About

MODELS is the premier conference series for model-based software and systems engineering. Since 1998, MODELS has covered all aspects of modeling, from languages and methods to tools and applications. MODELS participants originate from a wide variety of backgrounds, including researchers, academics, engineers, and industry professionals.

MODELS 2026 is a forum for participants to share the latest research and practical experiences around modeling, modeling languages, and model-based software and systems engineering. Respective contributions advance the fundamentals of modeling and report applications of modeling in areas such as cyber-physical systems, embedded systems, socio-technical systems, cloud computing, big data, machine learning, security, open source, and sustainability.

Important Dates

All submission dates are at 23:59 AoE (Anywhere on Earth)

• Abstract Submission: March 20, 2026
• Paper Submission: March 27, 2026
• Author responses: May 27–29, 2026
• Author notification: June 17, 2026
• Camera Ready Due: July 31, 2026

Submission deadlines are hard, i.e., there will be no submission deadline extensions.

Topics of Interest

MODELS 2026 solicits submissions on a variety of topics related to modeling for software and systems engineering including, but not limited to:

• Fundamentals of model-based engineering, including the definition of syntax and semantics of modeling languages and model transformation languages.
• New paradigms, formalisms, applications, approaches, frameworks, or processes for model-based engineering such as low-code/no-code development, digital twins, etc.
• Definition, use, and analysis of model-based generative and re-engineering approaches.
• Model-based monitoring, analysis, and adaptation heading towards intelligent systems.
• Development of model-based systems engineering approaches and modeling-in-the-large, including interdisciplinary engineering and coordination.
• Applications of AI, including generative AI, to model-related engineering problems, e.g., approaches based on search, machine learning, large language models (AI for modeling).
• Model-based engineering foundations for AI-based systems (modeling for AI).
• Human, organizational, and user-experience (UX) factors in model-based engineering.
• Tools, meta-tools, and language workbenches for model-based engineering, including model management and scalable model repositories.
• Hybrid multi-modeling approaches, i.e., integration of various modeling languages and their tools.
• Evaluation and comparison of modeling languages, techniques, and tools.
• Quality assurance (analysis, testing, verification, fidelity assessment) for functional and non-functional properties of models and model transformations.
• Collaborative modeling to address team management issues, e.g., browser-based and cloud-enabled collaboration.
• Evolution of modeling languages and related standards.
• Modeling education, e.g., delivery methods and curriculum design.
• Modeling in software engineering, e.g., applications of models to address common software engineering challenges.
• Modeling for specific challenges such as collaboration, scalability, security, interoperability, adaptability, flexibility, maintainability, dependability, reuse, energy efficiency, sustainability, and uncertainty.
• Modeling with, and for, novel systems and paradigms in fields such as security, cyber-physical systems (CPSs), the Internet of Things, cloud computing, DevOps, blockchain technology, data analytics, data science, machine learning, Big Data, systems engineering, socio-technical systems, critical infrastructures and services, robotics, mobile applications, conversational and agentic AI systems, and open-source software.
• Empirical studies on the application of model-based engineering in areas such as smart manufacturing, smart cities, smart enterprises, smart mobility, smart society, etc.

As in previous years, MODELS 2026 offers two tracks for technical papers: the Foundations Track and the Practice Track. A detailed description of these tracks can be found on the Foundations Track and Practice Track pages, respectively.

About

We invite authors to submit high-quality technical papers describing significant, original, and unpublished results. Technical papers should report on innovative research in modeling or model-driven engineering activities. They should describe a novel contribution to the field and carefully demonstrate the novelty by referencing relevant related literature.

Evaluation Criteria

Technical papers will be evaluated based on originality, soundness, relevance, significance, strength of validation, quality of presentation, and quality of related work discussions.

Submissions must clearly and explicitly describe what is novel about their contribution in comparison to prior work. Results must be validated by formal proofs, rigorous demonstrations (e.g., rigorous case studies or simulations), or empirical evaluations (e.g., controlled experiments or surveys). Authors are strongly encouraged to make the artifacts used for the evaluation publicly available, e.g., via a GitHub repository or an alternative that is expected to provide long-term availability. A respective artifact evaluation process is described below.

Artifact Evaluation

Authors of accepted papers will be invited to submit their accompanying artifacts (e.g., software, datasets, and proofs) to the Artifact Evaluation track to be evaluated by the Artifact Evaluation Committee. Participation in the Artifact Evaluation process is optional and does not affect paper acceptance. Submissions that successfully pass the Artifact Evaluation process will be awarded a seal of approval that will be attached to the papers.

Best Papers

Authors of selected conference papers will be invited to submit revised and extended versions for publication in the International Journal on Software and Systems Modeling (SoSyM). MODELS 2026 will furthermore award the very best submissions with “best paper” awards by ACM and Springer.

Submission Process

The submission process for the MODELS 2026 Foundations Track follows a double-anonymous review process in which authors will not be identified to reviewers and reviewers will not be identified to authors. Thus, no submission may reveal the identity of its authors and authors must make every effort to comply with the double-anonymous review process. Please consult the submission information below to prepare your manuscript for the double-anonymous process. Papers must be submitted electronically through the MODELS 2026 EasyChair webpage (link to be announced).

Technical papers must not exceed 10 pages for the main text, including all figures, tables, appendices, etc. Two more pages containing only references are permitted. Note that the page limit applies to the final, non-anonymous version; hence a submitted version cannot exhaust the page limit unless it uses blank space for any author information that was removed.

All submissions must be in PDF format. The page limit is strict; it will not be possible to purchase additional pages at any stage of the process.

A double-anonymous review process will be used for the Foundations Track. Therefore, no submission may reveal the identity of the authors. Authors must make every effort to comply with the double-anonymous review process. In particular:

• Authors’ names must not be mentioned in the submission.
• All references to the author’s previous work should be in the third person.
• While authors have the right to upload preprints on ArXiV or similar sites, they should not indicate that the manuscript was submitted to MODELS 2026.
• If data is made available to the program committee (by uploading supplemental material or a link to a repository), this data must also not reveal the identity of the authors.

Formatting instructions are available at https://www.acm.org/publications/proceedings-template for both LaTeX and Word users. LaTeX users must use the provided acmart.cls and ACM-Reference-Format.bst without modification, enable the conference format in the preamble of the document (i.e., \documentclass[sigconf,review]{acmart}), and use the ACM reference format for the bibliography (i.e., \bibliographystyle{ACM-Reference-Format}). The review option adds line numbers, thereby allowing referees to refer to specific lines in their comments.

By submitting to the MODELS Foundations Track, authors acknowledge that they are aware of and agree to be bound by the ACM Policy and Procedures on Plagiarism. In particular, papers submitted to MODELS 2026 must not have been published elsewhere and must not be under review or submitted for review elsewhere while under consideration for MODELS 2026.

Submissions that do not adhere to the stated page limits or violate the formatting guidelines will be desk-rejected without review. Accepted papers will be published in the conference proceedings published by ACM.

By submitting your article to an ACM Publication, you are hereby acknowledging that you and your co-authors are subject to all ACM Publications Policies, including ACM’s new Publications Policy on Research Involving Human Participants and Subjects. Alleged violations of this policy or any ACM Publications Policy will be investigated by ACM and may result in a full retraction of your paper, in addition to other potential penalties, as per ACM Publications Policy.

Please ensure that you and your co-authors obtain an ORCID ID, so you can complete the publishing process for your accepted paper. ACM has been involved in ORCID from the start and we have recently made a commitment to collect ORCID IDs from all of our published authors. The collection process has started and will roll out as a requirement throughout 2022. We are committed to improve author discoverability, ensure proper attribution and contribute to ongoing community efforts around name normalization; your ORCID ID will help in these efforts.

Important update on ACMs new open access publishing model for 2026 ACM Conferences!

Starting January 1, 2026, ACM will fully transition to Open Access. All ACM publications, including those from ACM-sponsored conferences, will be 100% Open Access. Authors will have two primary options for publishing Open Access articles with ACM: the ACM Open institutional model or by paying Article Processing Charges (APCs). With over 2,600 institutions already part of ACM Open, the majority of ACM-sponsored conference papers will not require APCs from authors or conferences (currently, around 76%).

Authors from institutions not participating in ACM Open will need to pay an APC to publish their papers, unless they qualify for a financial waiver. To find out whether an APC applies to your article, please consult the list of participating institutions in ACM Open and review the https://www.acm.org/publications/policies/policy-on-discretionary-open-access-apc-waivers. Keep in mind that waivers are rare and are granted based on specific criteria set by ACM.

Understanding that this change could present financial challenges, ACM has approved a temporary subsidy for 2026 to ease the transition and allow more time for institutions to join ACM Open. The subsidy will offer:

• $250 APC for ACM/SIG members
• $350 for non-members

This represents a 65% discount. ACM encourages authors to help advocate for their institutions to join ACM Open during this transition period.

This temporary subsidized pricing will apply to all conferences scheduled for 2026.

Please contact the Program Chairs if you have any questions about the submission process.

Author Response Period

MODELS 2026 will offer an author response period for submissions that could potentially benefit from improvements, i.e., have reached a sufficient level of support and may potentially be accepted. In this period, authors may optionally consult the reviews and answer specific questions from the program committee that will inform the subsequent decision-making process.

About

The goal of the Practice Track is to bridge the gap between foundational research in Model-Based Engineering (MBE) and needs in practice. We invite authors to submit original contributions that report on the application of MBE solutions in the industry, the public sector, or open-source environments. Examples include:

• Demonstrations of scalable and cost-effective methodologies and tools.
• Case studies or field reports offering valuable insights.
• Comparisons of competing approaches in real-world scenarios.

Submissions need to communicate the context of the application and the practical importance of the findings. Unlike the application itself, any reported lessons learned or insights gained must be original.

Evaluation Criteria

A paper in the Practice Track will be evaluated primarily on the potential impact of its findings. Specifically:

• The paper must describe the context of the MBE application and what problem it solves/addresses.
• The paper should include a concise explanation of the approaches, techniques, methodologies, and tools used.
• The paper should report on the efficacy of the application, ideally in comparison to alternatives, and/or what new lessons have been learned or insights have been gained.
• Studies that report negative results must include a thorough discussion of the possible causes of the failure and, ideally, provide a perspective on how to address them.

Authors are encouraged to make artifacts publicly available, e.g., via a GitHub repository or an alternative that is expected to provide long-term availability. A respective artifact evaluation process is described below.

Artifact Evaluation

Authors of accepted papers will be invited to submit their accompanying artifacts (e.g., software and datasets) to the Artifact Evaluation track to be evaluated by the Artifact Evaluation Committee. Participation in the Artifact Evaluation process is optional and does not affect paper acceptance. Submissions that successfully pass the Artifact Evaluation process will be awarded a seal of approval that will be attached to the papers.

Best Papers

Authors of selected conference papers will be invited to submit revised and extended versions for publication in the International Journal on Software and Systems Modeling (SoSyM).

MODELS 2026 may furthermore recognize the very best Practice Track submissions with a “best paper” award.

Submission Process

The submission process for the MODELS 2026 Practice Track follows a single-anonymous review process in which author names are identified to reviewers and do not need to be removed from the paper. Please consult the submission information below to prepare your manuscript. Papers must be submitted electronically through the MODELS 2026 EasyChair webpage (link to be announced).

Practice papers must not exceed 10 pages for the main text, including all figures, tables, appendices, etc. Two more pages containing only references are permitted. All submissions must be in PDF format. The page limit is strict; it will not be possible to purchase additional pages at any stage of the process.

Formatting instructions are available at https://www.acm.org/publications/proceedings-template for both LaTeX and Word users. LaTeX users must use the provided acmart.cls and ACM-Reference-Format.bst without modification, enable the conference format in the preamble of the document (i.e., \documentclass[sigconf,review]{acmart}), and use the ACM reference format for the bibliography (i.e., \bibliographystyle{ACM-Reference-Format}). The review option adds line numbers, thereby allowing referees to refer to specific lines in their comments.

By submitting to the MODELS Foundations Track, authors acknowledge that they are aware of and agree to be bound by the ACM Policy and Procedures on Plagiarism. In particular, papers submitted to MODELS 2026 must not have been published elsewhere and must not be under review or submitted for review elsewhere while under consideration for MODELS 2026.

Submissions that do not adhere to the stated page limits or violate the formatting guidelines will be desk-rejected without review. Accepted papers will be published in the conference proceedings published by ACM.

By submitting your article to an ACM Publication, you are hereby acknowledging that you and your co-authors are subject to all ACM Publications Policies, including ACM’s new Publications Policy on Research Involving Human Participants and Subjects. Alleged violations of this policy or any ACM Publications Policy will be investigated by ACM and may result in a full retraction of your paper, in addition to other potential penalties, as per ACM Publications Policy.

Please ensure that you and your co-authors obtain an ORCID ID, so you can complete the publishing process for your accepted paper. ACM has been involved in ORCID from the start and we have recently made a commitment to collect ORCID IDs from all of our published authors. The collection process has started and will roll out as a requirement throughout 2022. We are committed to improve author discoverability, ensure proper attribution and contribute to ongoing community efforts around name normalization; your ORCID ID will help in these efforts.

Important update on ACMs new open access publishing model for 2026 ACM Conferences!

Starting January 1, 2026, ACM will fully transition to Open Access. All ACM publications, including those from ACM-sponsored conferences, will be 100% Open Access. Authors will have two primary options for publishing Open Access articles with ACM: the ACM Open institutional model or by paying Article Processing Charges (APCs). With over 2,600 institutions already part of ACM Open, the majority of ACM-sponsored conference papers will not require APCs from authors or conferences (currently, around 76%).

Authors from institutions not participating in ACM Open will need to pay an APC to publish their papers, unless they qualify for a financial waiver. To find out whether an APC applies to your article, please consult the list of participating institutions in ACM Open and review the https://www.acm.org/publications/policies/policy-on-discretionary-open-access-apc-waivers. Keep in mind that waivers are rare and are granted based on specific criteria set by ACM.

Understanding that this change could present financial challenges, ACM has approved a temporary subsidy for 2026 to ease the transition and allow more time for institutions to join ACM Open. The subsidy will offer:

• $250 APC for ACM/SIG members
• $350 for non-members

This represents a 65% discount. ACM encourages authors to help advocate for their institutions to join ACM Open during this transition period.

This temporary subsidized pricing will apply to all conferences scheduled for 2026.

Please contact the Program Chairs if you have any questions about the submission process.

Author Response Period

MODELS 2026 will offer an author response period for submissions that could potentially benefit from improvements, i.e., have reached a sufficient level of support and may potentially be accepted. In this period, authors may optionally consult the reviews and answer specific questions from the program committee that will inform the subsequent decision-making process.