Subject: Call for Submissions: MODELS 2017: ACM/IEEE 20th International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems

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Combined Call for Submissions (Papers, Workshops, Tutorials, Student Research Competition)

MODELS 2017 : ACM/IEEE 20th International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems

Austin, Texas
Sept 17-22, 2017
http://www.modelsconference.org/

MODELS in its 20th edition cordially invites contributions related to all aspects of model-based engineering!

MODELS is the premier conference series for model-based software and systems engineering which since 1998 has been covering all aspects of modeling, from languages and methods to tools and applications. MODELS 2017 challenges the modeling community to promote the magic of modeling by solidifying and extending the foundations and successful applications of modeling in areas such as business information and embedded systems, but also by exploring the use of modeling for new and emerging systems, paradigms, and challenges including cyber-physical systems, cloud computing, services, social media, security, and open source. We invite you to join us at this conference and to help shape the modelling methods and technologies of the future!

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Call for Papers

Foundations Track Papers

We invite authors to submit high quality contributions describing significant, original, and unpublished results in the following categories:

1. Technical Papers: Technical papers should describe innovative research in model-driven engineering activities. Papers in this submission category should describe a novel contribution to the field and should carefully support claims of novelty with citations to the relevant literature.

Evaluation Criteria: Technical papers are evaluated on the basis of originality, soundness, relevance, importance of contribution, strength of validation, quality of presentation and appropriate comparison to related work. Where a submission builds upon previous work of the author(s), the novelty of the new contribution must be described clearly with respect to the previous work. Technical papers need to discuss clearly how the results were validated (e.g., formal proofs, controlled experiments, rigorous case studies, or simulations). Where possible, authors are requested to make the artifacts used for the evaluation publicly accessible.

2. New Ideas / Vision Papers: New ideas papers describe new, non-conventional model-driven engineering research positions or approaches that depart from standard practice. They are intended to describe well-defined research ideas that are at an early stage of investigation. Vision papers are intended to either provide new evidence that common wisdom should be challenged, present new unifying theories about existing modeling research that provides novel insight or that can lead to the development of new technologies or approaches, or apply modeling technology to radically new application areas.

Evaluation Criteria: New ideas and vision papers will be assessed primarily on their level of originality and potential for impact on the field in terms of promoting innovative thinking. Hence, inadequacies in the state-of-the-art and the pertinence, correctness, and impact of the idea/vision must be described clearly. The following are the specific evaluation criteria for each of these two papers:
- New Ideas Papers: While the idea that is described does not need to be fully validated, a presentation of preliminary results that provide initial insights into the feasibility and/or impact of the idea is expected.
- Vision Papers: Vision papers are expected to provide a detailed, convincing research road - map towards the realization of the vision.

Practice and Innovation Track

The goal of this track is to fill the gap between foundational research in model-driven engineering and industrial needs. We invite authors from academia and industry to submit original contributions reporting on the innovative application of MDE in industrial, government, or open-source settings, as well as the development of innovative engineering solutions to enable the use of modeling in such contexts.

Examples include:
- Scalable and cost-effective methodologies and tools
- Industrial case studies with valuable lessons learned
- Experience reports providing novel insights

Each paper should provide clear take-away value by describing the context of a problem of practical and industrial importance, and the application of modeling that leads to an innovative solution. The paper should discuss why the solution to the problem is innovative, effective, or efficient and what likely practical impact it has or will have; it should provide a concise explanation of the approach, techniques, and methodologies employed; and explain the best practices that emerged, tools developed, and/or software processes involved. Studies reporting on negative findings must provide a thorough discussion of the potential causes of failure, and ideally a perspective on how to solve them.

Topics of Interest

MODELS 2017 seeks submissions on diverse topics related to modeling for software and systems engineering, including, but not limited to:

- Evidence-based education research for curricular concerns on modeling topics.
- Collaborative modeling research to address global and team management issues (e.g., browser-based and cloud-enabled collaboration research and tools).
- New paradigms, formalisms, applications, approaches, frameworks, or processes for model-driven engineering.
- Modeling with, and for, new and emerging systems and paradigms such as cyber-security, cyber-physical systems, cloud computing, data analytics, big data, systems engineering, social media, devices and services, mobile applications, open source software, sustainability and modeling for social good.
- Development, use, and evolution of domain-specific modeling languages.
- Evaluation and comparison of modeling languages, techniques and tools.
- Evolution of general-purpose modeling languages and related standards.
- Definition of the syntax and semantics of modeling and model transformation languages.
- Tools, meta-tools and language workbenches for model-driven engineering, including model management aspects.
- Definition, usage, and analysis of generative and reengineering approaches.
- Integration of modeling languages and tools (hybrid multi-modeling approaches).
- Quality assurance (analysis, testing, verification) for functional and nonfunctional properties of models and model transformations.
- Development of systems engineering and modeling-in-the-large concepts.
- Modeling in software engineering; applications of models to address general software engineering challenges.
- Modeling for development challenges such as collaboration, scalability, security, interoperability, adaptability, maintainability, dependability, reuse, energy efficiency,…

Submission and Evaluation Process

The submission and evaluation process for MODELS 2017 is similar to past MODELS conferences, with the specific details below.

Submission Process

Papers must be submitted electronically through the MODELS 2017 EasyChair submission web pages. The submission pages will be available on the conference website in early 2017.

Both “Foundations” and “Practice and Innovation” papers must not exceed 10 pages (including figures and appendices, excluding references). New Ideas / Vision Papers must not exceed 7 pages (including figures and appendices, excluding references). All papers may include 1 additional page for references. All submissions must be in English. Submissions must adhere to the IEEE formatting instructions, which can be found at:

https://www.ieee.org/conferences_events/conferences/publishing/templates.html.

Submissions that do not adhere to these limits or that violate the formatting guidelines will be desk-rejected without review. Accepted papers will be published in the conference proceedings published by IEEE. Authors of best papers from the conference will be invited to revise and submit extended versions of the papers for publication in the Journal of Software and Systems Modeling.

Review Process

The MODELS 2017 review process will use two phases in order to provide high quality reviews. The reviewing and discussion process is monitored by one or two Program Board members assigned to each paper.

In the first phase, all papers that conform to the submission guidelines will be peer-reviewed by at least three members of the Program Committee and evaluated on the basis of originality, soundness, relevance, importance of contribution, evaluation, quality of presentation and appropriate comparison to related work. The Program Committee and Program Board will then identify those papers most viable for publication in MODELS 2017 and advance them to the second phase. Authors of papers that do not progress will be notified promptly, giving authors as much opportunity as possible to further develop their work. Authors of papers that proceed to the second phase may be given the opportunity to respond to some of the questions mentioned by PC members in their reviews. The author response is taken into account in the final decision phase. However, authors are not permitted to revise the content of their paper submission at any time. During the second phase of evaluation, the Program Board will consider the recommendations and online discussion of the Program Committee, as well as the author response, and select the papers to be notified for acceptance to the conference .

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Call for Tutorials

Following the tradition of previous conferences, MODELS 2017 will host tutorials as part of its satellite events on September 17-19, 2017. Tutorials provide intensive courses on topics in the area of model-based software and systems engineering ranging from modeling methodologies and research methods through new modeling tools and technologies to thoughts on the past, current, and future development of the modeling discipline. A regular slot in the tutorial track will be 3 hours (half-day). In exceptional cases, 6 hours (full-day) tutorials are also possible.

Audience

Tutorials should target an audience of practitioners, researchers (academic and industrial), students, and developers familiar with and already working with modeling techniques. The target audience typically has a strong interest in Model-Driven Engineering (MDE), including work on improving and evolving modeling languages (such as UML or DSLs), developing sophisticated MDE tool support, and using MDE to develop/test/reverse/maintain complex systems. Potential attendees may also be interested in how modeling has been applied effectively in specialized domains (e.g., in the automotive industry), and in learning about successful uses of MDE methods in real-world applications. A tutorial should be relevant to a typical MODELS participant, but it is not required to have the same level of technical originality as a scientific paper in the main conference.

At MODELS 2017, all tutorials are open to all registrants of satellite events (workshops, symposia, etc.).

Topics

The following themes are examples of what is considered relevant for tutorials:

- Modeling techniques for specific domains
- Modeling methodologies and model-oriented processes
- Presentation of new tools or new versions of old tools (e.g., modeling tools, language workbenches, model transformation languages, model verification tools, model execution tools)
- Dissemination of project results from industry-related projects
- Teaching of model-driven software development
- Research methods in MD* (Model-Driven Development (MDD), Model Driven Engineering (MDE), Model Driven Software Development (MDSD), etc.)
- Modeling for re-engineering and legacy evolution
- Empirical experiences in the context of modeling
- User experience in model-based software engineering
- Practical experiences of general interest
- General topics of interest to young researchers, like presentation skills or research methodologies

Tutorials are intended to provide independent instructions on a topic of relevance to the audience described above. Therefore, no sales-oriented presentations will be accepted. Tutorials relating to commercial tools or involving the use of commercial tools may be accepted, but will be subject to closer scrutiny, including possible approval of presentation slides. Potential presenters should keep in mind that there may be quite a varied audience, including novice graduate students, seasoned practitioners, and specialized researchers. Tutorial speakers should be prepared to cope with this diversity.

Proposal Contents

All submissions must be in English and adhere to the IEEE formatting instructions.

The submission must include the following information in the indicated order:

- Title
- Presenters: Name, affiliation, contact information, and short bio
Authors of the proposal or tutorial material, who are not going to be presenting, may be listed, but must be listed last with a footnote “Author only; will not be presenting”.
- Abstract (maximum of 200 words)
If accepted, the abstract will be used to advertise the tutorial. Thus, the abstract should clearly highlight the goals of the tutorial and the skills that participants will acquire.
- Keywords (at least 3 keywords)
- Proposed length of the tutorial: half-day (3 hours) or full-day (6 hours)
Regular tutorials should be setup as half-day tutorials (3 hours). A proposal for a full-day tutorial (6 hours) must be accompanied by a clear justification of why 6 hours are necessary.
- Level of the tutorial: beginner/introduction or advanced
- Target audience and any prerequisite background required by attendees to be able to follow the tutorial (beyond average modeling skills)
- Description of the tutorial and intended outline (maximum of 4 pages)
- Novelty of the tutorial
List offerings of similar tutorials at previous editions of the MODELS conference or other conferences, and discuss the differences with respect to the current proposal.
- Required infrastructure
Declare any infrastructure that you would need for your tutorial besides a data projector (e.g., flip charts, white boards). We will do our best together with the local organizers to provide you with the needed infrastructure.
- Sample slides (minimum of 6 slides, maximum of 40 slides)
- Supplementary material (optional)

For advertising your tutorial, we strongly encourage you to setup a website that provides further information and materials on your tutorial for interested participants, such as videos showcasing tools that you will demonstrate, setup guides for tools that you will be using in your tutorial, examples, handouts. Provide the URL to this website in your proposal. If your tutorial gets accepted, we will link this website from the MODELS 2017 tutorials website.

Review Process
The Tutorials Selection Committee will review each submitted proposal to ensure high quality, and select tutorials based on their anticipated benefit for prospective participants and their fit within the tutorial program as a whole. Factors to be considered also include: relevance, timeliness, importance, and audience appeal; effectiveness of teaching methods; and past experience and qualifications of the instructors. The goal will be to provide a diverse set of tutorials that attracts a high level of interest among broad segments of the MODELS participants.

Material

Authors of accepted tutorial proposals are expected to prepare a set of slides to be distributed to participants, including a bibliography pertinent to the tutorial.

Compensation

As in previous years, participants will pay a single satellite fee, which will cover both tutorials and workshops. This permits unifying the treatment of workshops and tutorials, and it makes tutorials more attractive to attendees. Under this schema, tutorial presenters will not receive monetary compensation, and will have to pay their own registration to the satellite events. By submitting a tutorial proposal, the presenter accepts that there will be no compensation for giving the tutorial if accepted and that the registration fees for the instructors have to be funded by the instructors themselves. The benefit to the presenter is the opportunity to extend their sphere of influence to the MODELS community.

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Call for Workshops

The MODELS series of conferences is the premier venue for the exchange of innovative technical ideas and experiences relating to model-driven software engineering approaches. Topics covered by the conference include domain-specific modelling languages, general-purpose modelling languages and standards, model-driven engineering processes, model transformations, model-driven software engineering tools and frameworks, quality assurance for functional and non-functional properties of models, and many more.

Following the tradition of previous conferences, MODELS 2017 will host a number of workshops during the three days before the main conference. The workshops will provide a collaborative forum for a group of typically 15 to 30 participants to exchange recent and/or preliminary results, to conduct intensive discussions on a particular topic related to model-driven software engineering, or to coordinate efforts between representatives of a technical community. They are intended as a forum for lively discussion of innovative ideas, recent progress, or practical experience on model-driven engineering for specific aspects, specific problems, or domain-specific needs.

In 2017, MODELS challenges the community to explore the use of modelling for new and emerging systems, paradigms, and open problems including (but not limited to):

- cyber-physical and safety-critical systems
- cloud computing
- social media
- security
- open source
- analytics
- society and sustainability
- games and gamification
- human factors and accessibility


Each workshop should provide a balanced distribution of its time for both presentation of papers and discussions. We encourage prospective workshop organizers to submit proposals for highly interactive workshops focusing on areas related to modelling in general. Both research-oriented and applied topics are welcome. The duration of each workshop is either half a day or a full day.


Workshop Proposal Guidelines


Your proposal must contain the following information:


General Information:
- Workshop title and name or acronym
- Organizers and primary contact (name/affiliation/email)
- Desired length of the workshop (half day or full day)
- Abstract (200 words), intended for the MODELS 2017 website


Objectives and Scope:
- Motivation
- Objectives
- Topics of interest
- Intended audience
- Relevance to the MODELS 2017 conference and the MODELS community in general (comments in favor of your application; if your workshop was at MODELS 2016 or any of the former conferences, why is it useful to run it again?)
- Previous events including, where applicable, a link to the website, the number of submitted and accepted papers, and the number of attendees


Organization Details:
- Details on the organizers (150 words max), including relevant past experience in workshop organization
- Workshop program committee (indicated as finalized or expected)


Workshop Format:
- Intended paper format (number of pages; types of papers, e.g., full papers, work-in-progress papers, practitioners' reports, posters)
- Evaluation process
- Intended workshop format (including duration, number of presentations, and planned keynotes)
- How many participants do you expect (please make at least an educated guess)?
Specific requirements (e.g., equipment, room capacity)


Additional Material:
- Workshop web page (URL of the draft web page, if one exists)
- Draft Call for Papers for the workshop (a one page Call for Papers that you intend to send out if your workshop is accepted)


In order to ensure a proper coordination of the workshop paper submission deadlines with those of the main conference, the following constraints have to be respected by the deadlines you plan for your workshop:

- Workshop website and CFP dissemination: May 10, 2017
- Workshop paper submission deadline: July 7, 2017
- Workshop paper notification to authors: July 28, 2017 (or before, but STRICTLY NOT LATER since the notification should be before the MODELS early registration deadline)
- Workshop dates: October 17-19, 2017


Please note that the above dates are common across all workshops. These are the internal dates for your workshop.


Submissions


Please ensure that you adhere to the above workshop proposal guidelines providing all requested information using at most six (6) pages. In addition, please provide a one page draft of your planned Call for Papers to the proposal (not included in the 6 pages).

The submission must adhere to the IEEE formatting instructions, using the templates found here:
https://www.ieee.org/conferences_events/conferences/publishing/templates.html

Please submit your workshop proposal electronically in PDF to EasyChair (here). The actual deadline for submitting a workshop proposal is March 10, 2017.


Proceedings


Workshop papers will be published on CEUR (see here for preconditions for publishing). Details will be communicated to the organizers of accepted workshops at the time of notification.

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Important Dates

Papers (Foundations and P&I)
- Abstract submission: April 14
- Paper submission: April 21
- First notification: June 12
- Author response: June 12-14
- Final notification: July 3
- Camera Ready Due: July 21

Tutorials and Workshop proposals
- Submission: March 10
- Notification: April 10

Please note that:
- Abstract submission is mandatory for papers
- All deadlines are hard. No extensions will be granted.
- All dates are according to time zone “Anywhere on Earth”, i.e., UTC-12
- All accepted papers must be presented by an author who is registered as a “Regular” participant (student presenters must register as a Regular participant).

For more information about the evaluation process, specific instructions for submission as well as the other tracks for MODELS 2017, please visit
http://www.modelsconference.org/

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Organization

General Chair
Don Batory, University of Texas, Austin, USA

Program Chairs
Jeff Gray (Foundations Track), University of Alabama, USA
Vinay Kulkarni (Practice and Innovation Track), Tata Consultancy Services Research, India

Tutorial Co-Chairs
Silvia Abrahao, Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Spain
Tanja Mayerhofer, TU Wien, Austria

Workshops Co-Chairs
Michalis Famelis, University of Montreal, Canada
Sahar Kokaly, McMaster University, Canada

Publicity Chairs
Asia: Haiyan Zhao, Peking University, China
Europe: Dimitris Kolovos, University of York, UK
North America: Eugene Syriani, University of Montreal, Canada
South America: Kelly Garces Pernett, Universidad de los Andes, Colombia
Oceania: Georg Grossmann, University of South Australia, Australia

Twitter @modelsconf