Call for Journal of Systems and Software: Special Issue Following SPLC’2024

Call for Papers – Special Issue on Trends in Systems and Software Product Line Engineering

A special issue of the Journal of Systems and Software

 

Editors in Chief

  • Paris Avgeriou, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
  • David Shepherd, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA

 

Special Issues Editors

  • Laurence Duchien, University of Lille Faculty of Science and Technology, Villeneuve d’Ascq, France
  • Raffaela Mirandola, Polytechnic of Milan, Milano, Italy

 

Guest Editors

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

  • Daniel Strüber, Chalmers | University of Gothenburg, Sweden; Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands

 

Theme


Systems and Software Product Line Engineering deals with the development and maintenance of families of systems and software products, the so-called systems and software product lines. Over more than three decades, product line engineering has been in constant motion. As the special issue following the 28th Systems and Software Product Line Conference (SPLC) conference, the focus of this special issue is to paint a comprehensive picture of the current trends in product line engineering.

A selected example for such a trend, in line with the special focus topic of SPLC 2024, is the Management of Quality in Software Product Lines. Inspired by the growing role of AI in software engineering and the exploration of new application domains, this trend acknowledges the importance of managing the quality of SPLs and of the methods and techniques defined to measure and reason about quality, including the modeling of non-functional requirements and how they are related to variability models, the association of quality measures with either features or configurations of software product lines, the quality-driven analysis of configuration spaces, the definition of metrics to measure the quality of selected samples for testing and the definition of prediction models for non-functional properties. 

More generally, trends in product line engineering may pertain, but are not limited to the following list of topics:

  • AI: genetic algorithms, neural networks, and machine learning for product lines

  • Architecture, design, and visualization of product lines

  • Dynamic software product lines, reconfigurable systems, (self-)adaptive systems

  • Evolution, maintenance, and continuous integration for product lines (e.g., DevOps)

  • Formal methods and SPL verification techniques (e.g., program analysis, model checking)

  • Green and sustainable technologies for variation

  • Human, organizational, and social aspects of product lines (e.g., BPM, collaborative modeling and development, cooperative configuration processes, economics, program comprehension)

  • Language product lines and domain-specific and programming languages for product lines

  • Multi-product lines, program families, product lines of product lines, software ecosystems

  • Non-functional properties and quality management: modeling, analysis, and optimization (e.g., performance, energy), quality-aware analysis, quality-driven configuration

  • Reverse engineering, variability mining, and refactoring (e.g., migration from clone-and-own)

  • Recommender systems for configurators and feature models (e.g., CSP/SAT/SMT solvers)

  • Specification and modeling of SPL (e.g., domain-specific modeling, model-driven engineering)

  • Testing product lines (e.g., product sampling, test-case selection and prioritization, mutations)

  • Variability management and variability modeling (e.g., feature models, decision models)

 

Important Dates

  • Due date first submissions: 15 January 2025
  • Notification to authors (first round): 31 March 2025
  • Submission of revised papers (second round): 29 May 2025
  • Notification to authors (second round): 31 July 2025
  • Submission after second review: 25 September 2025
  • Final notification: 31 October 2025
  • Proposed date of publication: 31 December 2025

 

Submission Guidelines

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. Submissions have to be prepared according to the Guide for Authors at https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/journal-of-systems-and-software/publish/guide-for-authors .

Submitted papers must be original, and must not have been previously published or be under consideration for publication elsewhere. If a paper has been already presented at a conference, it should contain at least 30% new material before being submitted to this issue.

Authors must provide any previously published material relevant to their submission and describe the additions made. While this special issue is associated with SPLC 2024, it is open: it is not necessary to have a paper accepted at the conference to submit.

All manuscripts and any supplementary material should be submitted through the Elsevier Editorial System at https://www2.cloud.editorialmanager.com/jssoftware/default2.aspx . Follow the submission instructions given on this site. During the submission process, select the article type “VSI:Syst.+Sw.ProductLineEng” from the “Choose Article Type” pull-down menu. All submissions must adhere to the general principles of the Journal of Systems and Software articles. Submissions have to be prepared according to the Guide for Authors, available on the journal website, and must follow the format specified in the JSS Guide for Authors https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/journal-of-systems-and-software/publish/guide-for-authors