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 2026-04-22.

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	7683	274	553	448	407	321	319	303	270	256	226	228	222	206	194	163	159	157	159	142	110	2429
	max/a	9	12	10	11	12	14	10	10	11	7	8	10	6	10	5	6	5	10	6	5
	avg/a	1.18	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	3.78	6.24	5.32	4.6	4.42	4.4	4.14	4.0	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	1560	2814	2188	1995	1547	1456	1345	1118	974	966	859	812	694	705	551	538	523	480	455	364
Systems: Networks	2581		157	174	167	133	114	118	81	80	82	83	82	82	76	61	59	62	59	65	63	717
	max/a		12	7	6	8	5	5	5	5	5	6	5	4	4	7	4	4	4	5	5
	avg/a		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		4.0	3.36	3.14	2.6	2.42	2.56	1.98	2.14	2.1	2.66	2.5	2.16	2.24	2.02	1.74	1.84	1.78	1.96	1.78
	#a		1125	1116	999	738	599	609	422	442	411	365	401	378	343	266	241	256	250	230	233
Systems: Security	9713		1221	1146	948	705	643	473	436	369	364	325	300	280	251	218	157	142	130	127	122	1248
	max/a		19	29	15	13	10	10	11	9	11	12	9	10	9	7	7	7	6	7	7
	avg/a		1.42	1.44	1.39	1.36	1.34	1.28	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		8.46	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		4547	4249	3409	2518	2364	1783	1679	1361	1367	1124	1003	927	777	701	474	456	384	357	354
Systems: Databases	8704	21	373	370	302	470	480	429	281	255	268	276	311	287	261	197	233	246	213	229	198	2849
	max/a	2	10	14	11	14	11	12	8	6	6	6	8	10	5	5	7	8	8	6	7
	avg/a	1.02	1.22	1.29	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	1.04	4.52	5.56	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	124	1791	1605	1414	1809	1890	1666	1150	1038	953	1025	1146	946	929	654	722	747	617	688	569
Systems: Design	11657		910	703	547	425	411	451	422	210	378	170	319	295	271	271	262	221	217	237	232	4449
	max/a		22	27	18	9	11	9	11	5	11	8	9	10	11	7	8	9	6	6	8
	avg/a		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		8.48	7.52	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		3655	2704	2101	1601	1544	1643	1503	766	1235	641	994	969	840	856	782	588	588	684	640
Embedded Systems	2238		75	61	61	60	72	58	70	66	61	83	86	88	63	58	70	66	77	73	72	842
	max/a		6	6	8	6	6	3	5	4	4	4	4	5	3	3	3	4	4	3	3
	avg/a		1.2	1.22	1.34	1.23	1.25	1.19	1.15	1.23	1.15	1.2	1.15	1.19	1.09	1.07	1.08	1.13	1.17	1.08	1.16
	avg/a50		2.26	2.04	2.48	1.96	2.32	1.7	1.72	1.9	1.64	2.0	1.88	2.02	1.4	1.3	1.38	1.5	1.76	1.34	1.68
	#a		312	240	218	209	260	189	239	195	212	252	287	268	212	211	224	194	219	226	215
Systems: HPC	6288		275	210	161	205	162	219	156	212	111	150	145	366	167	176	183	216	151	139	129	2349
	max/a		11	7	9	11	7	5	10	4	4	7	7	8	6	7	4	5	4	5	4
	avg/a		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		4.14	3.04	3.18	2.7	2.68	2.56	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		1494	1176	929	937	920	952	820	867	516	727	605	1339	665	738	674	787	551	510	426
Mobile Systems	2734		175	285	167	193	143	139	122	102	99	83	94	82	84	87	78	83	77	78	73	412
	max/a		7	11	6	8	5	9	5	5	6	4	6	6	3	4	5	3	4	3	3
	avg/a		1.23	1.26	1.23	1.23	1.16	1.25	1.18	1.18	1.14	1.09	1.18	1.19	1.13	1.16	1.1	1.16	1.08	1.08	1.1
	avg/a50		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		832	1321	749	823	614	636	516	432	424	349	374	329	341	356	317	327	326	287	266
Systems: Measurements	1515	22	135	100	103	95	108	101	96	82	85	46	44	42	42	45	42	47	69	31	39	107
	max/a	1	5	5	5	5	4	5	3	4	4	5	5	3	3	2	2	3	3	3	2
	avg/a	1.0	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	1.0	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	84	591	447	413	382	449	390	373	352	323	168	182	185	177	176	165	165	220	99	135
Systems: OS	4204	44	340	266	245	189	215	203	187	189	171	170	137	137	115	118	107	104	102	105	127	819
	max/a	7	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	1.88	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	296	1954	1520	1446	935	1110	1045	873	965	746	752	598	646	458	489	431	393	409	378	416
Systems: Programming Languages	6629	91	331	276	217	260	254	291	265	221	221	196	198	184	179	182	203	173	141	138	147	2337
	max/a	3	6	10	5	10	6	6	6	6	5	5	5	5	4	5	5	4	4	3	4
	avg/a	1.1	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	1.6	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	301	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		8	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		3.18	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		1118	981	1396	1330	991	966	798	668	564	651	691	477	504	508	364	368	235	331	338
All Areas	69108	452	4790	4273	3700	3386	3179	3039	2590	2222	2224	1993	2144	2209	1870	1751	1669	1627	1480	1475	1432	19950
	max/a	10	23	30	23	17	17	15	14	20	14	12	12	12	11	10	11	9	11	9	9
	avg/a	1.18	1.49	1.45	1.43	1.4	1.39	1.37	1.34	1.33	1.31	1.34	1.36	1.32	1.3	1.3	1.31	1.27	1.29	1.27	1.26
	avg/a50	4.24	14.52	13.64	11.8	10.06	9.36	8.62	8.04	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	2320	18677	16461	14168	12333	11807	11004	9417	7965	7673	6806	6966	7117	5976	5542	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).