This paper is triggered by a concern for the methodological soundness of research papers in RE. We propose a number of criteria for methodological soundness, and apply these to a random sample of 37 submissions to the RE'03\ud
conference. From this application, we draw a number of conclusions that we claim are valid for a larger sample than just these 37 submissions. Our major observation is that most submissions in our sample are solution-oriented: \ud
they present a solution and illustrate it with a problem, rather than search for a solution to a given problem class; and most papers do not analyze why and when a solution works or does not work. We end with discussion of the need to improve the methodological soundness of research papers in RE
