[fg-arc] First Call for Papers: 15th ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Software Language Engineering (SLE 2022)

[Andrei Chis]

------------------------------------------------------------------------
15th ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Software Language Engineering (SLE 2022)
December 5-10, 2022 
Auckland, New Zealand


https://conf.researchr.org/home/sle-2022
http://www.sleconf.org/2022
Follow us on twitter: https://twitter.com/sleconf
------------------------------------------------------------------------

We are pleased to invite you to submit papers to the 15th ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Software Language Engineering (SLE 2022), held in conjunction with SPLASH, GPCE and SAS 2022. Based on the future developments the conference will be hosted in Auckland, New Zealand on December 5-10, 2022.


---------------------------
Topics of Interest
---------------------------

SLE covers software language engineering rather than engineering a specific software language. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

- Software Language Design and Implementation
	- Approaches to and methods for language design
	- Static semantics (e.g. design rules, well-formedness constraints)
	- Techniques for specifying behavioral / executable semantics
	- Generative approaches (incl. code synthesis, compilation)
	- Meta-languages, meta-tools, language workbenches
- Software Language Validation
	- Verification and formal methods for languages
	- Testing techniques for languages
	- Simulation techniques for languages
- Software Language Integration and Composition
	- Coordination of heterogeneous languages and tools
	- Mappings between languages (incl. transformation languages)
	- Traceability between languages
	- Deployment of languages to different platforms
- Software Language Maintenance
	- Software language reuse
	- Language evolution
	- Language families and variability, language and software product lines 
- Domain-specific approaches for any aspects of SLE (design, implementation, validation, maintenance)
- Empirical evaluation and experience reports of language engineering tools
	- User studies evaluating usability
	- Performance benchmarks
	- Industrial applications
- "Synergies between Language Engineering and emerging/promising research areas"
	- AI and ML language engineering (e.g., ML compiler testing, code classification) Quantum language engineering (e.g., language design for quantum machines)
	- Language engineering for physical systems (e.g., CPS, IoT, digital twins)
	- Socio-technical systems and language engineering (e.g., language evolution to adapt to social requirements)
	- Etc.

---------------------------
Types of Submissions
---------------------------

SLE accepts the following types of papers:

- **Research papers**: These are "traditional" papers detailing research contributions to SLE. Papers may range from 6 to 12 pages in length, and may optionally include 2 further pages of bibliography/appendices. Papers will be reviewed with an understanding that some results do not need 12 full pages and may be fully described in fewer pages.

- **New ideas / vision papers**: These are papers that may describe new, unconventional software language engineering research positions or approaches that depart from standard practice. They can describe well-defined research ideas that are at an early stage of investigation. They could also provide new evidence to challenge common wisdom, present new unifying theories about existing SLE research that provides novel insight or that can lead to the development of new technologies or approaches, or apply SLE technology to radically new application areas. New ideas / vision papers must not exceed 5 pages, and may optionally include 1 further page of bibliography / appendices.

- **SLE Body of Knowledge**: The SLE Body of Knowledge (SLEBoK) is a community-wide effort to provide a unique and comprehensive description of the concepts, best practices, tools and methods developed by the SLE community. To this respect, the SLE conference will accept surveys, essays, open challenges, empirical observations and case study papers on the SLE topics. These can focus on but they are not limited to methods, techniques, best practices and teaching approaches. Papers in this category can have up to 20 pages, including bibliography/appendices.

- **Tool papers**: These are papers which focus on the tooling aspects which are often forgotten or neglected in research papers. A good tool paper focuses on practical insights that are likely to be useful to other implementers or users in the future. Any of the SLE topics of interest are appropriate areas for tool demonstrations. Submissions must not exceed 5 pages and may optionally include 1 further page of bibliography / appendices. They may optionally come with an appendix with a demo outline / screenshots and/or a short video/screencast illustrating the tool.

**Workshops**: Workshops will be organized by SPLASH. Please inform us and contact the SPLASH organizers if you would like to organize a workshop of interest to the SLE audience. Information on how to submit workshops can be found at the SPLASH 2022 Website.

---------------------------
Two submission rounds
---------------------------

For the first time, SLE is introducing a two-phase submission and review process. This will give authors submitting to the first round an extra opportunity to improve their work (if needed) based on the comments and feedback by the reviewers. Furthermore, this will increase the quality of SLE accepted papers.

Manuscripts can be submitted to any of the two submission rounds.

Decisions on the papers submitted to the **first round** will be: accept, reject or re-submit revised version. While rejected papers must not, revised versions may be submitted to the second round, with an accompanying response letter to the reviewers stating the changes made and how the authors addressed the reviewers’ criticisms. Re-submissions will be reviewed by the same reviewers.

Decisions on fresh papers submitted to the **second round** will be: accept or reject. The authors of those papers that are likely to be rejected but have at least one reviewer who is championing it will have the chance to respond to the reviewers before the final decision is made.

---------------------------
Important Dates
---------------------------

All dates are Anywhere on Earth.

* 1st round submissions
	* Abstract submissions: April 6, 2022
	* Paper submissions: April 13, 2022
	* Notification: May 13, 2022
* 2nd round submissions
	* Abstract submissions: July 8, 2022 (tentative)
	* Paper submissions: July 15, 2022 (tentative)
	* Review notification: September 7, 2022 (tentative)
	* Author response period: September 12, 2022 (tentative)
	* Notification: September 19, 2022 (tentative)
* Artifact submissions: September 26, 2022 (tentative)
* Artifact kick-the-tires Author response: October 10, 2022 (tentative)
* Artifact notification: October 24, 2022 (tentative)
* Camera-ready (for both rounds): November 4, 2022 (tentative)
* Conference: December 5-10, 2022 (TENTATIVE)


**COVID-19 Disclaimer**

Due to the uncertainties related to the current COVID-19 pandemic, the second round submission deadlines, the artifact evaluation deadlines, the camera-ready deadline and the conference dates are still *preliminary* and will be closed in the next few weeks.


---------------------------
Format
---------------------------

Submissions have to use the ACM SIGPLAN Conference Format "acmart"(http://sigplan.org/Resources/Author/#acmart-format); please make sure that you always use the latest ACM SIGPLAN acmart LaTeX template(https://www.acm.org/binaries/content/assets/publications/consolidated-tex-template/acmart-master.zip), and that the document class definition is `\documentclass[sigplan,anonymous,review]{acmart}`. Do not make any changes to this format!

Ensure that your submission is legible when printed on a black and white printer. In particular, please check that colors remain distinct and font sizes in figures and tables are legible.

To increase fairness in reviewing, a double-blind review process has become standard across SIGPLAN conferences. In this line, SLE will follow the double-blind process. Author names and institutions should be omitted from submitted papers, and references to the authors’ own related work should be in the third person. No other changes are necessary, and authors will not be penalized if reviewers are able to infer their identities in implicit ways.

All submissions must be in PDF format. The submission website is: https://sle22.hotcrp.com


---------------------------
Concurrent Submissions
---------------------------

Papers must describe unpublished work that is not currently submitted for publication elsewhere as described by SIGPLAN’s Republication Policy (http://www.sigplan.org/Resources/Policies/Republication). Submitters should also be aware of ACM’s Policy and Procedures on Plagiarism (http://www.acm.org/publications/policies/plagiarism_policy). Submissions that violate these policies will be desk-rejected.


---------------------------
Policy on Human Participant and Subject Research
---------------------------

Authors conducting research involving human participants and subjects must ensure that their research comply with their local governing laws and regulations and the ACM’s general principles as stated in the ACM’s Publications Policy on Research Involving Human Participants and Subjects (https://www.acm.org/publications/policies/research-involving-human-participants-and-subjects). Submissions that violate this policy will be rejected.


---------------------------
Reviewing Process
---------------------------

All submitted papers will be reviewed by at least three members of the program committee. Research papers and tool papers will be evaluated concerning novelty, correctness, significance, readability, and alignment with the conference call. New ideas/vision papers will be evaluated primarily concerning novelty, significance, readability, and alignment with the conference call. SLEBoK papers will be reviewed on their significance, readability, topicality and capacity of presenting/evaluating/demonstrating a piece of BoK about SLE.

For fairness reasons, all submitted papers must conform to the above instructions. Submissions that violate these instructions may be rejected without review, at the discretion of the PC chairs.

After each review round, authors will get a chance to respond before a final decision is made.

---------------------------
Artifact Evaluation
---------------------------

For the seventh year, SLE will use an evaluation process for assessing the quality of the artifacts on which papers are based to foster the culture of experimental reproducibility. Authors of accepted research papers are invited to submit artifacts. For more information, please have a look at the Artifact Evaluation (http://www.sleconf.org/2022/ArtifactEvaluation.html) page. 

---------------------------
Special Issue
---------------------------

A special issue on the conference topic in a high-impact journal is under negotiation.

---------------------------
Awards
---------------------------

- **Distinguished paper**: Award for most notable paper, as determined by the PC chairs based on the recommendations of the programme committee.
- **Distinguished artifact**: Award for the artifact most significantly exceeding expectations, as determined by the AEC chairs based on the recommendations of the artifact evaluation committee.

---------------------------
Publication
---------------------------

All accepted papers will be published in the ACM Digital Library.

**AUTHORS TAKE NOTE**: The official publication date is the date the proceedings are made available in the ACM Digital Library. This date may be up to two weeks prior to the first day of the conference. The official publication date affects the deadline for any patent filings related to published work.

---------------------------
SLE and Doctoral Students
---------------------------

SLE encourages students to submit to the SPLASH doctoral symposium. Authors of accepted papers will have the chance to present their work to the SLE audience, too.

---------------------------
Organisation
---------------------------

Chairs:

* General chair: Bernd Fischer, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
* PC co-chair: Lola Burgueño, Open University of Catalonia, Spain
* PC co-chair: Walter Cazzola, Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy
* Artefact Evaluation co-chair: Thomas Kühn, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany
* Artefact Evaluation co-chair: Juliana A. Pereira, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil


Program committee:

Shaukat Ali, Simula Research Laboratory, Norway
Arvid Butting, Aachen University, Germany
Marsha Chechik, University of Toronto, Canada
Shigeru Chiba, University of Tokyo, Japan
Benoît Combemale, University of Rennes, France
Zhenjiang Hu, Peking University, China
Jörg Kienzle, McGill University, Canada
Dimitris Kolovos, University of York, UK
Thomas Kühn, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany
Juan de Lara, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain
Stefan Marr, University of Kent, UK
Marjan Mernik, University of Maribor, Slovenia
Natsuko Noda, Shibaura Institute of Technology, Japan
Juliana A. Pereira, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Elizabeth Scott, University of London, UK
Marco Servetto, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
Emma Söderberg, Lund University, Sweden
Walid Taha, Halmstad University , Sweden
Marco Tullio Valente, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil
Erik Van Wyk, University of Minnesota , USA
Alfonso de la Vega, University of Cantabria, Spain
Ran Wei, Dalian University of Technology, China
Andreas Wortmann, Stuttgart University, Germany
Vadim Zaytsev, University of Twente, Netherlands
Steffen Zschaler, King’s College London, UK

---------------------------
Contact
---------------------------

For additional information, clarification, or answers to questions, please contact the Programme Chairs (Lola Burgueño and Walter Cazzola) at sle22-chairs _at_ di.unimi.it.