21st International Symposium on Formal Methods (FME 2016): First Call for Papers

FM 2016: 21st International Symposium on Formal Methods

Limassol, Cyprus, 7-11 November 2016

http://fm2016.cs.ucy.ac.cy

*** FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS ***


IMPORTANT DATES

• Abstract submission deadline: 16 May 2016 
• Full paper submission deadline: 30 May 2016 
• Notification: 8 August 2016    
• Conference: 7-11 November 2016
     
FM 2016 is the latest in a series of symposia organized by Formal Methods
Europe, an independent association that encourages the use of, and research
on, formal methods for the engineering of computer-based systems and
software. The symposia have been notably successful in bringing together
researchers and industrial users around a programme of original papers on
research and industrial experience, workshops, tutorials, reports on tools,
projects, and ongoing doctoral work.

SCOPE AND TOPICS

FM 2016 will highlight the development and application of formal methods 
in a wide range of domains including software, computer-based systems,
systems-of-systems, human interaction, manufacturing, sustainability,
power, transport, cities, healthcare, and biology. We also welcome papers
on experiences of formal methods in industry, and on the design and
validation of formal methods tools. 
 
FM 2016 encourages submissions on formal methods for developing and
evaluating systems that interact with physical processes, and systems that
use artificial intelligence technology. Examples include autonomous systems,
robots, and cyber-physical systems in general. Applying formal methods to
these systems of growing interest and importance is challenging because
they exhibit much greater non-determinism than traditional systems, making
them challenging to assure.

The broad topics of interest for FM 2016 include, but are not limited to:

• Interdisciplinary formal methods: Techniques, tools and experiences
demonstrating formal methods in interdisciplinary frameworks.

• Formal methods in practice: Industrial applications of formal methods,
experience with formal methods in industry, tool usage reports, experiments
with challenge problems. Authors are encouraged to explain how formal
methods overcame problems, led to improved designs, or provided new
insights.

• Tools for formal methods: Advances in automated verification and
model-checking, tools integration, environments for formal methods, and
experimental validation of tools. Authors are encouraged to demonstrate
empirically that the new tool or environment advances the state of the art.

• Role of formal methods in software and systems engineering:
Development processes with formal methods, usage guidelines for formal
methods, and method integration. Authors are encouraged to evaluate
process innovations with respect to qualitative or quantitative improvements.
Empirical studies and evaluations are also solicited.

• Theoretical foundations: All aspects of theory related to specification,
verification, refinement, and static and dynamic analysis. Authors are
encouraged to explain how their results contribute to the solution of
practical problems with methods or tools.
 
SUBMISSION INFORMATION

Papers should be original work, not published or submitted elsewhere, in
 Springer LNCS format, written in English, submitted through Easychair
(https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=fm2016). 
 
Each paper will be evaluated by at least three members of the Programme
Committee.  Authors of papers reporting experimental work are strongly
encouraged to make their experimental results available for use by reviewers.
Similarly, case study papers should describe significant case studies and the
complete development should be made available at the time of review. The
usual criteria for novelty, reproducibility, correctness and the ability for
others to build upon the described work apply.  Tool papers should explain
enhancements made compared to previously published work. A tool paper
need not present the theory behind the tool but should focus more on the
tool’s features, how it is used, its evaluation, and examples and screen shots
illustrating the tool’s use. Authors of tool papers should make their tool
available for use by reviewers.

We solicit two categories of papers:

• Regular Papers should not exceed 15 pages, not counting references
and appendices.

• Short papers, including tool papers, should not exceed 6 pages, not
counting references and appendices. Besides tool papers, short papers are
encouraged for any subject that can be described within the page limit, and
in particular for novel ideas without an extensive experimental evaluation.
Short papers will be accompanied by short presentations.

For regular and tool papers, an appendix can provide additional material such
as details on proofs or experiments. The appendix is not part of the page
count and not guaranteed to be read or taken into account by the reviewers.
It should not contain information necessary to the understanding and the
evaluation of the presented work. Papers will be accepted or rejected in the
category in which they were submitted—there will be no “demotions” from a
regular to a short paper.

BEST PAPER AWARD

During the conference, the Programme Committee Chairs will present an
award to the authors of the submission selected as the FM 2016 Best Paper.
 
PUBLICATION

Accepted papers will be published in the Symposium Proceedings and in
Springer’s Lecture Notes in Computer Science.  Extended versions of selected
papers will be invited for publication in a special issue of one or more journals.

LOCATION

FM 2016 is organized by the University of Cyprus and will take place at St.
Raphael Resort, Limassol, Cyprus. 

GENERAL CHAIR
Anna Philippou, University of Cyprus, Cyprus

PROGRAMME CHAIRS

John S Fitzgerald, Newcastle University, UK
Stefania Gnesi, CNR-ISTI, Italy
Constance L Heitmeyer, Naval Research Laboratory, USA

PROGRAM COMMITTEE (TBA)