==========
ISSRE 2023
==========

October 9-12, 2023
Florence, Italy
https://issre.net


==============
RESEARCH TRACK
==============


Scope
=====

ISSRE (International Symposium on Software Reliability Engineering)
is the leading conference on software reliability and it focuses on
approaches, techniques, and tools for assessing, predicting, and
improving the reliability, safety, and security of software systems.
The conference will be primarily "in presence" with all presenters of
accepted papers required to attend the conference physically in
Florence. However, we plan to allow the attendance of the conference
also online.


Research Track
==============

The research track at ISSRE 2023 invites high-quality submissions of
technical research papers describing original and unpublished results
exploring new scientific ideas, contributing new evidence to
established research directions, or reflecting on practical
experience. Specifically, ISSRE solicits submissions in three
categories: (1) full research regular (REG) papers, (2) practical
experience reports (PER), and (3) tools and artifacts (TAR) papers.
Papers will be assessed with criteria appropriate to each category.

- **REG papers** should describe a novel contribution to the
  reliability of software systems. Novelty should be argued via
  concrete evidence and appropriate positioning within the state of
  the art. REG papers are also expected to clearly explain the
  validation process and its limitations.

- **PER papers** should provide an in-depth exposition of practical
  experiences and empirical studies ideally performed by a
  collaboration of researchers and industry practitioners. The key
  contribution of these papers should be lessons learned from the
  application of known research tools and methods related to ISSRE
  topics, or new knowledge acquired through empirical studies
  performed according to various research methodologies. Negative
  results are welcome, e.g., discussing where or why current research
  cannot be applied in an industrially relevant context.

- **TAR papers** should describe a new tool or artifact. Tool-focused
  TAR papers must present either a new tool or novel and substantial
  extensions to an existing tool. They should include a description
  of (i) the theoretical foundations, (ii) the design and
  implementation aspects, and (iii) experiments with realistic case
  studies. Making the tool publicly available is strongly encouraged.
  Artifact-focused TAR papers should cover (i) a working copy of the
  software and (ii) experimental data sets.

The ISSRE conference encourages authors of research papers to follow
the principles of transparency, reproducibility, and replicability.
Authors are encouraged to disclose data to increase reproducibility
and replicability.


Special Issue
=============

We plan to invite authors of selected papers to submit an extended
version for a special issue associated with the conference. More
details will be provided soon.


Important Deadlines
===================
(Anywhere on Earth)

Abstract submission deadline: May 22nd, 2023
  Papers submission deadline: June 1st, 2023
      Author rebuttal period: July 5th-7th, 2023
     Notification to authors: July 24th, 2023
         Camera-ready papers: August 25th, 2023


Paper Categories
================

Submissions can be made in one of the following categories.
- REG papers: up to 10 pages + 2 pages (for references only).
- PER papers: up to 10 pages + 2 pages (for references only).
- TAR papers: 6-10 pages (including references).

Papers that exceed the number of pages for that submission category
will be rejected without review.

Authors of PER and TAR papers must indicate the paper category (i.e.,
PER or TAR) in the title, in parentheses.


Topics of Interest
==================

Topics of interest include development, analysis methods and models
throughout the software development lifecycle, and are not limited
to:

- Dependability attributes (i.e., security, safety, maintainability,
  survivability, resilience, robustness) impacting software
  reliability
- Reliability threats, i.e. faults (defects, bugs, etc.), errors, failures
- Reliability means (fault prevention, fault removal, fault
  tolerance, fault forecasting)
- Metrics, measurements and threat estimation for reliability
  prediction and the interplay with safety/security
- Reliability of autonomous systems and (self-)adaptive systems
- Reliability of AI-based systems
- Machine learning for Reliability Engineering
- Reliability of software services and Software as a Service (SaaS)
- Reliability of open-source software
- Reliability of software dealing with Big Data
- Reliability of model-based and auto-generated software
- Reliability of green and sustainable systems
- Reliability of mobile systems
- Reliability of software within specific technological spaces (e.g.,
  Internet of Things, Cloud, Semantic Web/Web 3.0, Virtualization,
  Blockchain, networks softwarization, 5G/6G, edge-to-cloud
  computing)
- Normative/regulatory/ethical spaces about software reliability
- Societal aspects of software reliability


Anonymizing Rules
=================

Authors shall anonymize their papers. As an author, you should not
identify yourself in the paper either explicitly or by implication
(e.g., through references or acknowledgements). However, only
non-destructive anonymization is required. For example, the names of
case study subjects may be left un-anonymized, if the subject name is
important for a reviewer to be able to evaluate the work. In that
case, they should avoid mentioning that a specific tool has been
conceived and developed by them, as well as a paper that has been
co-authored by them. The authors can provide the name of a case study
subject software and the name of the entity developing it (private
company or foundations); in case some of the authors are employees of
the developing entity, the authors should not explicitly mention
their affiliation but clarify potential threats to validity (e.g.,
familiarity with the subject), as appropriate.

Additionally, please take the following steps when preparing your submission:
- Remove authors' names and affiliations from the title page
- Remove acknowledgement of identifying names and funding sources
- Use care in naming your files. Source file names, e.g.,
  Joe.Smith.dvi, are often embedded in the final output as readily
  accessible comments.
- Use care in referring to related work, particularly your own. Do
  not omit references to provide anonymity, as this leaves the
  reviewer unable to grasp the context. Instead, a good solution is
  to reference your past work in the third person, just as you would
  any other piece of related work.
- If you have a concurrent submission, reference it as follows:
  "Closely related work describes a microkernel implementation
  [Anonymous 2023]." with the corresponding citation: "[Anonymous
  2023] Under submission. Details omitted for double-blind
  reviewing."
- If you cite anonymous work, you must also send the deanonymized
  reference(s) to the PC chairs in a separate email.

Submissions that do not conform to the above submission deadline,
anonymization and formatting guidelines (e.g., are too long, use
fonts or line spacing smaller than what is indicated) or are
unoriginal, previously published, or under submission to multiple
venues, will be disregarded.


Formatting Rules
================

Submissions must adhere to the IEEE Computer Society Format
Guidelines 

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

as implemented by the following LaTeX/Word templates:

- LaTeX Package  (ZIP)
  https://www.ieee.org/content/dam/ieee-org/ieee/web/org/pubs/conference-latex-template_10-17-19.zip

- Word Template  (DOCX)
  https://www.ieee.org/content/dam/ieee-org/ieee/web/org/conferences/conference-template-a4.docx 

Each paper must be submitted as a single Portable Document Format
(PDF) file. All fonts must be embedded. We also strongly recommend
you print the file and review it for integrity (fonts, symbols,
equations etc.) before submitting it. A defective printing of your
paper can undermine its chance of success. Please take a note of the
following:

- Submissions should be anonymous.
- The first page must include the title of the paper and a maximum 200-word abstract.
- Please take into account that the abstract will be used by the
  reviewers to bid on papers. Thus, describe the paper goals clearly,
  as well as the means used to achieve them.
- The first page is not a separate page, but is a part of the paper
  (i.e., it has technical material in it). Thus, this page counts
  toward the total page budget for the paper.
- The page limit includes everything except references.
- The use of color for figures and graphs is allowed only if the
  paper turns out to be readable if printed in grayscale
- Symbols and labels used in the graphs should be readable as
  printed, without requiring on-screen magnification.
- Try to limit the file size to less than 15 MB

Authors of accepted papers will be expected to supply electronic
versions of their papers and are encouraged to supply source code and
raw data to help others replicate and better understand their
results.


Paper Submission
================

Papers are submitted via EasyChair:
https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=issre23

Submissions will be reviewed by the program committee through a
double-blind reviewing process, with a limited use of outside
referees. Papers will be held in full confidence during the reviewing
process, but papers accompanied by nondisclosure agreement forms are
not acceptable and will be rejected without review.

Authors must anonymize their submissions (see the guidelines above).
Submissions violating the formatting and anonymization rules will be
rejected without review. There will be no extensions for
reformatting.


Review Process and Author Response
==================================

After the papers have been reviewed, but before the Program
Committee/Board meeting, the reviews will be made available to the
authors to respond to any factual errors in the reviews. Rebuttals do
not include additional information about the research or a submission
of an updated or revised paper. Author responses will be made
available to all PC/PB members before the paper is discussed for
selection in the PC/PB meeting. The submissions website will include
rebuttal guidelines.


Best Research Paper Award
=========================

ISSRE is pleased to announce the Best Research Paper Award,
attributed every year to the best paper in the Research Track. The
conference proceedings will be published by IEEE Computer Society
Conference Publishing Services (CPS). Papers presented at the
conference will be submitted for inclusion into IEEE Xplore and to
all of the A&I (abstracting and indexing) partners (such as the EI
Compendex).


Organization
============

Research PC Chairs:

- Nuno Laranjeiro
  University of Coimbra, Portugal
  https://www.cisuc.uc.pt/en/people/nuno-laranjeiro

- Patrizio Pelliccione
  Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI), Italy
  https://www.patriziopelliccione.com/

For additional information, visit the conference website: https://issre.net/

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

==============
INDUSTRY TRACK
==============


Important dates
===============

Abstract submission deadline: June 20, 2023, AOE
Papers submission deadline: June 27, 2023, AOE
Notification to authors: August 13, 2023, AOE
Camera ready papers: August 20, 2023, AOE


Goal
====

The objective of the ISSRE Industry Track is to establish an
effective dialogue between software practitioners and software
engineering researchers concerning the challenges, findings (both
positive and negative), encountered obstacles, and lessons learned
related to software reliability. Of particular interest is
information on applying novel software development, verification, and
validation practices in diverse lifecycle styles, industry sectors,
and software types. The 34th edition of ISSRE will be an in-person
event taking place in Florence, Italy. All presenters of accepted
papers required to attend the conference physically in Florence.
However, we plan to allow the attendance of the conference also
online.

**We aim to encourage wide industry participation.**

In recent years, the ISSRE industry program has expanded and has
covered a wide range of topics, including cloud computing, agile
development, mobile communications, defect prediction / detection /
fixing, release management, defect classification, rejuvenation,
security, customer experience / satisfaction, availability, social
network analysis, big data analysis, and specific reliability
concerns of the transportation, aviation, healthcare, telecom, and
other industry sectors.

Industry Track papers will address the application of software
engineering practices (which may include work on principles,
techniques, tools, methods, or processes) to a specific domain or to
the development of a substantial software system. We expect Industry
Track papers to be of interest to software development professionals,
as well as to software reliability and software quality and process
improvement groups with concrete relation to industrial problems and
applications.


Topics of Interest
==================

Topics of interest include development, analysis methods and models
throughout the software development lifecycle, and are not limited
to:
- Dependability attributes (i.e., security, safety, maintainability,
  survivability, resilience, robustness) impacting software reliability.
- Reliability threats, i.e., faults (defects, bugs, etc.), errors, failures
- Reliability means (fault prevention, fault removal, fault
  tolerance, fault forecasting)
- Metrics, measurements and threat estimation for reliability
  prediction and the interplay with safety/security
- Reliability of autonomous systems and (self-)adaptive systems
- Reliability of AI-based systems
- Machine learning for Reliability Engineering
- Reliability of software services and Software as a Service (SaaS)
- Reliability of model-based and auto-generated software
- Reliability of open-source software
- Reliability of software dealing with Big Data
- Reliability of model-based and auto-generated software
- Reliability of green and sustainable systems
- Reliability of mobile systems
- Reliability of software within specific technological spaces (e.g.,
  Internet of Things, Cloud, Semantic Web/Web 3.0, Virtualization,
  Blockchain, networks softwarization, 5G/6G, edge-to-cloud computing)
- Normative/regulatory/ethical spaces about software reliability
- Societal aspects of software reliability


Submission guidelines and instructions
======================================

There are two different alternatives for ISSRE Industry Track submissions:

- Full paper submission consisting of 6 pages (including references).
- Short paper submission consisting of 2 pages (including references).

All the submissions will be reviewed by members of the Industry Track
Program Committee. Accepted papers will be included in the ISSRE
Supplemental Proceedings and submitted for publication to IEEE Xplore.

Submissions must adhere to the IEEE Computer Society Format Guidelines

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

as implemented by the following LaTeX/Word templates:

- LaTex Package (ZIP)
  https://www.ieee.org/content/dam/ieee-org/ieee/web/org/pubs/conference-latex-template_10-17-19.zip

- Word Template (DOCX)
  https://www.ieee.org/content/dam/ieee-org/ieee/web/org/conferences/conference-template-a4.docx

Each paper must be submitted as a single Portable Document Format
(PDF) file. All fonts must be embedded. We also strongly recommend
you print the file and review it for integrity (fonts, symbols,
equations etc.) before submitting it. A defective printing of your
paper can undermine its chance of success. Please take a note of the
following:

- Submissions should not be anonymous.

- Please consider that the abstract will be used by the reviewers to
  bid on papers. Thus, describe the paper goals clearly, as well as
  the means used to achieve them.

- The first page is not a separate page, but is a part of the paper
  (i.e., it has technical material in it). Thus, this page counts
  toward the total page budget for the paper.

- Symbols and labels used in the graphs should be readable as
  printed, without requiring on-screen magnification.

- Try to limit the file size to less than 15 MB.

A paper must include the title, the name and affiliation of each
author, an abstract of up to 150 words, and up to 4 keywords. Papers
that exceed the page limits specified, are outside the scope of the
symposium, or do not follow the formatting guidelines will be
rejected without review.

Authors of accepted papers will have the chance to present their work
at the ISSRE 2023 conference. Submission implies the willingness of
at least one of the authors to register for the conference and to
give the talk, either in person or remotely, if the paper is
accepted.


Submission Page
===============

All papers must be submitted electronically at the following link:
https://bit.ly/3os7b9q


Best Paper Awards
=================

This year’s edition of the ISSRE Industry Track will include two best paper awards:

- Best Practice Paper Award

  This category will award the best among the full papers accepted to
  appear in the ISSRE 2023 Industry Track. All full papers accepted
  to the Industry Track will be eligible for this award.

- Best Disruptive Paper Award

  This category will award the most disruptive idea accepted to
  appear in the ISSRE 2023 Industry Track. ALL papers (short and
  regular papers) accepted to the Industry Track will be eligible.
  Candidates for this award are those papers describing and
  motivating wild, novel, or disruptive ideas that will address
  problems at the cutting edge of industry.

A special industry committee including specialists from different
areas will propose 2 to 3 candidates for each award. The final
selection for the Best Practice Paper Award will be done by the
audience attending the presentation of the candidate papers. The Best
Disruptive Paper Award will be awarded directly by the Industry Track PC.


Chairs
======

Industry Program Chair
- Saurabh Jha, IBM Research, USA

Industry PC Chairs
- Richard Li, Futurewei
- Xiao Chen, Huawei Ltd
- Roberto Gonzalez, NEC Labs