ICSM 2013 - 29th IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance

Submissions for the research track should describe original and significant work in the research or practice of software maintenance and evolution. Submissions will be peer-reviewed by at least three PC members. Theoretical results, empirical research (such as case studies and experiments) and experience reports are welcome. Papers must not have been previously accepted for publication nor concurrently submitted for review in another journal, book, conference or workshop.
Research papers must adhere to the IEEE CS Proceedings style guidelines and are limited to 10 pages. Submissions need to be submitted online via the EasyChair conference system at https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=icsm20.... Accepted papers will be published in the online proceedings published by the IEEE Computer Society.
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 adding about 30% of new material.)
Topics of Interest include but not limited to:
? Software repository analysis and mining
? Run-time evolution, dynamic reconfiguration and self adaptation
? Reverse engineering, re- engineering and migration
? Software refactoring, restructuring and renovation
? Software and system comprehension
? Code cloning, code provenance, concept location and related research
? Change and defect management
? Evolution of non-code artefacts (e.g., requirements, design models, documentation, software architectures, business process models)
? Maintenance-related testing (e.g., regression testing)
? Maintenance and evolution processes
? Software quality improvement
? Software evolution for emerging paradigms
? Human aspects of software evolution
ERA Track
The goal of the Early Research Achievements (ERA) track is to provide researchers and practitioners with a forum for presenting great, promising ideas in early stages of research. These ideas do not require a strong empirical evaluation! The 2013 ERA track aims to provide constructive feedback to guide you from your initial idea and limited evaluation towards a solid ICSM 2014 paper with strong empirical underpinnings. The topics of interest for this track are the same as for the main research track, i.e., all the topics in the research and practice of software maintenance and evolution. Papers submitted to the ERA track must not have been accepted previously for publication or submitted for review to another conference, journal, or book.
Format
Submissions must be in English and conform to the IEEE proceedings style. They must be four-page long, including all text, references, appendices, and figures. They must be submitted electronically as PDF files via Easychair. They will be reviewed by members of the ERA Program Committee.
Review and Evaluation Criteria
Submissions will be evaluated on the basis of their originality, importance of contribution, soundness, evaluation (if available), quality and consistency of presentation, and appropriate comparison to related work. Special emphasis will be put on the originality and timeliness of the proposed contribution, i.e., a full evaluation of the proposed ideas is not required.
Publication and Presentation
Upon notification of acceptance, all authors of accepted papers will be asked to complete an IEEE Copyright form and will receive further instructions for preparing their camera ready versions. At least one author of the paper must register and present the paper at the conference, for the paper to be published in the proceedings. All accepted papers will be published in the conference electronic proceedings, which will also be available in the IEEE Digital Library. The papers will be presented in a formal setting and as a poster. More details on the presentations will follow the notifications.
Doctoral Symposium
As with previous editions, ICSM 2013 will feature a double doctoral symposium:
Pre-doctoral: The first part is dedicated to PhD students in the midst of their doctoral studies in the field of software maintenance, who intend to finish their PhD within the next two years (2014-2015). This symposium aims to provide PhD students with an opportunity to present their ongoing work, to interact with other researchers in the field, and to get constructive feedback from senior researchers. Participants will discuss their goals, methods, and results at an early stage in their research.
Post-doctoral: The second part is dedicated to researchers who have delivered their PhD dissertations in the area of software maintenance and evolution within the last 2 years (2011-2012). This symposium aims to provide a forum for post-docs to present the highlights of their work to the ICSM community. Moreover, participants will be asked to reflect on the PhD process itself, and share some lessons learned with PhD students as well as PhD advisors.
How to submit
Submissions to both doctoral symposiums will be done via Easychair. Submitted documents must adhere to the IEEE conference publication format.
For the pre-doctoral symposium the submission should not exceed 4 pages and must include:
a statement of the technical problem addressed and its importance;
a description of the specific research hypothesis or questions you are investigating;
a sketch of the research methodology and proposed solution;
a description of the adopted evaluation method and the result obtained so far;
the expected contributions of your PhD research.
For the post-doctoral symposium the submission should not exceed 6 pages and must include:
a synopsis of your PhD dissertation (how would you like your PhD to be remembered by the ICSM research community);
future work for the community (to be addressed by an upcoming generation of PhD students);
lessons learned about the PhD process (what worked well for you? what could have worked better?).
Reviewing
The Program Committee of the Doctoral Symposium will evaluate submissions for both the pre-doctoral and post-doctoral symposium based on their originality and technical soundness. Submissions for the post-doctoral symposium will also be evaluated based on the relevance for the ICSM community. Accepted submissions will appear in the ICSM conference proceedings, and authors are expected to attend the symposium.
Presentation and publication
The author of each accepted submission must register and attend ICSM 2013. The post-doctoral symposium will be a part of the main technical program of ICSM, and each paper will be formally presented to the broad ICSM audience. Details on the presentations will be communicated upon acceptance.
To encourage a full and open exchange of ideas, the pre-doctoral symposium will be a closed-door event where only the authors and the panel members will participate. The authors will also be able to present a poster on their work during the poster session. Details on the presentations will be communicated upon acceptance.