Assessing Agent Applications — r&D vs. R&d

This chapter focusses on the relevancy of implementations of software systems in which agent technology was actually used in agent-oriented conferences and journals. It discusses the discrepancy between the stated aims of agent research with regard to agent applications, and the reality as found in many (general) agent conferences as well as journals. We demonstrate this discrepancy by analysing how implementations of software systems that employed agent technology are represented in publications, both in form of conference as well as journal papers. We analyse some agent related conferences and journals, and look at the distribution of application papers at past conferences/journal issues. In order to lay foundations for a discussion of the reasons for this inconsistency as well as conclusions that can be drawn from it, we analyse relevant stakeholders for agent application papers. The aim of this chapter is to provide a basis for discussing the state and status of agent applications in research oriented conferences and journals.