Test automation has been an acknowledged software engineering best practice for years. However, the topic involves more than the repeated execution of test cases that often comes first to mind. Simply running test cases using a unit testing framework is no longer enough for test automation to keep up with the ever-shorter release cycles driven by continuous deployment and technological innovations such as microservices and DevOps pipelines. Now test automation needs to rise to the next level by going beyond mere test execution. The NEXTA workshop will explore how to advance test automation to further contribute to software quality in the context of tomorrow's rapid release cycles. Takeaways for industry practitioners and academic researchers will encompass test case generation, automated test result analysis, test suite assessment and maintenance, and infrastructure for the future of test automation.


NEXTA’23 is the sixth edition of the IEEE Workshop on Test Automation - highly relevant for both research and industry. Thus, NEXTA aims to attract both academic researchers and industry practitioners. Test automation has been an acknowledged software engineering best practice for years. However, the topic involves more than the repeated execution of test cases that often comes first to mind. Simply running test cases using a unit testing framework is no longer enough for test automation to keep up with the ever-shorter release cycles driven by continuous deployment and technological innovations such as microservices and DevOps pipelines. Now test automation needs to rise to the next level by going beyond mere test execution. The NEXTA workshop will explore how to advance test automation to further contribute to software quality in the context of tomorrow’s rapid release cycles. Take-aways for industry practitioners and academic researchers will encompass test case generation, automated test result analysis, test suite assessment and maintenance, and infrastructure for the future of test automation.

Topics of Interest
NEXTA solicits contributions targeting all aspects of test automation, from initial test design to automated verdict analysis. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

Test execution automation
Test case generation
Automatic test design generation
Analytics, learning, and big data in relation to test automation
Automatic aspects management in test, progress, reporting, planning, etc.
Visualization of test
Evolution of test automation
Test suite architecture and infrastructure
Test environment, simulation, and other contextual issues for automated testing
Test tools, frameworks, and general support for test automation
Testing in an agile and continuous integration context, and testing within DevOps
Orchestration of test
Metrics, benchmarks, and estimation on any type of test automation
Any type of test technologies relying on automation of test
Process improvements and assessments related to test automation
Test automation maturity and experience reports on test automation
Automatic retrieval of test data and test preparation aspect
Maintainability, monitoring, and refactoring of automated test suites
Training and education on automated testing
Automated test for product lines and high-variability systems
Test automation patterns
Automated test oracle
NEXTA solicits the following types of original papers:

Technical Papers (max. 8 pages in IEEE format). Full papers presenting research results or industrial practices related to the next generation of test automation.
Position and Experience Papers (max. 4 pages in IEEE format). Short papers introducing challenges, visions, positions, or preliminary results within the scope of the workshop. - - - Experience reports and papers on open challenges in the industry are especially welcome.
Tool Papers (max. 4 pages in IEEE format). Tool papers introduce tools that implement an approach to support the transition to the next generation of test automation. A tool paper submission must include either 1) a URL to a screencast of the tool in action, or 2) a runnable version of the tool for evaluation by the program committee.
Authors should submit a PDF version of their paper through the NEXTA 2023 paper submission site: All accepted papers will be part of the ICST joint workshop proceedings published in the IEEE Digital Library.

For more info, please contact: Leo Hatvani, Organization Co-chair, Leo.hatvani@mdu.se