Wealthy, Healthy and/or Happy: What does ‘Ecosystem Health’ Stand for ?

The health of a software ecosystem is argued to be a key indicator of well-being, longevity and performance of a network of companies. In this paper, we address what scientific literature actually means with the concept of 'ecosystem health' by selecting relevant articles with systematic literature review. Based on the final set of 38 papers, we found that despite a common base, the term has been used to depict a wide range of hoped characteristics of a software ecosystem. However, the number of studies addressing the topic is shown to grow while empirical studies are still rare. Thus, further studies should aim to standardize the terminology and concepts in order to create a common base for future work. Further work is needed also to develop early indicators that warn and guides companies on problems with their ecosystems