The 28th IEEE International Requirements Engineering Conference (RE’20) is the premier requirements engineering conference, where researchers, practitioners, students, and educators meet, present and discuss the most recent innovations, trends, experiences and issues in the field of requirements engineering (RE).

The RE’20 theme is requirements engineering for a digital world, which involves both classic and contemporary problems. An example of a classic problem is to specify digital systems that must satisfy requirements in the real world. Examples of contemporary problems are mining requirements from user feedback, intertwining requirements with digital design in innovative products, and how to specify and validate requirements for intelligent and self-learning systems. The challenges also include general problems during the transition toward a digital world such as managing uncertainty, establishing transparency and maintaining trust. The RE’20 Research Track invites original submissions of research papers in the categories described below.

Categories for Research Papers

Technical solution papers present solutions for requirements-related problems that are novel or significantly improve on existing solutions. This includes new algorithms or mathematical theory, novel tools, modeling languages, infrastructures or other technologies; and requirements elicitation, prioritization or analysis methods. These papers are mainly evaluated with regard to problem relevance and motivation, novelty and comparison to existing work, clarity of presentation, technical soundness, and evidence for its benefits.

Scientific evaluation papers evaluate existing problem situations or evaluate real-world artifacts or validate/refute proposed solutions by scientific means. This includes experiments, case studies, and surveys reporting qualitative or quantitative data and findings. The papers are mainly evaluated with regard to the soundness of research questions and appropriateness/correctness of study design, data analysis, and threats to validity. Replications are welcome. For papers reporting on the application of some solutions, lessons learned are particularly important.

Perspective papers explore the history, successes, and challenges of requirements related practices and research agendas, and outline research roadmaps for the future. Literature reviews are also included in this category and must distill novel knowledge, present new insights and not be merely compilative. These papers are evaluated based on the insights they offer to the reader and the corresponding arguments, and on their potential to shape future research.

Topics of Interest

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • Requirements elicitation, prioritization, and negotiation
  • Design thinking and open innovation
  • Innovation through creativity
  • Crowdsourcing and social media
  • Social, cultural, and cognitive factors
  • User feedback and usage monitoring
  • Capturing and understanding users’ needs
  • Natural language approaches
  • Model-driven approaches
  • Formal approaches
  • Traceability
  • Evolution and release planning
  • Reuse
  • Tools and standards
  • Good-enough Requirements Engineering
  • Agile and lean approaches
  • Requirements engineering in Open Source
  • Complex systems
  • Product lines and value chains
  • Software ecosystems, artificial intelligence, big data, and cloud technologies
  • Requirements Engineering for Smart Cities, Cyber-Physical Systems, and Systems of Systems
  • Geographically-dispersed teams
  • Culturally-divergent requirements efforts
  • Embedded systems
  • Open source software
  • Privacy and Security
  • Sustainability
  • Mobility
  • Cyber-physical systems
  • User experience
  • Quality factors
  • Safety and security
  • Test approaches
  • Value creation techniques
  • Product evolution
  • Requirements and marketing
  • Requirements and law
  • Learning from practice
  • Transferring technology from academia to industry
  • Transferring technology across industries
  • Transferring technology across domains
  • Identifying best practices
  • Improving productivity

Artifacts

The authors of accepted papers will have the opportunity to increase the visibility of their artifacts (software and data) and to obtain an artifact badge. Upon acceptance, the authors can submit their artifacts, which will be evaluated by a committee that determines their sustained availability and reusability.

Submission Instructions

In order to guide the reviewing process, all authors who intend to submit a paper must first submit the title and abstract. Abstracts should describe explicit coverage of context, objectives, methods, and results and conclusions, and should not exceed 200 words.

Papers must describe original work that has not been previously published or submitted elsewhere. Papers must not exceed 10 pages for the main body and up to 2 additional pages for the references. Submissions must be written in English and formatted according to the IEEE formatting instructions. Submissions must be double-blinded in conformance with the instructions below.

Papers that exceed the length specification, are not formatted correctly, or are not properly double-blinded (see instructions below) will be desk-rejected without review. 

Please note that only full paper submissions will be peer-reviewed. Abstract-only submissions will be discarded without further notice after the submission deadline.

Accepted papers may require editing for clarity prior to publication and presentation. They will appear in the IEEE Digital Library.

At least one author of each accepted paper must register to and attend the conference in order to present their paper.

Instructions for the Double-Blind Review Process

The RE’20 Research track will use a double-blind reviewing process. The goal of double-blind reviewing is to ensure that the reviewers can read and review your paper without having to know who any of the authors are, and hence avoid related bias. Of course, authors are allowed and encouraged to submit papers that build on their previously published work.

In order to prepare your submission for double-blind reviewing, please follow the instructions given below.

Submission Link

Please submit your Research paper in PDF format via EasyChair. Select the RE’20 Research Track for your submission.

Key Dates

Abstract SubmissionFebruary 10, 2020
Full Paper SubmissionFebruary 17, 2020
Paper NotificationMay 12, 2020
Camera Ready DueJune 22, 2020

All deadlines are 23:59 Anywhere on Earth (Standard Time).

Contact