Fourth International Conference on Software Testing, Verification and Validation

(pdf version)

The IEEE International Conference on Software Testing, Verification and Validation (ICST) is the premier conference in all areas related to software quality. Software systems present unique engineering challenges to the tester, not least because they can exhibit non-determinism and emergent behaviour. No other engineering artefact is more closely intertwined with the human activity, resulting in complex hybrid systems that involve software, human judgement and, sometimes, political, legal and social processes.

As a result, software verification&validation including testing, inspections, model analysis, safety certification, etc. draws upon a wide spectrum of disciplines, including engineering, mathematics and also psychology. It touches on all aspects of computer science and Software Engineering research and impacts on almost every software practitioner. ICST seeks to meet these problems by bringing together researchers and practitioners for a conference that includes all aspects of software testing, as it is most widely construed.

ICST welcomes research papers as well as industrial experience reports from software development and testing practitioners. For the research papers, ICST seeks high quality original work. For the industrial papers ICST seeks papers that present real world experience from which others can benefit.

Authors of best papers from the conference will be invited to submit extended versions of their papers for a special issue of Software Testing, Verification, and Reliability, a Wiley journal.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
• Software testing theory and practice
• Model-based testing
• Domain specific testing including, but not limited to, security testing, web services testing, database testing, embedded software testing, and OO software testing
• Verification & validation
• Quality assurance
• Model checking
• Empirical studies
• Metrics
• Fuzz testing
• Inspections
• Tools
• Testability and diagnosability
• Design for testability
• Testing education
• Testing in multidisciplinary applications
• Technology transfer
• Model-driven engineering and testing
• Agile/iterative/incremental testing processes
• Open source software/3rd party software testing
• Novel approaches to software reliability assessment

Research Track

We invite submission of research and technical papers that describe original and significant work in the research and practice of software testing, verification and validation. Case studies and empirical research are welcome. Papers must not have been previously accepted for publication nor submitted in another conference or journal. The ICST 2011 research track accepts only full research papers. Short contributions (short papers) will not be accepted.
Research papers must conform to the two-column IEEE conference publication format (http://www.computer.org/portal/web/cscps/formatting), must be submitted in pdf format and must not exceed 10 pages.
Submissions will be handled via EasyChair at
http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=icst2011

Industry Track

ICST 2011 welcomes papers and experience reports from software development and testing practitioners. Industrial software testing, verification, and validation pose additional challenges that must be taken into account when setting up new processes and tools successfully such as: the complexity of the system to be developed; evolving software, legacy code; integration of third-party components; requirements from a certification process; version management; product line engineering; agile development processes; distribution of teams and others.
We are looking for papers that crisply address new achievements and advances in practical software testing and quality improvement, present empirical results, or report on open problems or challenges that arise from an industrial context. All industrial papers should discuss broader implications and usage of the specific topic.
There are two paper formats: full length (ten pages) and short(four pages). Full length papers should present significant achievements and advances in industrial software testing, verification, or validation. Papers with metrics that quantify effects on time, cost, and quality are preferred. Short papers should concentrate on experience reports or discuss open problems or challenges. All contributions will receive a full program committee peer review. Accepted and presented contributions will be part of the published conference proceedings. The evaluation criteria for industry papers are based less on the originality of the technical contribution, and more on its relevance for practice soundness of the presented results, and implications for research.
Industry papers must conform to the two-column IEEE conference publication format (http://www.computer.org/portal/web/cscps/formatting), must be submitted in pdf format and must not exceed 10 or 4 pages, respectively.
Submission will be handled via EasyChair at
http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=icst2011industry .

Important dates

Papers (both research and industry tracks)
Submission of abstracts: September 25, 2010
Submission of full papers: October 1, 2010
Date of conference: March 21-25, 2011

Ph. D. Symposium    
Submission of abstracts: September 25, 2010
Submission of full papers: October 1, 2010
Date of conference: March 21-25, 2011
Submission will be handled via EasyChair at
http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=icst2011phd.

Workshops
Submission of proposals: September 3, 2010