Call for paper - REFSQ'02

Eighth International Workshop on Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality
In connection with : R E' 0 2
September 09-10th, 2002 Essen Germany

At seven previous REFSQ workshops, researchers and practitioners from various disciplines have contributed to improve the definition and implementation of quality requirements. REFSQ'2002 will continue this tradition as a highly interactive stage for discussion of quality-related problems in RE as they have developed over the last years. In particular, we encourage people from the requirements engineering, software engineering and information systems fields to present their approaches to higher software quality and to discuss how requirements engineering can contribute to it.

This year, REFSQ is organised in connection with the 10th IEEE International Requirements Engineering Conference RE'02.

Extended versions of selected papers from REFSQ'02 will be invited for publication in a special issue of the Information and Software Technology Journal published by Elsevier Science.

G O A L

Achieving high software quality means to realise the needs of users and customers. These needs are elicited, negotiated, documented and validated during requirements engineering (RE). RE is therefore the most crucial phase of software development. The goals of RE are :

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to produce a traceable requirements specification that is as consistent and complete as possible;

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to facilitate a cooperative and iterative learning process;

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to document both the specification and the RE process using appropriate representation formats;

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to establish a sufficient common understanding among the stakeholders involved;

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to establish systematic conections between requirements and actual systems.

Conventional RE methods usually support only parts of this process or help stating only specific kinds of requirements.

The goal of REFSQ is to improve the understanding of the relations between requirements engineering and software quality. More precisely, REFSQ aims at having intensive discussion provoked by brief presentations about :

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solutions to known RE problems and shortcomings;

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innovative research ideas possibly initiating new research directions;

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industrial problem statements; and

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generalisations from individual industrial experiences.

T H E M E S

REFSQ'2002 invites general submissions addressing a wide range of RE issues, such as:

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understanding and improving RE-processes;

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new methods and method engineering for RE;

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empirical evaluation of RE methods and tools;

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empirical studies of industrial RE practice; as well as

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transdisciplinary theories of and paradigms for RE.

In addition, the REFSQ'02 special theme is :

"New ideas and ground-breaking on-going research : RE innovation at the service of Software Quality".

We seek, as is the tradition in REFSQ, for original RE methods, techniques and tools aiming at improved software quality. Possible topics include, without being restricted to :

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novel RE issues raised by emergent technologies such as Internet, Data Mining, etc,

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original or outstanding experiences of RE practice,

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new RE artefacts or paradigms for better software quality,

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RE strategies for creative requirements and software innovation by RE,

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RE strategies for new, emergent or futuristic technologies,

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new cross-disciplinary applications of existing RE strategies or exploration of new RE strategies targeting softawre traditionnaly dealt with by other computer science disciplines, and

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original approaches taken by RE research programmes.

Researchers and practitioners are encouraged to submit papers complying with this special theme. Submitions dealing with the traditional REFSQ topcis are of course welcome.

  P U B L I C A T I O N

Like earlier years, the papers presented at the workshop will be published in the REFSQ'2002 proceedings.

Besides, extended versions of selected papers from REFSQ'2002 will be invited for publication in a special issue of the Information and Software Technology Journal published by Elsevier Science.

  W O R K S H O P   F O R M A T

The workshop will be highly interactive. Attendance is limited to 30 people and all participants should have a paper accepted for the workshop. The workshop language is English.

The accepted papers will be made available electronically to all workshop participants before the workshop, so that presentations can be kept short. Discussants will be appointed for each paper presentation. The discussants will be followed by a plenary discussion of the paper. In addition, there will be a plenary discussion at the end of each session.

At the end of the workshop there will be a general discussion, possibly including a brainstorming session about areas or topics of RE research that the participants perceive as important.

  I N S T R U C T I O N S   F O R   A U T H O R S

To prepare you Camera - Ready papers, please go to <Author's Kit> page.

Presentations and discussions should be prepared according to the REFSQ format.
Instructions are available in the <Presenter's Kit> page.

Papers of three types can be submitted to the workshop:

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Full papers

Full papers should emphasise what is new and significant about the chosen approach and adequately compare it with similar works. Integration of the contributions with mainstream or other research approaches to RE, SE and IS development are especially encouraged.

The maximum length of a full paper camera ready is 12 pages (see <Author's Kit>).

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Position papers

Position papers should state the author's research position with respect to current RE practice, relations between current RE practice and RE research, and/or research methodology and ontological assumptions. Papers should emphasise which topics that are particularly important within RE at present, and why.

The maximum length of a position paper camera ready is 6 pages (see <Author's Kit>).

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Industrial problem statements

People from industry are especially encouraged to submit problem statements, which may address mis-matches between current RE practice and research and/or emerging areas of concern for RE practitioners.

The maximum length of an industrial problem stetement camera ready is 6 pages (see <Author's Kit>).

Send your contribution by e-mail preferably in RTF or DOC format (PDF if no other format can be used) to :

Camille Salinesi - Ben Achour AND Bjorn Regnell

Centre de Recherche en Informatique

Bur. C1405

University Paris 1 - Sorbonne

90, rue de Tolbiac

75013 Paris - FRANCE

Phone : +33 (0)1 44 07 88 94

or : +33 (0)1 44 07 86 34

or : +33 (0)1 44 07 86 04

Fax : +33 (0)1 44 07 89 54

Please do not submit a hard copy, because the accepted papers will be distributed electronically to the reviewers and to the other participants before the workshop.

I M P O R T A N T D A T E S

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Submission deadline (extended) : April, 30th, 2002

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Notification of acceptance

& preliminary programme : June, 17th, 2002

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Camera ready paper due : July, 5th, 2002

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REFSQ'2002 workshop : September, 9-10th, 2002

  P R O G R A M   C O - C H A I R S

Camille Salinesi - Ben Achour,
University of Paris 1 - Sorbonne, France

Björn Regnell,
Lund University, Sweden

  A D V I S O R Y   B O A R D

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Klaus Pohl

University of Essen, Germany

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Andreas Opdahl

University of Bergen, Norway

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Eric Dubois

CRP Henri Tudor, Luxembourg

P R O G R A M C O M M I T T E E

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Aybüke Aurum