[AISWorld] Information and Software Technology: Special Issue on General Theories of Software Engineering

[Klaas-Jan.Stol]

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                            CALL FOR PAPERS

         Special Issue on General Theories of Software Engineering
                   
                   
                      Deadline: 1 December 2014
                   

                 Information and Software Technology
        Published by Elsevier Science (http://www.elsevier.com/)

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Guest Editors
Dr. Klaas-Jan Stol          Lero, University of Limerick, Ireland
Prof Dr. Michael Goedicke   University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
Dr. Ivar Jacobson           Ivar Jacobson International, Switzerland


Introduction
While evidence-based software engineering (EBSE) has attracted
considerable attention from the research community, there is still a
lack of interest and appreciation for the role of theory in the
software engineering field. In order to make sense of all the empirical
observations and evidence that researchers are gathering, we need theory
that allows the abstraction of these observations into “universal
knowledge” that is useful not only to other researchers but also to
software engineering practitioners. Specifically, what the SE field
seems to be missing is a General Theory, such as can be found in many
other academic disciplines. Examples of general theories include the
Big Bang theory and evolution theory. These “general” theories are able
to explain (or predict) phenomena within a larger context of a discipline.
This is of particular interest to the empirical software engineering
community, which is increasingly recognizing the importance of context of
research. However, few general theories of software engineering have been
proposed, and none have achieved significant recognition. In turn,
software engineering remains limited to problem solving by trial-and-error
and rules-of-thumb and in most cases only related to a limited area of
relevance. The state of research in software engineering cannot make
significant advances as new trends are emerging quickly and a systematic
cumulative research tradition within software engineering has not yet been
achieved.



Objective
This special issue, organized by the SEMAT initiative (www.semat.org),
aims to provide a forum for discussing the concept of a general theory of
software engineering. Submissions are invited on the following topics (but
not limited to these):

- Benefits of a general theory of software engineering;
- Desired qualities of a GTSE;
- Core components and form/notation of a GTSE;
- Proposed general theories of software engineering;
- Evaluation of theories for software engineering;
- The role of a GTSE within software engineering research;
- Theories from other scientific disciplines and how to adapt them to SE;
- Theories that discuss the relationship between process and product;
- Ontological and epistemological considerations for a general theory of
SE;



Submission Procedure
Manuscripts can be submitted online at http://ees.elsevier.com/infsof/.
Authors should select "SI:General Theory of SE”, from the
"Choose Article Type" pull-down menu during the submission process.

Contributions must not have been previously published or be under
consideration for publication elsewhere. A submission extended from a
previous conference version has to contain at least 30% new material.
In these cases, authors are requested to describe the novel material in
the article, and explicitly reference the extended article.

Authors are strongly advised to consult the journal’s guide for authors
prior to submitting their manuscripts. Further information is available
at the journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/infsof.
Please note that Information and Software Technology prescribes the
use of a “structured abstract” containing the following components:
Context, Objective, Method, Results and Conclusions.

All papers will be reviewed by at least three expert reviewers.

Information and Software Technology is indexed in all major databases.
Its 5-year impact factor is currently 1.692, and is ranked 4th in the
list of Top Publications in the area of Software Systems by Google Scholar.



Contact
For more information, please consult the Special Issue website:
http://semat.org/?page_id=1330, or contact one of the guest editors:

Dr. Klaas-Jan Stol (main contact)
Email: klaas-jan.stol at lero.ie

Prof Dr. Michael Goedicke
Email: michael.goedicke at paluno.uni-due.de

Dr. Ivar Jacobson
Email: ivar at ivarjacobson.com