For JSS's full CfP including information on Special Issues, Industry, Trends, and Journal First tracks please continue to read for further details.

The Journal of Systems and Software publishes papers covering all aspects of software engineering. All articles should provide evidence to support their claims, e.g. through empirical studies, simulation, formal proofs or other types of validation. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

    Methods and tools for software requirements, design, architecture, verification and validation, testing, maintenance and evolution
    Agile, model-driven, service-oriented, open source and global software development
    Approaches for cloud/fog/edge computing and virtualized systems
    Human factors and management concerns of software development
    Artificial Intelligence, data analytics and big data applied in software engineering
    Metrics and evaluation of software development resources
    DevOps, continuous integration, build and test automation
    Business and economic aspects of software development processes
    Software Engineering education
    Ethical/societal aspects of Software Engineering
    Software Engineering for AI systems
    Software Engineering for Sustainability
    Methods and tools for empirical software engineering research 

The journal welcomes reports of practical experience for all of these topics, as well as replication studies and studies with negative results. The journal appreciates the submission of systematic literature reviews, mapping studies and meta-analyses. However, these should report interesting and important results, rather than merely providing statistics on publication year, venue etc.

JSS supports Open Science and reproducible research. Therefore, authors are encouraged to make Open Science material available at the time of submission and after acceptance of their manuscript, e.g., by submitting artifacts related to a study to an archived open repository (such as arXiv.org, zenodo.org, Mendeley, etc.). Also, authors are encouraged to explicitly reference Open Science material in their manuscript (e.g., via a DOI from the open repository). If authors are not able to disclose any material (for example, industrial data subject to non-disclosure agreements), we encourage authors to explicitly acknowledge this by including a short statement in their manuscript. Depending on the type of research presented in a manuscript, Open Science material could include study protocols, (anonymized) raw or analyzed data, data analysis scripts, source code, customized tools and infrastructures, experimental material, codebooks, etc. If authors agree to participate in the JSS Open Science Initiative, after the acceptance of a manuscript, they will be invited to submit a link to Open Science material for review by the JSS Open Science Board. After a successful review (which does not impact the acceptance of the manuscript) considering availability and usability of the material, the publisher will add a statement to the final version of the manuscript acknowledging that the Open Science package was validated by the JSS Open Science Board.

In addition to regular papers, JSS features two special tracks (In Practice, New Ideas and Trends Papers), as well as special issues.

In Practice is exclusively focused on work that increases knowledge transfer from industry to research. It accepts: (1) Applied Research Reports where we invite submissions that report results (positive or negative) concerning the experience of applying/evaluating systems and software technologies (methods, techniques and tools) in real industrial settings. These comprise empirical studies conducted in industry (e.g., action research, case studies) or experience reports that may help understanding situations in which technologies really work and their impact. Submissions should include information on the industrial setting, provide motivation, explain the events leading to the outcomes, including the challenges faced, summarize the outcomes, and conclude with lessons learned, take-away messages, and practical advice based on the described experience. Contributing authors from industry are encouraged but not mandatory. (2) Practitioner Insights where we invite experience reports showing what actually happens in practical settings, illustrating the challenges (and pain) that practitioners face, and presenting lessons learned. Problem descriptions with significant details on the context, underlying causes and symptoms, and technical and organizational impact are also welcome. Practitioner insights papers may also comprise invited opinionated views on the evolution of chosen topic areas in practice. In contrast to applied research reports, practitioner insights are limited to four pages and the first author must be from industry. Finally, submissions to this track should be within scope of the journal's above topics of interest and they will be evaluated through industry-appropriate criteria for their merit in reporting useful industrial experience rather than in terms of academic novelty of research results.

New Ideas and Trends Papers

New ideas, especially those related to new research trends, emerge quickly. To accommodate timely dissemination thereof, JSS introduces the New Ideas and Trends Paper (NITP). NITPs should focus on the systems/software engineering aspects of new emerging areas, including: the internet of things, big data, cloud computing, software ecosystems, cyber-physical systems, green/sustainable systems, continuous software engineering, crowdsourcing, and the like. We distinguish two types of NITPs:

    A short paper that discusses a single contribution to a specific new trend or a new idea.
    A long paper that provides a survey of a specific trend, as well as a (possibly speculative) outline of a solution.

NITPs are not required to be fully validated, but preliminary results that endorse the merit of the proposed ideas are welcomed.

We anticipate revisiting specific new trends periodically, for instance through reflection or progress reports.
New Ideas and Trend Papers warrant speedy publication.

Special Issue proposals
To submit a proposal for a special issue please submit your proposal here to Special Issues Editors Prof. Raffaela Mirandola and Prof. Laurence Duchien. Please visit the special issue guidelines page first to review the proposal guidelines and to download the proposal template required when submitting a proposal.

Journal First Initiative

Authors of JSS accepted papers have the opportunity to present their work in those conferences that offer a Journal First track. Using this track, researchers may take the best from two worlds: ensuring high quality in the JSS publication (thorough, multi-phase review process of a long manuscript), while getting feedback from a community of experts and fostering possible collaborations during a scientific event.

Details may vary from conference to conference, but generally speaking, JSS papers to be presented in a Journal First track must report completely new research results or present novel contributions that significantly extend previous work. The ultimate decision to include a paper in the conference program is up to the conference chairs, not JSS. A JSS paper may be presented only once through a Journal First track.

As of today, the list of conferences with which JSS is collaborating, or has collaborated, through a Journal First track, is: ASE, ICSME, SANER, RE, ESEM, PROFES, and APSEC.

Special Issue on Trends in Systems and Software Product Line Engineering
Submission Date: 2025-01-15

Guest editors:

Dr. Mónica Pinto
Instituto de Tecnología e Ingeniería del Software (ITIS), Universidad de Málaga, Malaga, Spain

Dr. Daniel Strüber
Chalmers | University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, Sweden; Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands

Special issue information:

This special issue of the Journal of Systems and Software is dedicated to exploring trends in Systems and Software Product Line Engineering, which focuses on the development and maintenance of product lines in both systems and software. Over the past 30 years, product line engineering has seen significant advancements. As part of the special issue associated with the 28th Systems and Software Product Line Conference (SPLC 2024), this issue aims to present an extensive overview of the current trends shaping product line engineering.

One particular trend in focus, aligning with the SPLC 2024 theme, is the Management of Quality in Software Product Lines. This trend explores the increasing role of AI in software engineering, emphasizing methods and techniques for managing and reasoning about the quality of product lines. Topics include non-functional requirements modeling, quality-driven configuration, and prediction models for non-functional properties.

Other potential topics include, but are not limited to:

    AI: genetic algorithms, neural networks, and machine learning for product lines
    Architecture, design, and visualization of product lines
    Dynamic software product lines and (self-)adaptive systems
    Evolution, maintenance, and continuous integration for product lines (e.g., DevOps)
    Formal methods and SPL verification techniques
    Green and sustainable technologies for variation
    Non-functional properties and quality management
    Reverse engineering, variability mining, and refactoring
    Recommender systems for configurators and feature models
    Specification and modeling of SPLs
    Testing product lines and product sampling
    Variability management and variability modeling

Manuscript submission information:

This special issue welcomes original papers that have not been previously published or are under consideration elsewhere. If a paper was presented at a conference, it should include at least 30% new material. Authors must provide previously published material relevant to their submission and explain any additions made. While the special issue is linked to SPLC 2024, participation in the conference is not required for submission.

All manuscripts should be submitted via the Elsevier Editorial System at https://www2.cloud.editorialmanager.com/jssoftware/default2.aspx. During submission, select the article type "VSI:Syst.+Sw.ProductLineEng" to ensure proper identification for the special issue. Submissions should adhere to the Journal of Systems and Software's Guide for Authors, available at https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/journal-of-systems-and-software/publish/guide-for-authors.

Important Dates:

    Submission deadline: 15 January 2025
    First notification: 31 March 2025
    Submission of first revision: 29 May 2025
    Second notification: 31 July 2025
    Submission of second revision: 25 September 2025
    Final notification: 31 October 2025
    Final version: 31 December 2025

Special Issue on Software Architecture for Trustworthy Software
Submission Date: 2025-01-31

Guest editors

Patrizia Scandurra, University of Bergamo, Italy
patrizia.scandurra@unibg.it

Matthias Galster, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
mgalster@ieee.org

Elena Navarro, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain
elena.Navarro@uclm.es

Elisa Yumi Nakagawa, University of São Paulo, Brazil
elisa@icmc.usp.br

Editors in Chief
Paris Avgeriou and David Shepherd

Special Issues Editors
Laurence Duchien and Raffaela Mirandola

Special issue information

The theme of this Special Issue is “software architecture for trustworthy software”. With the increasing complexity of software and the black-box nature of software components, it becomes more and more difficult - but at the same time also more important - to prove and demonstrate that we can trust software. At the same time, legislators introduce certification and regulations of software-based technology. Some examples are the Digital Services Act and the AI Act in the European Union, the Software Bill of Materials mandated by the US government, or domain-specific compliance and data privacy requirements in sectors like banking. Also, end users demand explainable and understandable software.

This Special Issue seeks submissions that explore how software architecture can help build trustworthy systems that are maintainable and evolve over time. This includes socio-technical aspects of trust (e.g., what trust means for different types of stakeholders), how we define and measure trust as an architecture quality attribute, how software architecture can support transparency in software to increase the trust of technical and non-technical stakeholders, etc. In detail, we are interested in topics around provenance at the architecture level, data sovereignty and data ownership and control (e.g., in systems that utilize Large Language Models), explainable software and explainable AI from a software architecture perspective, software supply chains (e.g., Google’s SLSA) and architectural implications such as dependencies and security, and how software architecture can support certification and regulatory compliance. We are interested in learning about software architecture principles and practices from and for industry to architect trustworthy software, and methods to show the suitability of the software architecture for its intended application, including risk-driven architectures and tactics to mitigate security threats. Furthermore, we are interested in research and practical experiences in particular domains of trustworthy systems, such as large-scale national digital infrastructures and national digital ID systems.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

    Foundational principles of software architecture
    Relationship between requirements engineering and software architecture
    Quality attributes and software architectures
    Architecture practices for secure, explainable, and trustworthy software
    Reference architectures, architecture processes, and practices for supporting certification, governance, and regulatory compliance (e.g., reference architectures for Industry 4.0)
    Architecture design and analysis
    Management of architectural knowledge, decisions, and rationale
    Architecture patterns, styles, and tactics
    Architecture description languages and meta-models
    Architecture viewpoints and views
    Architecture verification and validation
    Architecture conformance
    Software architecture virtualization
    Software architecture visualization
    Architecture-centric process models and frameworks
    Software architecture and agile, incremental, iterative, and continuous development
    Component-based models and deployment; middleware
    Software architecture and system architecture
    Software tools and environments for architecture-centric software engineering
    Architecture and technical debt
    Cross-disciplinary approaches to software architecture
    Architectures for reconfigurable and self-adaptive systems
    Architectural concerns of autonomic systems
    Software architecture applied to new and emerging areas, such as the cloud/edge, big data, blockchain, cyber-physical systems, IoT, autonomous systems, systems-of-systems, energy-aware software, quantum computing, AI-enabled systems
    Software architecture and sustainability
    Ethics, cultural, economic, business, social, human, and managerial aspects of software architecture
    Diversity, equity, and inclusion in activities related to software architecture
    Software architecture education and training
    Empirical studies in software architecture

Important

    All submissions must explicitly include an empirical validation, such as controlled experiments or case studies, or comparisons to other approaches already in practice in a comprehensive and head-to-head manner.
    Literature surveys, systematic literature reviews, and mapping studies are out of the scope and will be desk-rejected.

Furthermore, in the tradition of JSS, we also encourage In Practice papers, which are exclusively focused on work that increases knowledge transfer from industry to research.

Submission information

The call for this Special Issue is an open call. Authors are encouraged to submit high-quality, original work that has neither appeared in nor is under consideration by other journals or conferences. If an earlier version of the work has been published elsewhere, the contribution of this submission must be at least 30% different, and the authors should clearly explain in the introduction the delta between the submission and prior versions. Authors are requested to attach to their JSS submission their relevant, previously published articles and a summary document explaining the enhancements made in the journal version.

In addition, the authors of papers of the 18th European Conference on Software Architecture (ECSA 2024) are invited to submit extended versions of their papers. Papers from ECSA 2024 invited for this Special Issue are also subject to the same rule about novelty.

All manuscripts and supplementary material should be submitted through the Elsevier Editorial System at https://www.editorialmanager.com/jssoftware/default2.aspx . During the submission process, please select “VSI:SoftArch” for the "Article Type".

Submissions must be prepared according to the Guide for Authors, available on the journal website. The submitted paper must follow the format specified in the Guide for Authors: https://www.elsevier.com/journals/journal-of-systems-and-software/0164-1212/guide-for-authors.

Note that submissions can only go through at most two revisions, of which the second one can only be a minor revision. No submission is allowed to receive two rounds of major revisions.

A decision on each submission is made not only by the guest editors but also by the Editors-in-Chief and the Special Issues Editors.

Open Science

JSS supports Open Science. Therefore, we already encourage authors at the time of submission to include a Data Availability Statement in their manuscript after the Conclusions section in a section named "Open Science and Data Availability". This statement should explain whether or not data and/or any artifacts related to the work presented in the manuscript are available and how they could be accessed (or not), e.g., by providing a link to Zenodo.

Important dates

    Manuscript submissions due: January 31, 2025
    Notifications: April 18, 2025
    Revised manuscripts due: June 13, 2025
    Final notification: July 11, 2025

Special Issue on Euromicro Software Engineering and Advanced Applications: 50th Anniversary
Submission Date: 2025-02-02

Guest editors:

Nour Ali, Brunel University London, UK
Shaukat Ali, Simula Research Laboratory, Oslo, Norway

Special issue information:

The Euromicro Software Engineering and Applications Conference series (SEAA) marks a milestone as we celebrate its 50th Anniversary. SEAA is a long-standing international forum for researchers, practitioners, and students to present and discuss the latest innovations, trends, experiences, and concerns in the field of Software Engineering and Advanced Applications in information technology for software-intensive systems. From its inception to the present day, the Euromicro SEAA conference has witnessed notable transformations, expansions, and paradigm shifts, continually adapting to the evolving landscape of software engineering and advanced applications.

This JSS's special issue invites authors of various SEAA tracks to submit their original papers or significantly extended versions of their conference papers. However, this is an open call and anyone in the community is welcome to submit their original papers. This special issue will provide an opportunity for introspection into the progress, challenges, and recurring themes within the software engineering field. By examining the historical trajectory and identifying common trends, this issue aims to shed light on the enduring impact of the conference series on shaping the discourse and advancements in software engineering.

The topics relevant to this special issue include, but are not restricted to the following:

    Cyber-Physical Systems.
    Data and AI-driven Engineering
    Emerging Computing Technologies
    Model-Driven Engineering and Modeling Languages
    Software management: Measurement, Peopleware, and Innovation
    Software Process and Product Improvement
    Software Analytics: Mining Software Open Datasets and Repositories
    Practical Aspects of Software Engineering

Important Dates

    Submission deadline: 2 February 2025
    First notification: 10 April 2025
    Submission of first revision: 10 June, 2025
    Second notification: 10 August 2025
    Submission of second revision: 30 August 2025
    Final version: 30 September 2025

Special Issue on Quality Assurance in ICT-based Systems
Submission Date: 2025-03-31

Guest Editors

Antonia Bertolino, ISTI-CNR, Rome, Italy
João Pascoal Faria, University of Porto, Porto,  Portugal
Patricia Lago, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Laura Semini, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

Special Issues Editors

Laurence Duchien and Raffaela Mirandola

Special issue information:

In light of the increasing dependence of our society on ICT-based systems, it becomes imperative to prioritize the assurance of their quality, through a comprehensive approach that goes beyond the mere functional validation, and includes considerations such as reliability, usability, security, safety, performance efficiency. Furthermore, quality is inherently intertwined with both customer satisfaction and organizational success. In an era where user experience is a priority, the importance of providing high-quality software solutions cannot be underestimated. In this way, trust is cultivated, brand reputation is strengthened and, ultimately, business expansion is achieved.

The recent surge of intelligent assistants within the domain of software engineering has significantly augmented productivity levels. Nonetheless, this advancement simultaneously presents fresh challenges in guaranteeing the quality of these systems. As we persist in integrating these intelligent tools into our development workflows, the imperative for rigorous and inventive quality assurance methodologies becomes paramount. On the other hand, the potential use of intelligent assistants in quality assurance activities offers new possibilities for exploration, giving rise to new areas of research.

Achieving and maintaining quality standards in ICT faces several challenges. Rapid technological advancements, evolving user demands, and complex system architectures represent formidable obstacles. Cost-efficient quality assurance strategies require the integration of best practices and the adoption of innovative techniques at every stage of the software engineering lifecycle, from the requirements analysis phase to testing, deployment and beyond.

This special issue welcomes contributions concerning available research and industrial case studies and solutions, lessons learnt, as well as open challenges in designing, developing and operating high-quality ICT-based systems. On this theme, we will run in September 2024 the 17th International Conference on the Quality of Information and Communications Technology (QUATIC 2024), in Pisa, Italy. The goal of the conference series is to provide a forum for disseminating advanced methods, techniques and tools for supporting quality approaches in every phase and all aspects related to the engineering and management of advanced ICT-based systems. We welcome relevant works from both academic researchers and industrial experiences.

We call for high quality research and industrial papers in any of the following areas, but not limited to:

    Innovative Strategies for Total Quality in Business Processes and Software
    ICT Process Improvement, Organization, and Governance
    Emerging Topics and Technologies in Requirements Engineering
    Verification, Validation, and Testing
    Quality Aspects of Services and Cloud Computing
    Quality in Adaptive Software
    Human Factors for Quality Software
    Quality Aspects of Empirical Studies
    Quality in the Age of AI
    Sustainability as a Quality Concern

Manuscript submission information:

Important Dates (tentative)

31 March 2025          Full paper submission
16 June 2025             Author notification
15 September 2025   Papers revisions
15 October 2025        Author final notification
14 November 2025    Final manuscript

The call for this special issue is an open call. In addition, the authors of the best papers of the 17th International Conference on the Quality of Information and Communications Technology (QUATIC 2024), will be invited to submit extended versions of their papers. Authors are encouraged to submit high-quality, original work that has neither appeared in, nor is under consideration by other journals or conferences. All submitted papers will undergo a rigorous peer-review process and should adhere to the general principles of the Journal of Systems and Software articles. If a paper has been already presented at a conference, it should contain at least 30% of new technical contents and contribution before being submitted to this issue. Authors must provide any previously published material relevant to their submission and a summary document explaining the enhancements made in the journal version. Surveys, and (systematic) literature reviews are out of the scope of this special issue and will be desk-rejected.

Special Issue on Reliable and Secure Large Language Models for Software Engineering
Submission Date: 2025-04-01

Guest editors:

Dr. Gabriele Bavota, Università della Svizzera italiana, Switzerland
Dr. Pietro Liguori, University of Naples Federico II, Italy
Dr. Antonio Mastropaolo, William & Mary, USA

Special issue information:

Nowadays, Large Language Models (LLMs) are reshaping various domains, with software engineering (SE) exemplifying their transformative impact. These AI-driven solutions, especially LLMs, are proving highly effective at advancing the automation of SE practices, turning long-held aspirations into concrete realities.

A notable example is GitHub Copilot, introduced by Microsoft, which excels at translating natural language intents into executable code, thereby significantly boosting developer productivity. Along these lines, LLMs enhance capabilities in automated code generation and address complex software development challenges, including bug detection and fixing, vulnerability assessment, automated testing, and many other demanding tasks.

As the integration of LLM technologies into software engineering practices becomes more widespread, concerns about non-functional requirements such as reliability and security become increasingly critical. This special issue specifically focuses on the challenges and solutions related to ensuring the reliability and security of LLM-powered code generators and other AI-driven tools in software engineering. We seek to explore how these LLM technologies can be developed and deployed in a manner that upholds high standards of reliability and security.

Addressing these issues necessitates a comprehensive approach that includes maintaining high data quality, optimizing model performance, implementing robust monitoring systems, establishing stringent privacy protocols, ensuring secure practices, and conducting continuous maintenance to uphold system integrity. In light of these challenges, we are pleased to announce a featured Special Issue in the Journal of Software Systems (JSS), specifically dedicated to exploring the technical challenges associated with reliability and security in LLM-powered software engineering. This special issue particularly welcomes submissions that address the challenges of ensuring the security and reliability aspects of these systems. In this regard, we invite contributions that not only document research but also demonstrate practical advancements in the field. These contributions are vital as they help lay the groundwork and refine strategies for the responsible, secure application and integration of LLM technologies in software engineering.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

    LLM System Integrity and Quality
    Data Quality and Bias in LLMs
    Robustness and Resilience of LLMs
    Incident Response and Recovery for LLMs
    System Monitoring and Maintenance of LLMs
    Secure Deployment and Integration of LLMs
    Secure Code Generation and Program Synthesis with LLMs
    Explainable AI in Software Engineering with LLMs
    Vulnerability Detection in AI-generated code
    LLM-Generated Offensive Security Code

Manuscript submission information:

This special issue welcomes all submissions. Moreover, authors of the best papers from the 2nd International Workshop on Reliable and Secure AI for Software Engineering are encouraged to submit extended versions of their work. Articles must be original and not previously published or under consideration elsewhere. Submissions will be evaluated based on the originality of the problem and/or solution, the technical relevance and applicability of the ideas presented, the relevance to the Special Issue's theme, and the quality of writing and presentation.

Each submission will undergo a rigorous peer-review process in accordance with the standards of the Journal of Systems and Software. Each manuscript will be reviewed by three reviewers, with additional reviewers brought in as necessary. Papers that have been previously presented at conferences are required to contain at least 30% new technical content and contributions to be considered for this issue. Authors must also provide any previously published material related to their submission along with a document outlining the improvements made for the journal extension. Please note that surveys, (systematic) literature reviews, and mapping studies are not suitable for this special issue and will be deskrejected.

All manuscripts and supplementary material should be submitted through the Elsevier Editorial System at https://www.editorialmanager.com/jssoftware/default2.aspx.

During the submission process, please select "VSI:Reliable and Secure LLMs for SE" for the "Article Type". The submitted papers must follow the format specified in the Guide for Authors at https://www.elsevier.com/journals/journal-of-systems-and-software/0164-1212/guide-for-authors.

Submissions will be processed and start the reviewing process as soon as they arrive, without waiting for the submission deadline.

Important Dates (tentative)

- Submission Open Date: October 1st, 2024
- Submission Deadline: April 1st, 2025
- First notification: June 1st, 2025
- Revised submission: July 15th, 2025
- Final notification: September 15th, 2025