Call for Research Papers

The 25th IEEE International Requirements Engineering Conference (RE'17) is the premier international forum for researchers, practitioners, educators, and students to present and discuss the most recent innovations, experiences, and concerns in the discipline of requirements engineering.

The RE'17 theme is Desperately Seeking Less: The Role of Simplicity and Complementarity in Requirements. We thus particularly encourage accounts of innovative research concerned with this theme. Any other topic relevant to RE is of course equally welcome. RE'17 invites original submissions of research papers in the categories described below. RE'17 also welcomes submissions of industry papers, data track papers and ongoing research papers, as well as submissions for workshops, tutorials, panels and interactive events, poster and tool demonstrations, and the doctoral symposium.

Categories for Research Papers

  • Technical solution papers present solutions for requirements-related problems that are novel or significantly improve on existing solutions. These papers are mainly evaluated with regard to problem relevance, novelty, clarity of presentation, technical soundness and provided evidence for its benefits. Technical solution papers must not exceed 10 pages (including references). There are 3 main kinds of solutions and corresponding evaluation criteria:
    • Analytical: the main contribution relies on new algorithms or mathematical theory. Such a contribution must be evaluated with a convincing analysis of the algorithmic details, whether through a formal analysis or proof, complexity analysis, or run-time analysis, among others and depending on the objectives.
    • Technological: the main contribution is of a technological nature. This includes novel tools, modeling languages, infrastructures, and other technologies. Such a contribution does not necessarily need to be evaluated with humans. However, clear arguments, backed up by evidence as appropriate, must show how and why the technology is beneficial, whether it is in automating or supporting some user task, refining our modeling capabilities, improving some key system property, etc.
    • Methodological: the main contribution is a coherent system of broad principles and practices to interpret or solve a problem, e.g. a novel requirements elicitation method. The authors should provide convincing arguments, with corresponding experiences, why a new method is needed and what the benefits of the proposed method are.
  • Scientific evaluation papers evaluate existing problem situations or evaluate real-world artifacts or validate/refute proposed solutions by scientific means. This includes controlled experiments, case studies, and surveys of professionals reporting qualitative or quantitative data and analysis results simulations. The papers are mainly evaluated with regard to interesting research questions, study design, appropriateness and correctness of analysis, and threats to validity. Replications are welcome. For papers reporting application of some solution lessons learned are particularly important. Scientific evaluation papers must not exceed 10 pages (including references).
  • Perspective papers explore the history, successes, and challenges of requirements related practices and research agendas, and outline research roadmaps for the future. Literature reviews are also included in this category and must distill novel knowledge, present new insights and not be merely compilative. These papers are evaluated based on the insights they offer to the reader and the corresponding arguments, and on their potential to shape future research. NEW: Note that Perspective papers may have more than 2 pages of references, but under no circumstances may the body of the paper exceed 10 pages or may the combined body of the paper and the references exceed 12 pages.

Submission Instructions

In order to guide the reviewing process, all authors who intend to submit a paper must first submit the title, abstract (max. 200 words) and author information of their paper. Abstracts are used only to point out your interest to submit a full paper and to allow us to initiate the search for possible reviewers early in time.

Papers must describe original work that has not been previously published or submitted elsewhere. Submissions must be written in English and formatted according to the IEEE formatting instructions.

Technical solution and scientific evaluation papers must not exceed 10 pages, including references. Perspective papers may have more than 2 pages of references, but under no circumstances may the body of the paper exceed 10 pages or may the combined body of the paper and the references exceed 12 pages. Papers that exceed the length specification or are not formatted correctly will be rejected without review. It is acceptable to reference additional content (i.e., data repositories, source code for open source tools, full protocols of empirical studies, etc.) by providing a corresponding URL hosted on an institutional, archive-grade site.

Please note that only full paper submissions will be peer reviewed. Abstract-only submissions will be discarded without further notice after the submission deadline.

Please submit your Research paper in PDF format via EasyChair. Select the RE'17 track for your submission.

Key Dates

Abstract Submission Friday, February 10
Full Paper Submission Friday, February 17
Paper Notification Thursday, May 11
Camera Ready Due Friday, June 23

All deadlines are 23:59 Anywhere on Earth (Standard Time).

Need Help?

If you have never previously published at a major international conference and would like some help with planning your Industry Paper submission, please consider the guidance and support offered by the RE'17 Research Mentor, Daniel M. Berry.

Contact

Any inquiries regarding research papers can be directed to the Program Co-Chairs:

Program Co-Chair

Barbara Paech
Heidelberg University, Germany

Program Co-Chair

Jane Hayes
University of Kentucky, USA