Call for Research Papers

Requirements Engineering (RE) is a crucial factor for developing high-quality software, systems and services. The REFSQ working conference series is a well-established leading international forum for discussing current and state-of-the-art RE practices, now celebrating its 25th edition: REFSQ started in 1994 and has been organized as a stand-alone conference since 2010. In April 2019, we again welcome participants to attend REFSQ'19 in Essen, Germany.

The Call for Research Papers can be downloaded here.

REFSQ has a long tradition of being a highly structured and interactive forum. Each session is organised to provoke discussion among the presenters of papers, pre-assigned discussants, and all the other participants. The REFSQ’19 program will include keynote speakers, technical papers, research previews, industrial presentations, as well as posters and tools. Workshops and the REFSQ doctoral symposium will be collocated with the main conference.

REFSQ'19 seeks reports of novel ideas and techniques that enhance the quality of RE’s products and processes, reflections on current research and industrial RE practices, as well as new views on RE. We invite submissions on any aspect of RE. We encourage researchers and practitioners from the field of RE, software engineering, information systems, service science, embedded systems, and product management fields to present original work. Contributions from further related areas such as systems engineering, economics, and management are also very welcome for the insights they provide to RE.

The special theme of REFSQ’19 is “Laying the foundation for Speed and Flexibility in Development” and we seek contributions related to increased pace of developing, deploying, using, and evolving software based systems and services.

We invite original submissions in the following categories:

Technical Design Papers (up to 15 pages) describe and explain new artifact design, i.e., novel solutions for requirements-related problems or significant improvements of existing solutions. The research method of technical papers follows the design cycle (problem, treatment design, validity argument). The paper should give credible arguments that the novel solution will have the desired effects in the intended problem context, possibly illustrated with an example. Technical design papers are evaluated based on problem relevance, novelty of design, clarity of presentation of design, the technical soundness of the design, and the credibility of the validity arguments.

Scientific Evaluation Papers (up to 15 pages) investigate existing real‐world problems, evaluate existing real‐world implemented artifacts, or validate newly designed artifacts, e.g., by means such as case studies, experiments, simulation, surveys, systematic literature reviews, mapping studies, or action research. The research method of scientific evaluation papers follows the empirical cycle (research questions, design, execution, data analysis). Scientific evaluation papers are evaluated based on the interest of the research questions, soundness of the research design, the clarity of presentation of measurements, and the validity (degree of support) of the conclusions.

Vision Papers (up to 6 pages) state where the research in the field should be heading towards. Vision papers outline research roadmaps and programmes for the future based on existing knowledge. These papers are evaluated based on the insights they offer to the readers and on their potential to shape future research.

Research Previews (up to 6 pages) describe well-defined research ideas at an early stage of investigation which may not be fully developed. Research previews will be evaluated based on their relevance, novelty, and soundness of the described research.

The REFSQ'19 proceedings will be published in Springer’s LNCS series. Papers should be submitted in PDF format. The results described must be unpublished and must not be under review elsewhere. Submissions must conform to Springer’s LNCS format and must no exceed the page limits mentioned above.

Information about the Springer LNCS format can be found at http://www.springer.de/comp/lncs/authors.html.

Papers should be submitted using EasyChair at: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=refsq2019

REFSQ'19 calls for posters, workshop papers, research methodology track contributions, and doctoral symposium submissions in Fall 2018. Stay tuned.

Eric Knauss - Chalmers | University of Gothenburg, Sweden

Michael Goedicke - University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany