[ecoop-info] Variability in Software Architecture - Special Issue: Journal of Systems and Software

[Matthias Galster]

CALL FOR PAPERS

Special Issue on Variability in Software Architecture - Journal of Systems
and Software

http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-systems-and-software/call-for-pa
pers/special-issue-on-variability-in-software-architecture/

Variability is the ability of a software system or artifact to be adapted
for specific contexts in a preplanned manner. Many of today's software
systems are built with variability in mind, e.g., product lines,
self-adaptive systems, or open platforms. As the software architecture is a
reference point for all development activities and for achieving quality
attributes, variability should be treated as a first-class and cross-cutting
concern in software architecture. Even though many systems are subject to
variability, variability has mainly been researched in product line
architectures, rather than as a concept that affects and is affected by
software architecture in general. Product line architectures assume the
existence of a product line infrastructure, including related processes.
This is rarely the case for many software systems that support variability.
The aim of this special issue is to explore variability in software
architecture beyond (but not excluding) product lines by providing an
overview of the state- of-the art in variability in software architecture
and to outline the challenges for future research.

We invite submissions on all aspects of variability in software
architecture, including novel and high-quality research related to handling
(i.e., identifying, reasoning about, representing, implementing, evolving
and managing) variability. All submissions should consider the practical
application of the idea through case studies, experiments, empirical
validation, or systematic comparisons with other approaches already in
practice. Topics of interest include, but are not limited, to:
- Variability in software architecture as a cross-cutting concern beyond
product line architectures.
- Architecture viewpoints and views to handle variability.
- The role of variability in architecture knowledge and design decisions.
- Reference architectures for variability-intensive systems.
- Architecture patterns, styles and tactics for variability.
- Consistency, traceability and evolution in the context of variability in
software architecture.
- Handling variability from requirements to architectures and throughout the
software life cycle.
- Variability in self-adaptive systems and architectures.
- Variability in the architecture of dynamic software product lines.
- Variability in the architecture of large-scale systems and software
eco-systems.
- Variability in unprecedented systems, in emerging architecture paradigms
(e.g., SOA, REST), and in new and critical domains.
- Variability and quality attributes.
- Design time and runtime variability in software architecture.
- Industrial experiences, best practices, lessons learned, etc. from
handling variability in software architecture in specific domains.
- Systematic literature reviews or surveys on topics related to handling
variability in software architecture.

Dates

Abstract (email to guest editors, mandatory): October 15, 2012
Deadline for submissions: October 31, 2012
Final notification: March 1, 2013
Publication of issue: Last quarter of 2013

Guest editors

Matthias Galster, mgalster at ieee.org, University of Groningen, The
Netherlands
Paris Avgeriou, paris at cs.rug.nl, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Danny Weyns, danny.weyns at lnu.se, Linnaeus University, Sweden
Tomi Männistö, tomi.mannisto at aalto.fi, Aalto University, Finland

Submission information

All manuscripts and any supplementary material should be submitted through
the Elsevier Editorial System at www.elsevier.com/locate/jss/. Follow the
submission instructions given on this site. Please select the article type
as "Special Issue: Variability in SW Arch". Abstracts should be emailed to
the guest editors before the full manuscript submission deadline. All
manuscripts should be compliant with the journal's submission guidelines for
special issues. Author guidelines are located at
www.elsevier.com/locate/jss/. Manuscripts must not have been published
previously or be currently under consideration for publication in any other
journal or conference. Significant extensions to substantive papers
published in conferences are also welcome, provided that the editors are
made aware of the previous publication. Please do not hesitate to contact
the guest-editors if you have doubts whether your topic is within the scope
of this special issue.