International Conference on Software and Systems Reuse, Product Lines, and Configuration (VARIABILITY 2026): First Call for Journal First Papers
George Angelos Papadopoulos
*** First Call for Journal First Papers ***
International Conference on Software and Systems Reuse, Product Lines,
and Configuration (VARIABILITY 2026)
29 September - 2 October 2026, 5* St. Raphael Resort and Marina
Limassol, Cyprus
https://conf.researchr.org/home/variability-2026
The VARIABILITY conference series brings together the communities previously served by
ICSR, SPLC, and VaMoS, forming a unified venue for research on variability, configuration,
customization, and related disciplines in software and systems engineering.
VARIABILITY 2026 invites Journal-First presentations of papers recently published in
leading software engineering journals, including TSE, TOSEM, IST, EMSE, JSS, ASEJ, SoSyM,
and reputable open-access journals. This initiative provides authors with the opportunity
to engage directly with the VARIABILITY community, while offering attendees a richer and
more diverse program. The Journal-First papers remain published in their respective
journals, and a one-page summary will be included in the VARIABILITY 2026 proceedings
with a pointer to the original publication.
Scope
To qualify for a Journal-First presentation at VARIABILITY 2026, a paper must meet these
criteria:
• It was published on the publisher’s website between May 2024 and March 2026.
• It fits within the scope of VARIABILITY 2026, as described in the research track call
(https://conf.researchr.org/track/variability-2026/variability-2026-papers#Call-for-Papers),
and can bring new insights or directions to the community.
• It presents new research results or significant extensions of prior work that have not
been presented at SPLC, VaMoS, or ICSR before.
• It has not been presented at, and is not under review for, Journal-First Tracks of other
related conferences.
How to Submit
Authors of papers that meet the above criteria are invited to submit a short proposal for
presentation. The proposal should be one page and include the following:
• Paper title, authors, extended abstract, and a link or DOI to the original journal paper.
• If the journal paper builds on or is related to previously published work (such as a poster
or tool demo), the proposal must clearly explain why it should be considered a Journal-
First paper.
• All proposals must be submitted as a PDF via EasyChair:
https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=variability2026 (Journal-First Track).
• Please upload both the proposal PDF and a ZIP file containing the original journal paper.
Accepted papers will be published in the VARIABILITY 2026 Companion Proceedings
published by Springer in the LNCS series. A Journal-First proposal must be at most one
page long and it must follow the Springer guidelines:
https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-guidelines .
By submitting your paper for inclusion in these proceedings, you acknowledge that you
and your co-authors must comply with Springer’s publications policies
(https://www.springer.com/gp/editorial-policies) including requirements related to
research integrity, copyright, and ethical standards. Any alleged violations of these
policies may be investigated by Springer and could result in corrective actions, including
withdrawal of the paper.
Evaluation and Selection
Proposals will be selected based on the quality of the publication and the journal, after
confirming that the paper fits the scope of the conference. Since the papers have already
been peer-reviewed and accepted by their journals, they will not undergo another
technical review. The goal is to include as many papers as possible in the Journal-First
Track. However, if an unusually high number of papers are received, some might not be
accepted. If needed, priority will be given to papers that best align with the conference
topics of interests and the structure of the sessions.
Conference Attendance
For each paper accepted into the Journal-First Track, at least one author must register for
the conference and attend to give the oral presentation.
Important Dates (AoE)
• Submission of Papers: 2 April 2026
• Notification of Acceptance: 1 June 2026
• Camera-Ready Submission: 15 July 2026
• Author Registration: 15 July 2026
Organisation
General Chairs
• George A. Papadopoulos, University of Cyprus, Cyprus
• Gilles Perrouin, FNRS & University of Namur, Belgium
Research Track Chairs
• Thorsten Berger, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany
• Ina Schaefer, KIT, Germany
Industry Track Chairs
• Shaukat Ali, Simula Research Lab and Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway
• Martin Becker, Fraunhofer IESE, Germany
Journal First Track Chairs
• Mathieu Acher, University Rennes, Inria, CNRS, IRISA, France
• Xhevahire Tërnava, LTCI, Télécom Paris, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, France
Doctoral Symposium Track Chairs
• Rick Rabiser, LIT CPS, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria
• Iris Reinhartz-Berger, University of Haifa, Israel
Demos and Tools Track Chairs
• Sandra Greiner, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
• Leopoldo Teixeira, Federal University of Pernambuco
Projects Showcase Chairs
• Daniel Struber, Chalmers, University of Gothenburg, Radbound University, Sweden
• Dalila Tamzalit, Nantes Université, France
Hall of Fame Chairs
• Martin Becker, Fraunhofer IESE, Germany
• Goetz Botterweck, Lero - The Irish Software Research Centre and University of Limerick, Ireland
• Natsuko Noda, Shibaura Institute of Technology, Japan
Workshops Chairs
• Lidia Fuentes, Universidad de Malaga, Spain
• Malte Lochau, University of Siegen, Germany
Tutorials Chairs
• Loek Cleophas, Eindhoven University of Technology and Stellenbosch University, The Netherlands
• Mahsa Varshosaz, IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Proceedings Chair
• Sophie Fortz, King's College London, UK
Publicity Chairs
• Wesley Assunção, North Carolina State University, USA
• Kentaro Yoshimura, Hitachi Ltd, Japan
Local Organiser and Finance Chair
• George A. Papadopoulos, University of Cyprus, Cyprus