Call for Papers: Research Track

Goal and Scope

ICSME is the leading forum for researchers and practitioners to present and discuss the most recent innovations, trends, experiences, and challenges in software maintenance and evolution. We invite high quality submissions describing significant, original, and unpublished results related to (but not limited to) any of the following software maintenance and evolution topics:

- Reverse engineering and re-engineering
- Software refactoring and restructuring
- Software migration and renovation
- Software and system comprehension
- Software repository analysis and mining
- Code cloning and provenance
- Concept and feature location
- Change and defect management
- Evolution of non-code artefacts
- Software testing
- Maintenance and evolution processes
- Maintenance and evolution of model-based methods
- Software quality assessment
- Run-time evolution and dynamic configuration
- Human aspects of software evolution
- Service oriented and cloud computing
- Maintenance versus release process
- Continuous integration/deployment

ICSME is a selective conference, but welcomes innovative ideas that are timely, well presented and evaluated. All submissions must position themselves within the existing literature, describe the relevance of the results to specific software engineering goals, and include a clear motivation and presentation of the work.

To establish a consistent set of expectations in the review process, the authors are asked, as part of the online submission process, to identify their papers with one or more of the following categories:

- Analytical
A paper in which the main contribution relies on new algorithms or mathematical theory. Examples include new bug prediction techniques and algorithms for dynamic and static analysis. Such a contribution must be evaluated with a convincing analysis of the algorithmic details, whether through a proof, complexity analysis, or run-time analysis, among others and depending on the objectives.

- Empirical
A paper in which the main contribution is the empirical study of a software evolution technology or phenomenon. This includes controlled experiments, case studies, and surveys of professionals reporting qualitative or quantitative data and analysis results. Such a contribution will be judged on its study design, appropriateness and correctness of its analysis, and threats to validity. Replications are welcome.

- Technological
A paper in which the main contribution is of a technical nature. This includes novel tools, modeling languages, infrastructures, and other technologies. Such a contribution does not necessarily need to be evaluated with humans. However, clear arguments, backed up by evidence as appropriate, must show how and why the technology is beneficial, whether it is in automating or supporting some user task, refining our modeling capabilities, improving some key system property, etc.

- Methodological
A paper in which the main contribution is a coherent system of broad principles and practices to interpret or solve a problem. This includes novel process models and maintenance methods. The authors should provide convincing arguments, with commensurate experiences, why a new method is needed and what the benefits of the proposed method are.

- Perspectives
A paper in which the main contribution is a novel perspective on the field as a whole, or part thereof. This includes assessments of the current state of the art and achievements, systematic literature reviews, framing of an important problem, forward-looking thought pieces, connections to other disciplines, and historical perspectives. Such a contribution must, in a highly convincing manner, clearly articulate the vision, novelty, and potential impact.

All papers should be full papers, and papers may belong to more than one category. Note that papers from any research area can fall into any of these categories, as the categories are constructed surrounding methodological approaches, not research topics (e.g., one could write an analytical paper on a new analysis technique, an empirical paper that compares a broad range of such techniques, a technological paper that makes an analysis technique practically feasible and available, or a perspectives paper that reviews the state of the art and lays out a roadmap of analysis techniques for the future).

Evaluation

All submissions that meet the submission criteria (see below) and fit the scope of the conference will be reviewed by three members of the program committee. Submissions will be evaluated on the basis of soundness, importance of contribution, originality, quality of presentation, appropriate comparison to related work, and convincing evaluation of the proposed approach. Submissions that are not in compliance with the required submission format or that are out of the scope of the conference will be rejected without being reviewed. Submitted papers must comply with IEEE plagiarism policy and procedures. Papers submitted to ICSME 2016 must not have been published elsewhere and must not be under review or submitted for review elsewhere while under consideration for ICSME 2016.

Publication and Presentation

Accepted papers will be published in the IEEE Xplore Digital Library. Please review the ICSME 2016 Publication Requirements for more details. Presentation details will follow notifications of acceptance.

How to Submit

Submissions must be formatted according to the ICSME 2016 Formatting Instructions. Papers must not exceed 10 pages (including figures and appendices) plus up to 2 pages that contain ONLY references. All submissions must be in PDF and must be submitted online by the deadline via the ICSME 2016 conference management system (TBD).

Authors of selected papers from the research track will be invited to submit extended versions of their work to a special issue of the Springer international journal of Empirical Software Engineering (EMSE). Authors of selected papers will be expected to comply with the standard guidelines when publishing an extended version of a paper, including the addition of about 30% new material.

Important Dates

Abstract submission: April 1, 2016
Paper submission: April 8, 2016
Author notification: June 15, 2016

Submissions close at 23:59 AoE (Anywhere on Earth, UTC-12)