year is steadily increasing, with security and design taking the lead.

Area	Total	26	25	24	23	22	21	20	19	18	17	16	15	14	13	12	11	10	9	8	7	<6
Systems: Architecture	7855	446	553	448	407	321	319	303	270	256	226	228	222	206	194	163	159	157	159	142	110	2429
	max/a	12	12	10	11	12	14	10	9	11	7	8	10	6	10	5	6	5	10	6	5
	avg/a	1.28	1.32	1.3	1.27	1.27	1.29	1.28	1.28	1.31	1.22	1.28	1.32	1.25	1.23	1.24	1.25	1.24	1.3	1.29	1.21
	avg/a50	5.44	6.24	5.32	4.6	4.42	4.4	4.14	3.98	4.02	3.5	3.82	3.84	3.12	3.16	2.68	2.78	2.8	2.92	2.82	2.4
	#a	2476	2814	2187	1996	1547	1456	1345	1114	974	966	859	812	694	706	551	538	523	480	455	364
Systems: Networks	2891	310	157	174	167	133	114	118	81	80	82	83	82	82	76	61	59	62	59	65	63	717
	max/a	10	12	7	6	8	5	5	5	5	5	6	5	4	4	7	4	4	4	5	5
	avg/a	1.27	1.27	1.21	1.2	1.18	1.16	1.16	1.12	1.13	1.13	1.23	1.2	1.15	1.18	1.19	1.15	1.16	1.16	1.21	1.17
	avg/a50	4.92	4.02	3.36	3.14	2.64	2.42	2.56	1.98	2.14	2.1	2.66	2.5	2.16	2.26	2.02	1.74	1.84	1.78	1.96	1.78
	#a	1950	1124	1116	1001	736	599	609	422	442	411	365	401	378	342	266	241	256	250	230	233
Systems: Security	10231	518	1221	1146	948	705	643	473	436	369	364	325	300	280	251	218	157	142	130	127	122	1248
	max/a	6	19	29	15	13	10	10	11	9	11	12	9	10	9	7	7	7	6	7	7
	avg/a	1.2	1.42	1.44	1.39	1.36	1.34	1.29	1.29	1.3	1.29	1.33	1.35	1.29	1.28	1.29	1.29	1.22	1.21	1.21	1.18
	avg/a50	4.12	8.5	9.24	7.62	6.28	5.34	4.76	4.38	4.56	4.34	4.14	4.32	3.84	3.34	3.38	3.04	2.66	2.48	2.44	2.3
	#a	2304	4548	4248	3409	2518	2364	1782	1679	1361	1367	1124	1003	927	776	701	474	456	384	357	354
Systems: Databases	8965	282	373	370	302	470	480	429	281	255	268	276	311	287	261	197	233	246	213	229	198	2849
	max/a	8	10	14	11	14	11	12	8	6	6	6	8	10	5	5	7	8	8	6	7
	avg/a	1.19	1.23	1.3	1.21	1.3	1.31	1.3	1.21	1.23	1.22	1.2	1.26	1.3	1.19	1.19	1.26	1.27	1.27	1.23	1.26
	avg/a50	3.76	4.56	5.64	4.14	5.3	5.6	5.26	4.04	3.74	3.58	3.44	4.04	4.12	3.06	2.56	3.36	3.4	3.18	2.86	3.0
	#a	1403	1785	1602	1413	1809	1889	1667	1150	1038	953	1025	1146	946	929	654	722	747	617	688	569
Systems: Design	11842	185	910	703	547	425	411	451	422	210	378	170	319	295	271	271	262	221	217	237	232	4449
	max/a	31	22	27	18	9	11	9	11	5	11	8	9	10	11	7	8	9	6	6	8
	avg/a	1.42	1.37	1.34	1.3	1.28	1.29	1.28	1.28	1.14	1.27	1.19	1.31	1.27	1.3	1.25	1.21	1.26	1.23	1.18	1.24
	avg/a50	4.58	8.64	7.54	5.44	4.38	4.84	4.38	4.34	2.5	4.02	2.82	4.52	3.72	3.92	3.4	3.08	2.92	2.8	2.72	3.0
	#a	508	3647	2703	2099	1601	1544	1642	1503	766	1235	641	994	969	840	856	782	588	588	684	640
Embedded Systems	2593	28	147	61	120	60	129	58	136	66	134	83	86	88	63	58	70	66	77	73	72	842
	max/a	2	7	6	8	6	7	3	6	4	4	4	4	5	3	3	3	4	4	3	3
	avg/a	1.05	1.19	1.22	1.22	1.23	1.18	1.19	1.13	1.23	1.16	1.2	1.15	1.19	1.09	1.07	1.08	1.13	1.17	1.08	1.16
	avg/a50	1.12	2.84	2.04	2.64	1.96	2.6	1.7	2.22	1.9	2.4	2.0	1.88	2.02	1.4	1.3	1.38	1.5	1.76	1.34	1.68
	#a	123	615	240	446	209	480	189	483	195	470	252	287	268	212	211	224	194	219	226	215
Systems: HPC	6456	168	275	210	161	205	162	219	156	212	111	150	145	366	167	176	183	216	151	139	129	2349
	max/a	7	11	7	9	11	7	5	10	4	4	7	7	8	6	7	4	5	4	5	4
	avg/a	1.15	1.21	1.13	1.19	1.14	1.13	1.11	1.16	1.13	1.11	1.13	1.16	1.15	1.16	1.17	1.13	1.09	1.14	1.12	1.08
	avg/a50	2.7	4.14	3.04	3.18	2.7	2.68	2.58	2.66	2.4	2.14	2.52	2.5	3.22	2.42	2.72	2.36	2.22	2.22	2.22	1.72
	#a	812	1494	1176	929	935	920	951	820	867	516	727	605	1339	664	738	674	787	551	510	426
Mobile Systems	2901	167	175	285	167	193	143	139	122	102	99	83	94	82	84	87	78	83	77	78	73	412
	max/a	5	7	11	6	8	5	9	5	5	6	4	6	6	3	4	5	3	4	3	3
	avg/a	1.17	1.23	1.26	1.23	1.23	1.16	1.25	1.18	1.18	1.14	1.09	1.19	1.19	1.13	1.16	1.1	1.16	1.08	1.08	1.1
	avg/a50	2.66	3.08	4.28	3.14	3.3	2.6	3.1	2.42	2.38	2.16	1.66	2.34	2.22	1.86	2.12	1.64	2.04	1.52	1.48	1.52
	#a	743	832	1321	749	823	614	636	516	432	424	349	373	329	341	356	317	327	326	287	266
Systems: Measurements	1545	52	135	100	103	95	108	101	96	82	85	46	44	42	42	45	42	47	69	31	39	107
	max/a	3	5	5	5	5	4	5	3	4	4	5	5	3	3	2	2	3	3	3	2
	avg/a	1.03	1.16	1.14	1.14	1.17	1.14	1.17	1.09	1.12	1.12	1.17	1.16	1.13	1.12	1.06	1.08	1.12	1.09	1.1	1.06
	avg/a50	1.12	2.68	2.22	2.14	2.28	2.24	2.28	1.64	1.86	1.8	1.56	1.58	1.48	1.44	1.2	1.26	1.4	1.38	1.2	1.16
	#a	208	591	447	413	382	449	390	373	352	323	168	182	185	177	176	165	165	220	99	135
Systems: OS	4341	181	340	266	245	189	215	203	187	189	171	170	137	137	115	118	107	104	102	105	127	819
	max/a	9	11	10	11	7	8	5	6	6	4	4	3	5	7	3	4	4	5	5	4
	avg/a	1.15	1.23	1.17	1.23	1.15	1.18	1.13	1.15	1.15	1.14	1.16	1.12	1.12	1.16	1.12	1.1	1.11	1.11	1.13	1.11
	avg/a50	3.1	4.44	3.46	4.0	2.78	3.22	2.78	2.62	2.82	2.38	2.4	2.26	2.26	2.44	2.12	1.86	1.84	1.86	1.98	1.9
	#a	1171	1951	1520	1446	935	1110	1045	873	965	746	752	598	646	458	489	431	393	409	378	416
Systems: Programming Languages	6742	204	331	276	217	260	254	291	265	221	221	196	198	184	179	182	203	173	141	138	147	2337
	max/a	4	6	10	5	10	6	6	6	6	5	5	5	5	4	5	5	4	4	3	4
	avg/a	1.11	1.18	1.2	1.16	1.23	1.19	1.22	1.19	1.21	1.17	1.2	1.17	1.17	1.17	1.15	1.23	1.13	1.12	1.11	1.14
	avg/a50	2.34	2.94	3.06	2.6	3.1	2.9	3.04	2.86	2.68	2.52	2.46	2.44	2.42	2.4	2.32	2.62	2.16	1.94	1.8	2.08
	#a	713	1123	890	759	813	869	934	862	696	658	577	553	575	501	537	550	489	408	352	379
Systems: Software Engineering	5162		245	234	375	330	258	254	204	180	158	183	206	160	167	175	116	110	85	111	120	1392
	max/a		10	12	10	14	8	7	8	4	5	8	5	6	5	5	5	3	3	5	4
	avg/a		1.19	1.25	1.36	1.28	1.25	1.28	1.21	1.18	1.13	1.21	1.2	1.22	1.17	1.19	1.16	1.07	1.19	1.11	1.11
	avg/a50		3.32	3.72	5.46	4.14	3.88	3.78	2.98	2.46	2.34	2.74	2.74	2.66	2.42	2.56	2.14	1.52	1.9	1.7	1.74
	#a		1116	981	1396	1330	991	966	798	668	564	650	691	477	504	508	364	368	235	331	338
All Areas	71524	2541	4862	4273	3759	3386	3236	3039	2656	2222	2297	1993	2144	2209	1870	1751	1669	1627	1480	1475	1432	19950
	max/a	31	23	30	23	17	17	15	15	20	14	12	12	12	11	10	11	9	11	9	9
	avg/a	1.33	1.49	1.45	1.43	1.4	1.39	1.37	1.34	1.33	1.32	1.34	1.36	1.32	1.3	1.3	1.31	1.27	1.29	1.27	1.26
	avg/a50	9.9	14.72	13.64	11.8	10.06	9.46	8.62	8.1	7.06	6.96	6.94	7.16	6.62	6.44	5.72	5.7	5.34	4.96	5.58	5.06
	#a	11379	18925	16471	14349	12335	11964	11004	9597	7964	7871	6805	6965	7117	5973	5543	4996	4877	4286	4241	4002

Individual per-author statistics for different areas

• Systems: Architecture
• Systems: Networks
• Systems: Security
• Systems: Databases
• Systems: Design
• Embedded Systems
• Systems: HPC
• Mobile Systems
• Systems: Measurements
• Systems: OS
• Systems: Programming Languages
• Systems: Software Engineering
• All Areas

Author/collaboration cliques for different areas

• List of author cliques (based on co-authorship).