-- Apologies if you receive this message more than once. -- **** Call for Papers *** Software and Systems Modeling theme issue on MODELS AND EVOLUTION -- www.modse.fr Editors: Dalila Tamzalit, Dalila.Tamzalit@univ-nantes.fr LINA, University of Nantes, France Dirk Deridder, dirk.deridder@vub.ac.be Software Languages Lab, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium. Bernhard Schätz, schaetz@fortiss.org fortiss GmbH, Germany. Alfonso Pierantonio, alfonso.pierantonio@univaq.it University of L’Aquila, Italy Editors-in-Chief Robert France , Colorado State University Bernhard Rumpe, RWTH Aachen University Important Dates : 10th January 2011: submission intent. 15th March 2011: submission deadline 9th May, 2011: initial notification 30th August 2011: second round notification 15th October: final notification. Important information: If a paper is accepted during the review process, authors are notified and the paper will appear online first within 4-6 weeks and can be cited from that point on. At the end of the review process, all accepted papers will be published in the printed issue. About the journal: Software and System Modeling (SoSyM) is a quarterly international journal that focuses on theoretical and practical issues pertaining to the development and application of software and system modeling languages and techniques. The aim of the journal is to publish high-quality works that further understanding of the theoretical underpinnings of modelling languages and techniques, present rigorous analyses of modelling experiences, and present scalable modelling techniques and processes that facilitate rigorous and economical development of software. SoSyM publishes also theme issues. A theme issue contains scientific papers that all focus on a highly-relevant and important topic in the area of software and system modeling. Presentation: Software artifacts and applications increase in complexity, making their evolution a high-risk activity. Encountered changes range from technical changes (due to rapidly evolving technology platforms) to modifications in the applications themselves (due to the natural evolution of the businesses supported by those soft-ware applications), leading to an increasing need for disciplined techniques and engineering tools to support a wide range of evolution activities. Models represent the cornerstone of complex software systems abstraction. As such, they also represent a powerful mean to manage software systems evolution. Indeed, they can help and guide software evolution and can en-force and reduce critical risks and important resources (e.g., costs, personnel, time) involved in software evolution, by employing high-level abstractions. Objectives: The different dimensions of evolution make the problem intrinsically difficult because modifications can reflect coherent adaptations of correlated artifacts at several layers of the meta-modelling architecture. This outlines an increasing need for more disciplined techniques and engineering tools to support a wide range of model evolution activities, including but not limited to model-driven software evolution, model differencing, model comparison, model refactoring, model inconsistency management, model versioning and merging, and (co-) evolution of metamodels, models, transformations, and tools. However, there is a substantial difference between modelling evolution and evolution of models. In this special issue, two main sides are considered for managing software evolution at a high-abstraction level: - Managing software evolution at the modelling level: models can be very useful to manage software evolution. The objective is to enforce and reduce critical risks and important costs involved in software evolution, by employing high-level abstractions and by considering several facets. - Managing the evolution of software models: models encounter also evolution needs. Thus, model (co-)evolution and consistency management become crucial activities to cope with the natural changes of any software system. These two sides address changes at all levels, from requirements through architecture and design, to source code, documentation and test suites. They typically affect various kinds of models including data models, behavioural models, domain models, source code models or goal models. Contributions: Following the successful workshop on Models and Evolution (www.modse.fr) a theme issue of the Software and System Modeling (SoSyM) journal (http://www.sosym.org) has been scheduled. High quality papers are sought on the topic of "Models and Evolution". Authors of papers presented at the workshop are invited to submit revised versions of their accepted papers. Topics: Possible types of contributions include but are not limited to: - Formalisms, theories, formal approaches, methods and languages for expressing and understanding model-driven software evolution. - (Co-)evolution and (co-)adaptation of models, meta-models and modeling languages; classification of (co-) evolution scenarios. - Coordination and interoperability of models, meta-models. - Supporting processes and tools for managing model-driven evolution. - Transformation techniques for evolving models: restructuring, refactoring, migration, translation. - Traceability, verification/validation of evolving models and transformations. - Runtime models and consistency validation; (in)consistency management. - Conformance checking, inconsistency management, synchronization, differencing, comparison, versioning, impact analysis of evolving models. - Analysis of model maintainability. - Development and maintenance processes for model consistency management. - Empirical studies. - Industrial needs, case-studies and experiences. General author information: - Submitted papers must be written in a scientifically rigorous manner with adequate references to related work. Submitted papers must not be simultaneously submitted in an extended form or in a shortened form to other journals or conferences. It is however possible to submit extended versions of previously published work if less than 75% of the content already appeared in a non-journal publication, or less than 40% in a journal publication. Authors can refer to the SoSyM Policy Statement on Plagiarism (http://www.sosym.org/submission/#plagiarismstatement) - Submitted papers should be prepared using font "Times New Roman" with a 11 pt font size and with 1.5 line spacing. Please consult the SoSyM author information for submitting papers (http://www.sosym.org/submission). - Submitted papers do not need to adhere to a particular format or page limit, but should be prepared using font "Times New Roman" with a font size no smaller than 11 pt, and with 1.5 line spacing. Please consult the SoSyM author information for submitting papers. - Each paper will be reviewed by at least three reviewers. Making a submission: - Communicate your intent to submit a paper by emailing the theme issue editors the following information before the Intent to Submit deadline: Title, Authors, and an Abstract. - Prepare your submission with either Word or LaTeX using Word and LaTeX templates. Possible submission formats are: - Word (.doc, without macros) - Rich Text Format (.rtf) - PostScript (.ps, special fonts must be embedded) - PDF (saved as readable in version 5.0 or earlier) - Submit your work using the online submission system manuscript central. Please select "Special Section Paper" as Manuscript type and mention the theme issue in your cover letter during the submission process. ___________________________________________________ If you have any questions or require additional information about this theme issue, please contact the editors.