[Om-announce] JLAP special issue: call for papers

[Maurice ter Beek]

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Call for papers

JOURNAL OF LOGIC AND ALGEBRAIC PROGRAMMING

Special Issue on Formal Methods in Software Product Line Engineering
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This special issue of the Journal of Logic and Algebraic Programming
(JLAP) is devoted, but by no means limited, to the themes of the
FMSPLE workshop series on formal methods and analysis in Software
Product Line Engineering (SPLE).

SPLE aims at developing a family of systems by reuse in order to
reduce time to market and to increase product quality. The
correctness of the development artifacts intended for reuse as well
as the correctness of the developed products is of crucial interest
for many safety-critical or business-critical applications. Formal
methods and analysis approaches have been successfully applied in
single system engineering in order to rigorously establish critical
system requirements. While SPLE has matured considerably over the
last decade, many challenges still remain, among which efficient
variability management, the consistency between domain and
application engineering, the reduction of quality assurance efforts,
and the consistent and sustainable evolution of product families.
Moreover, formal methods and analysis approaches are not applied
broadly enough in SPLE, despite their potential to improve product
quality. One of the reasons is that existing formal approaches from
single system engineering do not consider variability, which is an
essential aspect of product lines.

The general motivation is to promote and stimulate the application
of formal modelling and analysis techniques to problems that
originate from the SPLE domain, and to strengthen in this way the
ties between the SPLE community and theoretical computer scientists
and formal methods researchers seeking to apply calculi, process
algebras, type systems, logics, model checking, type checking,
theorem proving, constraint solving, and so forth. Recent years have
witnessed an increased application of formal modelling and analysis
techniques in SPLE and this is starting to make an impact, as is
confirmed by the growing number of papers that have been published
in a variety of high-profile formal methods, SPLE, and (fundamental)
software engineering conferences and journals.

This is an open call for papers, therefore participants of the FMSPLE
workshop series as well as others working on the themes of this
special issue, are strongly encouraged to submit contributions.

IMPORTANT DATES

Submission of papers: July 15, 2014
First review decision: December 15, 2014
Revision due: February 15, 2015
Acceptance notification: April 15, 2015
Final manuscript due: June 15, 2015
Expected publication: Summer 2015

TOPICS OF INTEREST

We solicit original papers on topics within the general scope of
applying formal modelling and analysis techniques to software
product lines, which include but are not limited to:

- Product line architectures and component-based product line
   development
- Correctness-by-construction techniques in SPLE
- Variability modelling and analysis
- Product derivation and application engineering
- Product line implementation, such as type systems, programming
   languages, and formal semantics
- Product line life-cycle management such as consistency assurance
- Reuse and evolution in SPLE
- Safety and security aspects in SPLE
- Automated test case generation and model-based testing in SPLE
- Formal verification (such as type checking, model checking, and
   theorem proving) of product lines and product line artifacts
- Specification and verification of functional and non-functional
   properties in SPLE

SUBMISSION

We expect original articles (typically 20-30 pages; submission of
larger papers will be evaluated depending on editorial constraints)
that present high-quality contributions, which have not been
previously published elsewhere and that are also not simultaneously
submitted for publication elsewhere. Each paper will undergo a
thorough evaluation by at least three reviewers. In case of a
positive first review decision, the authors will have about two
months to incorporate the comments of the reviewers and submit a
revised version of their papers, which will be evaluated again by
the reviewers to reach a final decision.

All contributions must be written in English, must be submitted in
PDF format and must comply with JLAP's author guidelines, which can
be retrieved from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/621520/
authorinstructions
All manuscripts should be prepared using Elsevier's elsart.cls LaTeX
article class, see http://www.elsevier.com/latex
Submissions are handled using the Elsevier Editorial System and can
be uploaded via the link http://ees.elsevier.com/jlap/
In the submission process, the authors must select the article type
"FMSPLE".

GUEST EDITORS

Maurice ter Beek, ISTI-CNR, Pisa, Italy
Dave Clarke, Uppsala University, Sweden & KU Leuven, Belgium
Ina Schaefer, Technische Universitaet Braunschweig, Germany