Background: As a core practice in software engineering, the nature of code review has been frequently subject to research. Prior exploratory studies found that code review, the discussion around a code change among humans, forms a communication network that enables its participants to exchange and spread information. Although popular in software engineering, there is no confirmatory research corroborating this theory and the actual extent of information diffusion in code review is not well understood. Objective: In this registered report, we propose an observational study to measure information diffusion in code review to test the theory of code review as communication network. Method: We approximate the information diffusion in code review through the frequency and the similarity between (1) human participants, (2) affected components, and (3) involved teams of linked code reviews. The measurements approximating the information diffusion in code review serve as a foundation for falsifying the theory of code review as communication network.

翻译：背景：作为软件工程的核心实践，代码审查的本质一直是研究的热点。先前的探索性研究发现，代码审查——即围绕代码变更的人类讨论——形成了一种通信网络，使参与者能够交换和传播信息。尽管在软件工程中广泛应用，但目前尚无确证性研究证实这一理论，且代码审查中信息传播的实际程度尚不明确。目标：在本注册报告中，我们提出一项观察性研究，旨在测量代码审查中的信息传播，以检验代码审查作为通信网络的理论。方法：我们通过关联代码审查之间（1）人类参与者、（2）受影响组件以及（3）涉及团队的频率与相似性来近似估计代码审查中的信息传播。这些近似测量信息传播的指标将为证伪代码审查作为通信网络的理论提供基础。