Submission types and formats:

  • Lightning talks: a short paper, up to 2 pages, that if accepted can be conveyed in a 5 to 7 minute talk, either on Track 1: Building a sustainable future for open-use research software or Track 2: Practices & experiences in sustainable scientific software.  Lightning talks may be based on either novel or previously published work, but must contain a core idea that will contribute to the discussion in the workshop.
  • Idea papers: a longer paper, up to 8 pages, that presents implementable proposals related to Track 1: Building a sustainable future for open-use research software. Track 1 participants will build on the proposals and ideas in these papers, with the goal of initiating the planning, development, and execution of some of the ideas during the workshop itself. Given the magnitude and importance of the task at hand, the WSSSPE4 organizing committee encourages these proposals to be developed on an open, public, and inclusive basis. Submitters are invited to present a vision of some aspect of the future of open-use research software, and a plan of activities to gather and organize the resources needed to get there.
    • Example idea paper topics:
      • Adaptation of industrial software engineering principles into the research software community with a plan to fund the work
      • Funding and scaling software carpentry style training in advanced topics
      • Infrastructure and funding for community maintenance of open use research software
      • Scaling the SSI beyond the UK
      • Specific proposals of how to bridging/network the various research software engineering communities in scalable manner without destroying independence and unique foci of each community

        Question        : These Track 1 idea papers sound a lot like a grant proposal; is a budget required?
        Answer: WSSSPE is not a funding agency; idea papers do not need detailed budgets. Submitters are invited to inspire and explain: what particular need is unmet or undermet and how could we meet it.

        Question: Open collaborative proposal writing is unusual, why is this being encouraged?
        Answer: There is a huge need for improved practices both at the individual and community levels around open-use research software. The many efforts to address this have had been effective at small scale for particular communities but the improvements are not evenly distributed and much work remains to be done. A bottom-up, inclusive, community effort may be able to identify and tackle these big issues of coordination, funding, and incentive alignment. Open proposal writing, while new, is a great way to engage multiple stakeholders at the start of the process. It enables coordinated efforts across the various fields of research and the different funding opportunities around the world.  We take inspiration from the OpenDreamKit community and their successful open proposal experience.

  • Position papers: a longer paper, not previously published, up to 8 pages, that if accepted can be conveyed in a 15 to 20 minute talk, on Track 2: Practices & experiences in sustainable scientific software, specifically discussing what we can do to improve sustainable scientific software in the short term, starting with where we are today.
  • Experience papers: a longer paper, not previously published, up to 8 pages, that if accepted can be conveyed in a 15 to 20 minute talk, on Track 2: Practices & experiences in sustainable scientific software, specifically discussing current practices and experiences and how they have been used to improve the quality of today’s research software and/or the experiences of its developers.
  • Presentation of previously published work: a short paper, up to 2 pages, that if accepted can be conveyed in a 15 to 20 minute talk, describing a previous published work by the authors and its relevance to Track 2: Practices & experiences in sustainable scientific software on the topic of improving the quality of today’s research software and the experiences of its developers by sharing practices and experiences.
  • Demos: a short paper, up to 2 pages plus 2 pages of screenshots, that if accepted can be conveyed in a 10 to 15 minute demonstration, showing a tool or process relevant to Track 2: Practices & experiences in sustainable scientific software, that improves the quality of today’s research software and/or the experiences of its developers. Demo submissions may be based on previously published work.

Submission process:

All submissions should be created in PDF format.  They should begin with a title, author names and affiliations, a short abstract, then the body of the submission. The title should begin with “Lightning talk:” or “Idea paper:” or “Position paper:” or “Experience paper:” or “Previously published:” or “Demo:”.  Submissions should also include a statement of their license, preferably CC BY 4.0.  Submissions should be made via https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=wssspe4.  WSSSPE4 accepted submissions (except presentations of previously published work) are planned to be published by WSSSPE as a special collection in http://ceur-ws.org/, which is fully indexed.  Authors retain copyright to their work and are free to self-publish their submissions or accepted papers elsewhere in addition.