RENE / NIERSSBSE 2023

RENE - Replications and Negative Results

This track provides a venue for researchers to submit (i) replications of all types of empirical studies related to Search-Based Software Engineering, and (ii) original works reporting negative results on any of the topics of interest for the SSBSE conference (see the main Research track).

NIER - New Ideas and Emerging Results

The New Ideas and Emerging Results Track at SSBSE 2023 is a forum to present and get feedback on forward-looking, innovative ideas in the Search-Based Software Engineering (SBSE) field. This forum provides an opportunity for researchers to present and gather feedback on groundbreaking results, tools under development, experience reports, or position papers. The track provides an opportunity for researchers to introduce ideas that challenge the status-quo in the SBSE community, start a discussion, and receive feedback on new research ideas or results in an early stage of investigation. Early career researchers and Ph.D. students are particularly encouraged to present inspiring research efforts that push the boundaries of SBSE.

Accepted Papers

Call for Papers

NIER Track - New Ideas and Emerging Results

The New Ideas and Emerging Results Track is a forum to present and get feedback on forward-looking, innovative ideas in the Search-Based Software Engineering field. This forum provides an opportunity for researchers to present and gather feedback on groundbreaking results, tools under development, experience reports, or position papers. The track provides an opportunity for researchers to introduce ideas that challenge the status-quo in the SBSE community, start a discussion, and receive feedback on new research ideas or results in an early stage of investigation. Early career researchers and Ph.D. students are particularly encouraged to present inspiring research efforts that push the boundaries of SBSE. However, researchers at all levels are invited to submit.

You are encouraged to submit your work that provides:

• Innovative results that may open new research directions in SBSE;
• New ideas that can be further explored by emerging SBSE community;
• Perspectives that call into question long held beliefs or conventions;
• Visions of new directions in SBSE; and,
• Novel interdisciplinary synergies.

Papers submitted to the NIER Track should address the following questions:

• Why is the problem worth exploring?
• What is the potential for disruption of current practice?
• What makes the approach original?
• Is the proposed approach sound and feasible?
• Has the relevant literature been covered?

RENE Track - Replications and Negative Results

The Replications and Negative Results Track provides a venue for researchers to submit replications of all types of empirical studies related to Search-Based Software Engineering, and original works reporting negative results on any of the topics of interest for the research track of the SSBSE conference.

Replications: Replications can either strengthen the results of the original study by increasing external validity with additional data or provide new insights into the variables that may impact the results. Papers can report replications of the author’s own work or replications of another researcher’s work. If the experiments have been replicated and reproduced either partially or fully, the RENE track is the right venue to submit your findings.

Replication papers should describe any changes to the original study design made during the replication, along with a justification for each change. The papers should contain a discussion section that compares the findings of the original and replication studies and describe the new knowledge gained and lessons learned from the replication. Partial replications are also welcome as long as the paper clearly states which parts of the study were replicated and which parts are new. When possible, i.e., when not dealing with proprietary artifacts, papers should provide links to the artifacts that they are reusing and to the artifacts built in their work to allow verifiability.

Negative Results: We also welcome negative results papers as we believe they are important contributions to scientific knowledge because they allow us to constantly evaluate our hypothesis space and understanding of the current approaches. We welcome all types of empirical studies (controlled experiments, case studies, etc.) and all types of analyses (quantitative and qualitative) that show negative results. Papers must provide details and rationale for the type of analysis performed to show the validity of the chosen path. Of particular importance is the discussion of the implications of the results on the SSBSE community and of the future directions that should be considered.

Format and Submission

• Submissions for the NIER Track should not exceed 6 pages in length, including all text, figures, appendices and references.
• Submissions for the RENE Track can be either full papers (15 pages in length, including everything) or short papers (6 pages in length, including everything). Full papers are expected to describe a fully or partially replicated study or an original study reporting negative results. Short papers can report on work in progress or preliminary experimental designs with the intention of running the full study in the near future.

We suggest that authors follow the ACM SIGSOFT standard for optimization studies in SE (direct link to standard) in developing their methodology and submissions. Following these guidelines will improve the quality, trustworthiness, and reproducibility of your research.

All papers should be prepared for double-anonymous review following the symposium’s general instructions. Please, refer to the “Format and submission” section of the Research Track for further details.

Papers must not have been previously published, or be in consideration for any journal, book, or other conferences. Papers will be evaluated by members of the program committee of each track based on their originality, technical soundness, and presentation quality. Submissions must conform to Springer’s LNCS format (http://www.springer.com/lncs). If a paper is accepted, at least one author is expected to attend the symposium and present the paper. In the case of a student paper, the first (student) author is expected to attend and present the paper. All accepted papers will be published in the conference proceedings.

Papers can be submitted at https://ssbse23rene-nier.hotcrp.com/.

Special Issue for Best Papers

Following the conference, the authors of the best manuscripts in the RENE sub-track will be invited to extend their papers for a special section on Advances in Search-Based Software Engineering at the Automated Software Engineering journal. Details may be found at https://ause-journal.github.io/23ssbse.html.