Software Architecture in PracticeICSA 2025

Call for Papers

The ICSA Software Architecture in Practice (SAIP) track is a forum that provides researchers and practitioners a platform to discuss insights, innovations, solutions and experiences related to the application of software architecture to real-world software engineering problems.

Everyone is welcome to submit a paper, and we especially encourage contributions with authors with industrial affiliations, e.g., in cooperation with authors with academic affiliations.

Topics

We welcome submissions covering any topic that is relevant for software architecture in practice including, but not limited to:

• Architecture design and analysis methods and tools
• Architecture knowledge management
• Interplay of software architecture and AI
• Software architecture approaches for AI-based systems
• Software architecture design for sustainable systems
• Practical methods for managing architectural debt and ensuring software architecture quality
• Effective software architecture documentation methods
• Use of architecture to realize quality attributes (performance, interoperability, maintainability, security, etc.)
• Cloud and serverless architectures
• Architecture considerations for containerized systems
• Experiences interrelating architecture and development processes
• Experiences highlighting role of software architecture in addressing business goals
• Software architecture tools and techniques for recovery and analysis
• Microservices architectures
• Architecture and Continuous Engineering practices, e.g. CI/CD, DevOps
• Evolutionary architecture
• The architect role on software products (long-lived) vs. software projects (often relatively short-lived)
• Cooperation between software architects and other roles in software projects
• Practical Domain Driven Design (examples, cases)
• Balancing architectural decisions and business needs
• Analyzing and communicating consequences of architectural decisions (money, the environment)

Important Dates

Paper Submission: December 20th, 2024
Notification of Acceptance: January 20th, 2025
Camera-ready Submission: January 27th, 2025

Types of Submissions

We solicit the following types of submissions:

SW Architecture in Practice papers (4–8 pages): Address real-world software architecture challenges through systematic investigations. Papers should describe industry-relevant experiences and best practices, in which concrete challenges from the practice are analyzed and their associated novel architecture solution concepts solutions are described. Application of new ideas in industry and government settings with a thorough discussion of results and lessons learned are welcomed. Empirical analyses of software architecture issues may help both practitioners and researchers. The evaluation criteria for submissions include potential impact, repeatability, and real-world focus. All papers accepted in this track will be published in the companion proceedings. The authors have a possibility to consider two additional pages for references (maximum 8 +2 pages).

Technical talk proposals (2 pages): Feature current trends in the industry on the practice of software architecture presenting ideas that are both inspirational and informative. Proposals should make clear why the talk is interesting to ICSA SAIP attendees. The duration of accepted talks is 30 minutes. Extended abstracts of the accepted talks will appear in the ICSA Companion proceedings.

Guidelines for the Submission

Papers and technical talk proposals for the SAIP must be based on a strong connection to the industrial context, and adhere to the following guidelines:

Problem Context and Industry Impact: The context of the problem should be clearly described, emphasizing why a practical solution is important to the industry. It is necessary to identify who has been impacted, the duration of the impact, the novelty of the problem, and the triggers causing it.

Related Work: Prior work should be identified. A systematic literature review is not required, but it is important to clarify whether previously published ideas, either one’s own or from other sources, are being applied. This related work should be properly cited.

Approach, Implementation, and Results: A clear explanation of the actions taken and the results achieved should be provided. The environment and problem under investigation must be outlined, including how solutions were developed and applied. Results, impact, and lessons learned should be shared, along with concise descriptions and rationales for the decisions made.

Data-Driven Findings and Insights: Findings should be supported by data, avoiding reliance on personal opinions or conjecture. Since industry track papers may not always involve controlled data gathering, available data should be utilized, and inputs from those involved in the process should be incorporated.

Innovation, Significance, and Industry Relevance: The innovative, significant, and useful aspects of the contribution should be highlighted. To explain what is new, the results should be compared with relevant alternatives. If the findings are negative, a thorough discussion of potential causes of failure and possible solutions should be included.

Please note that the ICSA SAIP track does not apply double-blind review.

The guidelines are heavily inspired by similar guidelines for the RE conferences and we thank the RE organizers for allowing us to reuse their descriptions.

EasyChair submission system

Software Architecture in Practice Track Chairs

Jens Bæk Jørgensen, Mjølner Informatics
Pablo Oliveira Antonino, Fraunhofer IESE