Aims and Scope

Software: Practice and Experience is an internationally respected and rigorously refereed vehicle for the dissemination and discussion of practical experience with new and established techniques and tool for both software systems and applications.  The key criterion for publication of a paper is that it makes a novel contribution from which other researchers and practitioners engaged in the design and/or implementation of software might benefit. Submissions must be original manuscripts that have not been previously published and not under consideration for publication elsewhere.

Software and system design and implementation topics of strong interest to our readership span the exploration of established and rapidly emerging topics, which include but are not limited to:

       Distributed Computing Paradigms: Service, Cloud, Fog, Edge.
       Domain Specific Computing: Aerospace, Education, Finance, Healthcare, Transportation, Power.   
       Model-driven Development: Model Transformations, Automated code generation.
       Networking: Mobile computing, IoT.
       Operating Systems, Run-time Support, and Virtualization.
       Programming Languages and Compilers.
       Re-use: Component-based, Patterns, Product Lines.

Contributions regularly present:

    Novel, rigorously validated techniques/tools that aid in solving practical software design or programming problems.
    Detailed accounts of completed software projects that can serve as ‘how-to-do-it’ models for future work in the same field.
    Brief communications on emerging software design or programming technique that can be applied in a wide variety of domains. 
    Unique comparative analyses of software design or programming techniques/tools.

As the journal’s name suggests, the focus is on the practice and experience with software. The theoretical or mathematical content included in the articles serves to demonstrate the rigorous foundation of the contribution and its understanding, which ultimately leads to the development of better practical systems.

The journal does not attempt to cover all aspects of software and systems engineering.  Manuscripts with a focus on software processes, software development methodologies, project management, and engineering activities beyond design and implementation (e.g., topics in requirements engineering, validation and verification) are outside this journal’s scope. Please consider submitting manuscripts on these topics to alternative journals such as the Journal of Software: Evolution and Process, Journal of Software Process: Improvement and Practice, or the Journal of Software Testing, Verification and Reliability. 

In a constantly evolving field such as this, the journal’s topical focus is necessarily fluid. If it is unclear whether your  manuscript is appropriate for publication authors may  1) browse the journal to consider how their work fits in with prior papers 2) check the references of papers to determine a bibliographic link between the submission and the journal or 3) contact the editors.

Article Categories

Submitted articles normally fall within one of the following five categories.

·         Research Article – which contains original results that are directly relevant to software design and implementation;
·         Extended conference paper – this would be a research article, but where an early version has already been published as a conference paper; special rules apply for submitting this form of paper (please refer to the Author Guidelines for details).
·         Survey paper – which would typically provide a brief introduction to a topic appropriate for the journal and follow that introduction with a critical analysis of work to date on the topic; alternatively, a survey paper can take the form of a timely tutorial on techniques not previously documented in the computing literature.
 ·         Experience report – which might take the form of a (1) case study, or (2) a detailed account of a completed software-system project, or (3) a report on practical experience with tools and methods for development and/or evaluation of software and software systems in both academic and industrial environments.
 ·         Short Communication – which can introduce a rapidly developing new topic and provide early results on that topic; it will be given higher priority for publication than a regular article.

Articles range in length from a Short Communication (up to ten pages) to the length required to give full treatment to a substantial piece of software (exceptionally up to 40 pages). 

Readership

Software engineers and designers · systems programmers and analysts · computer science educators and students

Keywords

software implementation, software tools, compilers, run-time systems, systems programming, system software, debugging, programming techniques, algorithms, code generation

Special Issue on Quantum Software Development Life Cycle
Submission Date: 2025-12-31

The onset of the quantum industrial revolution introduces Quantum Computing (QC) as a significant area of interest, with tech giants such as IBM, Google, Baidu, and Microsoft investing heavily. QC promises to revolutionize various business sectors, including cybersecurity, financial services, and aerospace. However, developing highly dependable QC software applications in a cost-effective, intuitive, and efficient manner poses an unsolved challenge. To fully harness the power of QC, focus must be directed towards the emerging field of Quantum Software Development (QSD).

Given these challenges and opportunities, we propose a special issue dedicated to QSD that spans the entire life cycle of quantum software development. This special issue seeks to encourage dialogue on innovative quantum-specific software development practices, processes, tools, techniques, methods, models, and frameworks to maximize the impact of quantum software systems. We invite contributions from industrial and academic experts in all areas related to QSD. This endeavor aims not only to bring to light specific practices but also broader research studies covering the full QSD life cycle.

Topics for this call for papers include but are not restricted to:

    Quantum Algorithms: Discussing development, implementation, and testing of new and existing quantum algorithms.
    Quantum Software Engineering: Covering the principles, methodologies, and tools used in developing, testing, and maintaining quantum software.
    Quantum Programming Languages: Investigating the development and use of quantum programming languages and their implications for QSD.
    Quantum Hardware-Software Interface: Delving into the interaction between quantum hardware and software, and how this impacts software development.
    Quantum Error Correction: Exploring strategies and techniques for error detection and correction in quantum computing and their integration into software development practices.
    Quantum Software Testing and Debugging: Addressing the challenges and strategies related to testing and debugging in quantum software.
    Quantum Software Security: Examining the implications of quantum computing for cybersecurity and how this impacts software development.
    Quantum Software Performance: Looking at techniques for measuring and improving the performance of quantum software.
    Integration of Quantum and Classical Software Systems: Discuss strategies for integrating quantum computing into existing classical computing systems.
    Case Studies in Quantum Software Development: Providing practical examples of the application of quantum software in various industries such as finance, aerospace, cybersecurity, etc.

Guest Editors:

Dr. Arif Ali Khan
University of Oulu
Finland

Dr. Muhammad Azeem Akbar
Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology
Finland

Dr. Peng Liang
Wuhan University
China

Dr. Shahis Hussain
PennState University
United States

Keywords: Quantum Software