Formal methods emerged as an important area in computer science and software engineering about half a century ago. An international community is formed researching, developing and teaching formal theories, techniques and tools for software modeling, specification, design and verification. However, the impact of formal methods on the quality improvement of software systems in practice is lagging behind. This is for instance reflected by the challenges in applying formal techniques and tools to engineering large-scale systems such as Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), Internet-of-Things (IoT), Enterprise Systems, Cloud-Based Systems, and so forth. This special issue on Dependable Software Engineering solicits submissions describing theoretical results, tools, and applications, related to applying formal methods in improving the quality of computer software and systems.


The topics of interests include, but are not limited to:

Requirement’s specification and analysis
Formalisms for modelling, design and implementation
Model checking, theorem proving, and decision procedures
Scalable approaches to formal system analysis
Formal approaches to simulation, run-time verification, and testing
Integration of formal methods into software engineering practice
Contract-based engineering of components, systems, and systems of systems
Formal and engineering aspects of software evolution and maintenance
Parallel and multicore programming
Embedded, real-time, hybrid, probabilistic, and cyber-physical systems
Mixed-critical applications and systems
Formal aspects of service-oriented and cloud computing
Safety, reliability, robustness, and fault-tolerance
Dependability of smart software and systems
Empirical analysis techniques and integration with formal methods
Applications and industrial experience reports
Software tools to assist the construction or analysis of software systems



All original manuscripts that fit within the scope are welcome.


Submission Details:


General information for submitting papers to JSA can be found at https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-systems-architecture. Submissions should be made online at https://www.editorialmanager.com/jsa/. Please select the “VSI:SETTA2021” option as the type of the paper during the submission process. Please direct all enquiries regarding this SI to Wenhui Zhang.


JSA has adopted the Virtual Special Issue model to speed up the publication process, where Special Issue papers are published in regular issues, but marked as SI papers. Acceptance decisions are made on a rolling basis. Therefore, authors are encouraged to submit papers early, and need not wait until the submission deadline.