  A software ecosystem (SECO) is an interaction, communication, cooperation,
and synergy among a set of players. Depending on the actors type of interaction
with others, each one can play a different role. These interactions provide a
set of positive relationships (symbiosis) between actors who work together
around a common technology platform or a service. SECO has been explored in
several studies, some related to their general characteristics and others
focusing on a specific topic (e.g., requirements, governance, open-source,
mobile). There are many literature reviews of different natures (e.g.,
systematic literature reviews and systematic mapping studies). This study
presents the status of the SECO field motivated by analyzing several secondary
studies published over the years. To do so, we conducted a tertiary study. From
an initial set of 518 studies on the subject, we selected 22 studies. We
identified the theoretical foundations used by researchers and their influences
and relationships with other ecosystems. We performed a thematic synthesis and
identified one high-order theme, 5 themes, 10 subthemes, and 206 categories. As
a result, we proposed a thematic model for SECO containing five themes, namely:
social, technical, business, management, and an evaluation theme named Software
Ecosystems Assessment Models (SEAM). Our main conclusion is that relationships
between SECO themes should not be seen in isolation, and it must be interpreted
in a holistic approach, given the number of implications to other themes mainly
related to the distinction of governance and management activities in the SECO
interactions. Finally, this work provides an overview of the field and points
out areas for future research, such as the need of SECO community to further
investigate the results from other ecosystems, mainly from the Digital
Ecosystem and Digital Business Ecosystem communities.
